Grand Touring Tank Capacity

J

jeditig

Member
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2017 Mazda CX5 grand touring with premium pkg
Morning, new Mazda owner. '17 CX5 GT with premium pkg.

Love the car. Here is my only main gripe (i have a few small ones, but save them). I swear in the specs it listed a 15.6 gallon tank capacity. My previous car was a MINI getting combined 35 with 14 gallon tank so I was filling up just shy of 500 miles. So i figured going down to 25 combined with nearly a 16 gallon tank to 400 total, it is not bad. However, I am filling up every 330 miles or so and at fillup, barely putting in 12.5 gallons.

So, the question is: Is there like 2-3 gallons left even when the electronics say you have zero DTE and need to fillup? Filling up every 330 miles is killing me. Now I dont want to push how far I can go past E. I had about 25 miles in my MINI (not even a gallon).

Does anyone know?
 
FWD 16.5 - If i wait for Range indicator to go to 0 miles I fill 11.8 gallons. So yes there is a lot of it left. There have been folks who have overpumped a lot of fuel - like 2-3 gallons extra. I never do that. I get 320 to 340 miles. My range extender is always over excited and says 400 after a fill up, i never have hit 400.

12.5 galls is in line with what i see. I think you can drive it maybe like 50 miles after the light comes on without any issue. But i would not go beyond that.
 
I have no solid proof one way or another, but I am of the opinion that E is not actually E.
 
jeditig said:
Morning, new Mazda owner. '17 CX5 GT with premium pkg.

Love the car. Here is my only main gripe (i have a few small ones, but save them). I swear in the specs it listed a 15.6 gallon tank capacity. My previous car was a MINI getting combined 35 with 14 gallon tank so I was filling up just shy of 500 miles. So i figured going down to 25 combined with nearly a 16 gallon tank to 400 total, it is not bad. However, I am filling up every 330 miles or so and at fillup, barely putting in 12.5 gallons.

So, the question is: Is there like 2-3 gallons left even when the electronics say you have zero DTE and need to fillup? Filling up every 330 miles is killing me. Now I dont want to push how far I can go past E. I had about 25 miles in my MINI (not even a gallon).

Does anyone know?
Click to expand...

All cars report "E" well before actual empty because many people will misjudge distances and consumption. With the cx-5 the reserve is ~2 gallons +/- a few ounces.
 
jeditig said:
Morning, new Mazda owner. '17 CX5 GT with premium pkg.

Love the car. Here is my only main gripe (i have a few small ones, but save them). I swear in the specs it listed a 15.6 gallon tank capacity. My previous car was a MINI getting combined 35 with 14 gallon tank so I was filling up just shy of 500 miles. So i figured going down to 25 combined with nearly a 16 gallon tank to 400 total, it is not bad. However, I am filling up every 330 miles or so and at fillup, barely putting in 12.5 gallons.

So, the question is: Is there like 2-3 gallons left even when the electronics say you have zero DTE and need to fillup? Filling up every 330 miles is killing me. Now I dont want to push how far I can go past E. I had about 25 miles in my MINI (not even a gallon).

Does anyone know?
Click to expand...
You've got another 50 miles in the tank when it's reading zero.
 
craigo said:
All cars report "E" well before actual empty because many people will misjudge distances and consumption. With the cx-5 the reserve is ~2 gallons +/- a few ounces.
Click to expand...

Not the BMW- I get at or close to 16 gallons in that thing so when it says empty I'm pretty dang close. CX-5 yeah its annoyingly conservative 14- maybe some change when topped and driven 10-20 miles after 0, wife's Highlander is even worse..
 
Monterra said:
Not the BMW- I get at or close to 16 gallons in that thing so when it says empty I'm pretty dang close. CX-5 yeah its annoyingly conservative 14- maybe some change when topped and driven 10-20 miles after 0, wife's Highlander is even worse..
Click to expand...

A quick google on this turns up about 1 gallon in reserve is common for BMW's.
 
Oh my fault it is 16.6 capacity not 16.1 (that's the current gen) but anyway its less than most modern cars I believe..Highlander's gotta be more than 2- probably 3.

2.9 it is...thanks Jim (our pet name for google)
 
I understand that due to not paying attention to the gas gauge, or not having a gas station near by sometimes you may go all the way to the warning beep or flashing on the dashboard, but I saw many people trying to get to an empty tank just to prove the capacity.
I think that doing that, the fuel pump may get bad or you suck all the dirt that the gas tank may have at the bottom.
I always fill at 1/4 tank left or a little bit more.
 
Carry a gas can and run it dry. Let us know what you learn. I think Sr. Mazda's fears are unjustified.
I try to fill at reserve, if it's convenient, and there's always plenty left.
Most cars seem to underestimate by about 2 gal in recent years; every car I have has, anyway.
 
FWD is 14.8 and AWD is 15.3. With two little bars, when the light comes on, I generally add about 12.5 gallons of gas.
 
Thanks !!!

shadonoz said:
Carry a gas can and run it dry. Let us know what you learn. I think Sr. Mazda's fears are unjustified.
I try to fill at reserve, if it's convenient, and there's always plenty left.
Most cars seem to underestimate by about 2 gal in recent years; every car I have has, anyway.
Click to expand...


Funny, but I was thinking that. After winter in the spring, may give it a go.

Thanks everyone. My Jeep WRangler had almost 2 gallons, my MINI had 1, so I think the AWD CX5 is more the lines of 2.
 
Mine is AWD and that is exactly what I do as well. about 12.5 per fillup. I wanted a FWD for the extra fuel efficiency but could locate an AWD by my deadline date.
 
shadonoz said:
Carry a gas can and run it dry. Let us know what you learn. I think Sr. Mazda's fears are unjustified.
I try to fill at reserve, if it's convenient, and there's always plenty left.
Most cars seem to underestimate by about 2 gal in recent years; every car I have has, anyway.
Click to expand...

I have heard that running your fuel tank dry is a bad thing. I can't remember why, damages the fuel pump or something. Anybody know if the Mazda will suffer from this?
 
Pretty sure its not something you should try to do..may or may not cause issues though likely not
 
Back in the day I toasted the fuel pump on a Mazda 323 by running the fuel tank dry. From what I understand, running the tank dry pumps all the crap that usually floats at the top of the fuel through your fuel filter. Definitely not an unusual scenario as I now know.
 
In tank fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel. Running it dry can potentially cook the pump. This also might be why our cars are telling us to fill up when there is actually some fuel left. It's not something that would kill the fuel pump just by doing it once, but some people are habitually bad about waiting until the tank is nearly dry. Maybe manufacturers are "setting the clocks early" so to speak so as to avoid potential fuel pump reliability issues for people who have bad habits.
 
I agree that running your tank dry is not a great idea, but it's the only way to find out for sure how much gas is left after the gauge says zero.

That said, I think the fears of doing so are far overblown, many resulting from horror stories from the old days. Modern tanks don't rust like they used to. Fuel pumps have effective filters these days, which they didn't used to have. There much less dirt and crap in gas than there used to be-- just look in your gas cans.

And you can be sure that trying to run it dry ONCE, turning off your engine when it starts to miss, won't damage the pump because it will not have run completely dry.

I'd be AMAZED if modern pumps didn't have a run-dry cutoff. Preventing warranty claims, you know. But I can't find that info on the web, either way. Does anyone know for sure?
 
Johnny Danger said:
In tank fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel. Running it dry can potentially cook the pump. This also might be why our cars are telling us to fill up when there is actually some fuel left. It's not something that would kill the fuel pump just by doing it once, but some people are habitually bad about waiting until the tank is nearly dry. Maybe manufacturers are "setting the clocks early" so to speak so as to avoid potential fuel pump reliability issues for people who have bad habits.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't surprise me. As a PC computer watercooler, if you run the pump dry even for a moment, you've likely ruined it.
 
You guys are not vehicle engineers I’m thinking. If you were you’d know it’s impossible to run a fuel pump dry or otherwise there would be cars exploding all over the place. Any 12v DC motor has brushes in it (unless it’s one of the newer brushless designs which they aren’t) and to put one inside a tank with fuel vapour would have an obvious outcome. A modern submersed fuel pump is completely encased in a plastic housing with the windings at the bottom. The fuel pickup is above so even if the tank runs dry, the brushes of the motor stay submerged. You cannot run the motor dry. Furthermore, the op is talking about a new car that is highly unlikely to have any debris in it and and even then, the CX—5 has two filters - a course and a fine, all in the self contained pump housing. Even further, the tank is made from plastic so the chances of internal corrosion doesn’t exist. The only chance of getting debris in the tank comes from elsewhere so the big fuel stations are the safest place to buy from as they have a high turnover of clean fuel and backstreet garages or people dispensing fuel out of jerry cans are the prime candidates.

The net result is that you cannot damage a pump by running out of fuel which is just as well as there are an alarming amount of people that do it regularly.
 
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