When the car says it has 30 miles left, how accurate is that? Do you think it has a buffer after that?

 

James, I find that mine can go for a few miles after saying that it has reached "0 miles". How much farther, I was not willing to chance that.

As for accuracy, that is a loaded question there. I would first start with seeing how accurate the MPG part of your car is as this is used to figure out the miles left. On my car, I find that I have a 10% error (if my car says I am getting 25 MPG, I am really getting 22.5 MPG). So, in your car, if my car said I had 30 miles left, I really have 27 (30 -10% or 30 - 3 = 27).

 

Ha - I wasn't willing to risk it either! I was wondering if some brave soul here had.

 

It might or might not be accurate at any given point- but the number is based on a calculation. If the driving conditions were to change and the fuel consumption to increase, the '30 miles to empty' might turn out to be 20 which is a 10 mile walk to a gas station and 10 miles back.

It's not good to run the fuel pumps dry anyway- they depend on feul to cool themselves.