How big really is the gas tank?

got my 2014 Mazda 5 in Oct, putting around 1,500 KM in the past 2 months. according to the owners manual the car should have a 60L (15.9 gal) tank. the first 2 time I fill up as soon as when the low fuel indicator is on and putting appox 50L (13.2 gal) both times. doesn't sound right to me for a 60 L tank to have a 10L reserve (my old VW have a 52L tank and lights on at 48 L), so yesterday I tried to push it a little further. keep driving when the low fuel light is on, until the trip computer shows 1Km on the distance left with remaining fuel. and I fill it up and putting 52L (13.7 gal) to the tank.
So whats the deal here? do I really have 8L left even the trip computer say 0km range left on the remaining fuel? or if the tank smaller then Mazda advertise?

the low fuel light will usually come on at between ~2-3 gallons, which works out to roughly ~7-11 liters - not too far off from your calculation.

ok cool, so I really do have another 8L left.

i usually interpret the low fuel light as the "go get gas, retard" light. i usually try to fill the tank when the gauge reads about 1/4.

I've gone about 35 miles on the freeway before filling up after the fuel range meter said "0". I don't condone this but just know that you have enought to get to a gas station even if your range meter reads "0". I did it just to see how far I can get but it was scary to keep pushing it

The low fuel light is ridiculously pessimistic on purpose. They want you to freak out when you see it and go fill up sooner, rather than later. I have an SGII in my car and the fuel light will come on with 2 to 2.5 gallons remaining in the tank. I have driven 75 miles with the fuel light on and added 15.5 gallons to fill. This last was with gas running out of the fill neck, so I KNOW it was really full. My old car (04 Subaru Forester) wil go 100 miles with the light on!! Sort of defeats the purpose if you ask me but hey....

Same here,max 50L...But in past Mazda have had a problem with fuel pump due a cooling effect....In manual is write something like " better tank when you have 30% of fuel "

Secondtyme said:

The low fuel light is ridiculously pessimistic on purpose. They want you to freak out when you see it and go fill up sooner, rather than later. I have an SGII in my car and the fuel light will come on with 2 to 2.5 gallons remaining in the tank. I have driven 75 miles with the fuel light on and added 15.5 gallons to fill. This last was with gas running out of the fill neck, so I KNOW it was really full. My old car (04 Subaru Forester) wil go 100 miles with the light on!! Sort of defeats the purpose if you ask me but hey....

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Anyone who posts how many miles they can go with the light on should really put some context to it so it does not mislead the general populace. How far you can go completely depends on where and how you drive.

Post #2 by njaremka is what we should be mindful of. I take the light as a challenge. Games is on to see how long I can hold off till I can find the cheapest station (usually when I need to do a NJ run), only to save some chump change that’s prob not worth it =X.

^^Words to live by. To add context to my above statement I will say this. The 75 miles I drove was my normal homeward bound commute, which entails 40% city driving stop-go with speeds up to 45 MPH. The other 60% of the drive is four lane divided highway, light-ish traffic with speeds averaging 70MPH. I would normally stop at a station near work and add enough gas (three gallons) to get me safely home without having to watch the fuel gauge like a hawk. But on this occaison I said "
screw it" and took a chance on getting to my favorite (read, cheap) station near home. When I got to the gas station after an hour and thirty nail biting minutes I was amazed to find fuel still remained in the tank. I had been expecting the car to sputter to a stop for the last few miles. The needle on the fuel guage was pointing at the back side of E, as in way below empty. Doing this on a regular basis takes the constitution of a brass eagle and IS NOT something I advocate as a daily practice. That being said, I feel better knowing just how far I can press my luck in an emergency. The low fuel warning in my Subie on the other hand is pretty much worthless, it comes on like clockwork with a quarter tank remaining.

Haven't been around in awhile, so I am late to the conversation.
From my experience, when the car was 3 years old, we seemed to get the gas light around 13.5 gal used, but it seems that over the last 5 1/2 years it has begun to come on a little bit earlier. Last time, it came on, we drove 20 miles, and still only put in 12.8 gal. But even from near the beginning of ownership, I have treated the gas light as a suggestion, because on the highway, I could run 60 more miles and still have a gallon left at fillup. I usually get gas after 20-30 miles from the light when driving all-city, and my fillups are generally between 13.2 and 14.7 gal. In the summer, light usually comes on around 260-270 miles. In the winter, 280-285.

I've only seen the low fuel light three times in 100k on my 2012. I always just fill up at half a tank since I might want to drive a couple hundred miles at the drop of a hat and don't want to deal with filling up because I HAVE to!