[TragicMagic]

May 20, 2022 - 1st fill up.
550.1km travelled.
40.424L to fill tank. (I had it in my mind that it had a 50L tank)
Equates to 7.348L/100km.
Vehicles stated fuel economy: 7.7L/100km.

Definitely anticipate I can reach 600km/tank without making too many adjustments.
There were several times during this first week of ownership that I left the car idling while fiddling with options and menus as I tried to learn those features.

My previous vehicle, a 2018 Colorado had a 70L tank and I'd be lucky to hit 500kms with similar driving habits I employed this week.

For no particular reason I decided to fill up with 93 Premium.

 

[judedude]

New engines have a break in period. Usually takes 10,000 miles before best fuel economy occurs. I just went through my first tank as well and was a little disappointed in the fuel economy. Did well but not as advertised.

 

[voodoo22]

I only sort of tempted fate once with this car so far for the purpose of gathering this information and seeing it with my own eyes. The range until empty was 0 and the warning to fill in gas was on for a few minutes... so warning, flashing warning and then no range until empty and warning to fill in gas. I filled in and I tried slowing the pumping speed a little before it would click and I put in just over 41 litres. So if the 50 L spec is accurate and if it stops at 50 L in the tank, I still had 8 litres in the tank.

I think this is good info to know from my roadtrip post, which you may find interesting:

*It seems you have enough gas left to get about 80-100km's more after the fuel warning light comes on, if you're driving in very light traffic with few stops or on the highway.

New engines have a break in period. Usually takes 10,000 miles before best fuel economy occurs. I just went through my first tank as well and was a little disappointed in the fuel economy. Did well but not as advertised.

That's what they always say, but for some reason this hasn't been my experience. I'm used to getting better than rated FE on prior vehicles right off that bat and maintaining it for the rest ownership (around a decade or sometimes a lot more), but on this car I'm getting around what it's rated. Could be because the ratings system has changed or it could be that this will be my first vehicle which runs better after break in, but I'm at over 15,000 kms now and haven't seen any difference in FE yet. Planning to go on another and probably my last massive 10,000km+ road trip this year, so that should be an interesting data point.

 

[TragicMagic]

I confirmed that the fuel tank capacity is indeed 50 liters. And the stated highway/city combined fuel economy is 7.4L/100kms with the manual transmission. Pretty much nailed it.

As you stated, I would expect improved fuel economy after the engine is broken in.

*** Interesting that the car is calculating 19kms to empty if the car still has almost 10 liters of fuel remaining. Definitely going to keep close attention to this.

 

[voodoo22]

*** Interesting that the car is calculating 19kms to empty if the car still has almost 10 liters of fuel remaining. Definitely going to keep close attention to this.

I'll be interested to see you findings, because like I said I had likely over 8L left in the tank and I didn't fill in at the first warning light, it was DEFCON 5 you have no range and FILL in GAS warning, lol. I can't remember how far I drove after the first warning before it escalated the alerts.

 

[jolly]

I still had 8 litres in the tank.

he car is calculating 19kms to empty if the car still has almost 10 liters of fuel remaining.

Yep, that's the case with most cars (and definitely with my 11th gen Corolla). It would be useless for the car to warn you then immediately stop, confirming it in the most painful way... 🤷‍♀️ It's to avoid this kind of situation that the warning comes a bit in advance. Personally, I rather not "play chicken" with it ! 🐓

 

[TragicMagic]

I ran the Colorado to within 2 liters of empty 2 or 3 times during the 4 years I had it.

I definitely like having this buffer in the Corolla.

 

[22hatch]

I've had mine down to 3 miles until empty and talk about sweating bullets. I was hoping that the gas hand was off or I would be pushing it to a gas station.

 

[Beechnut]

My record was 1308 km... on a Jetta TDI station wagon; 55L tank, but I filled the headspace in the tank by "venting" (a little button in the filler neck that opens up the head space). At refuelling, I put 63L into a 55L tank, LOL! You could get away with filling the headspace as diesel is less volatile than gas, provided you drive for a while after filling.

On the Corolla, on my last tank, the display said 5.7 L/100 km average, and I calculated 5.8 the old fashioned way. That's better than rated, but my driving mix contains virtually no urban driving. It's all rural highways and autoroutes, with a smattering of small towns/villages. I also don't speed, at least not by more than 5 km/h. Our speed limit on the autoroute is 100. I set the cruise at 105 as that's what trucks are governed to. That way I'm not being overtaken by an 18-wheeler doing just a couple of km/h more than I. When I had to commute 200 km every day (100 each way), I drove TDIs and got pretty good at hypermiling. Not only to keep fuel costs down, but to avoid having to fill up more than once a week. I would routinely get 1200 km per tank at least in non-winter months, enough for a week of commuting and some putzing around on weekends. So those habits have stayed with me. Being retired, I'm also no longer in much of a hurry...

 

[invader]

I confirmed that the fuel tank capacity is indeed 50 liters. And the stated highway/city combined fuel economy is 7.4L/100kms with the manual transmission. Pretty much nailed it.

As you stated, I would expect improved fuel economy after the engine is broken in.

*** Interesting that the car is calculating 19kms to empty if the car still has almost 10 liters of fuel remaining. Definitely going to keep close attention to this.

You only put in 40.424 liters by stopping at $86.75 right after it clicked off while pumping gas at full speed, so it was a partial fillup... I filled up with 51.35 liters of Esso 91 on a near empty tank Wednesday for only $116. I can then drive about 150 kms before the fuel gauge needle goes down to the top Full line / | \ , which gives me a range of over 900 kms cruising at 105 km/hr.

 

[elkofcanada]

You only put in 40.424 liters by stopping at $86.75 right after it clicked off while pumping gas at full speed, so it was a partial fillup... I filled up with 51.35 liters of Esso 91 on a near empty tank Wednesday for only $116. I can then drive about 150 kms before the fuel gauge needle goes down to the top Full line / | \ , which gives me a range of over 900 kms cruising at 105 km/hr.

Just wait until you see a Corolla Hybrid! I was in one the other day and indicated 1150km to empty!

Also "0" to empty in these cars is actually more like 100 (provided it can pull the full remaining 7/L from the tank...)

 

[TragicMagic]

I'll head back to the pump later today and see if it'll take the remaining fuel.

Note that the analog fuel gauge is reading above full.

I've never had a vehicle trigger the nozzle to stop that early, if this is what actually happened.

 

[invader]

Just wait until you see a Corolla Hybrid! I was in one the other day and indicated 1150km to empty!

Also "0" to empty in these cars is actually more like 100 (provided it can pull the full remaining 7/L from the tank...)

0 is pretty damn close to 0... If I get there, I can fit at over 52 liters of gasoline in the tank.

 

[75aces]

That’s actually a thing. It happened to me once in a rental. I was topping off a day before returning it. When it stopped, I assumed it was full. Looked at the pump and it only used like 2 gallons. Jumped in and it was a 1/8 shy to full.

This didn’t happen on a corolla, but a Hyundai. Was kinda surprised, as this never happened before.

 

[voodoo22]

0 is pretty damn close to 0... If I get there, I can fit at over 52 liters of gasoline in the tank.

What do you define as 0? Like I said earlier, I trickle filled and only got a little over 41 litres in a while after the warning light went to flashing and the distance from empty went from 0 to fill in gas now alert. I have a hard time believing I could have put in another 10 litres+ in at that point if I topped up and risked damaging the fuel system.

That’s actually a thing. It happened to me once in a rental. I was topping off a day before returning it. When it stopped, I assumed it was full. Looked at the pump and it only used like 2 gallons. Jumped in and it was a 1/8 shy to full.

This didn’t happen on a corolla, but a Hyundai. Was kinda surprised, as this never happened before.

I've had that happen as well. I thought it was something to do with the gas station pump, a faulty shutoff switch and not the car, because sometimes I've had that happen it was also difficult to get it to even start pumping gas.

 

[ohw]

I had a completely backwards experience. Many many moons ago, I had a Chevrolet Vega loaner (remember those?). It died on me in the middle of the freeway. By the time I found the owner (no cell phones in those days), then he told me 1/4 tank on the fuel gauge means empty, Really? WTF? It died because I ran out of gas.
Having a reserve after hitting 0 is a good thing.

 

[invader]

What do you define as 0? Like I said earlier, I trickle filled and only got a little over 41 litres in a while after the warning light went to flashing and the distance from empty went from 0 to fill in gas now alert. I have a hard time believing I could have put in another 10 litres+ in at that point if I topped up and risked damaging the fuel system.

The lowest I ever went was with about 20 kms range left, so I never experienced 0 and flashing warning lamp. I do fill it up as much as I can which is more than recommended, but I never let it sit in the heat and sun right after filling to let the gasoline warm up and expand into the evaporative system's charcoal canister.

 

[TragicMagic]

I was curious what alerts would show as I approached an empty tank.

The Colorado would display remaining distance down to 50kms. Anything below 50kms would be replaced with a "Low Fuel Alert". Which leaves a bit of a game of chance...

Yesterday, as I approached 50kms remaining, I kept an eye on how this new car with communicate to me. At 34kms remaining, it threw the "low fuel alert". I hit the "return" button to clear the alert, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Corolla continues to display the diminishing remaining distance.

 

[corollacoaster]

Since the electric fuel pump is cooled and lubricated with fuel, I'd avoid running low fuel for any reason. Those fuel pumps are hella expensive and no fun to replace.

 

[jolly]

0 is pretty damn close to 0...

As mentioned, when "0 range to empty" appears, you still have ±8 liters left, to prevent being stuck in the middle of nowhere. For the same reason, most cars have a fuel needle that move slowly from "full" to "half" but faster from "half" to "empty". The reason is that it can't be anticipate that mpg will be constant. Going on a highway (high mpg) than suddenly getting stuck in traffic (low mpg) would mean a real "0" or "E" could as suddenly be reached with a "Surprise! Surprise" effect. 🤡