Are smaller gas tanks the norm in modern cars?

[Steve]

My 1996 Accord has a 15 gallon gas tank. My friend's more recent Ford Focus has a ten gallon tank, and I recently rented a very newish Corolla that also has a ten gallon tank.

Granted, the Focus and Corolla may be in a smaller class than my Accord, but I'm just curious as to whether gas tank sizes have remained consistent in their respective car sizes and classes over the past ten or so years, or is their any trend toward smaller or bigger tanks?

 

[LTC8K6]

New Altimas have a 20 gallon tank, iirc.

Impressive range with the 4 cylinder.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Gas tank size is usually related to the average fuel economy of the vehicle. Most vehicles are designed so that they hold enough fuel to drive at least 200 miles between fill-ups.

Edit-Maybe it was 300 miles highway. I don't recall exactly but I have heard this explanation given many times over the years. Obviously, packaging requirements play a role here too.

 

[nakedfrog]

I thought 13.2 gallons was a fairly standard size for smaller cars.

 

[alpineranger]

A newer accord will have a larger fuel tank than that. Granted the car is larger, but I think the increase is more or less proportional. There are a few cars that have tiny gas tanks and correspondingly short range, but usually there is something positive out of that compromise. The Honda Fit would be the most prominent example of this, where the gas tank is in the middle of the car where there isn't much room.

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Gas tank size is usually related to the average fuel economy of the vehicle. Most vehicles are designed so that they hold enough fuel to drive at least 200 miles between fill-ups.

my car has an 18 gal. tank and at 30+ mpg I can go 500 mi. hyway or about 450 average per tank full.

 

[Black88GTA]

As overall fuel economy has increased over the years, the size requirement for a tank that will hold enough fuel for the automakers' desired target range between fillups (usually 250 - 350 miles or so) has decreased. A 12 gallon tank would never fly on a 7mpg '70s boat, but works well on a 35 mpg Corolla for example. Tank size obviously has to be fitted to the car it will be used with, with thought given to the range of engines planned for it (and the fuel usage characteristics of each) as well as car weight and numerous other aspects. On some cars, this can be hard to balance out - Fox body (79-93) Mustang, for example. It had an (IIRC) 15 gallon tank, which was great for the base 4 cylinder (non-SVO) models, but cut the range a bit short on cars with the much thirstier V8.

There are other factors to consider as well - a larger tank adds considerable extra weight to the car when full (obviously) which will hurt mpg, performance, and handling. It also increases "sticker shock"at the gas pump - which is purely psychological, but tends to increase the owner's perception of the car being a gas hog (IMO) even if it's been a month since it was last filled up. So yes, the trend has gone towards smaller tanks.

 

[Riverhound777]

My mazda 3 has 14.5gal, but I've never put more than 12.5gal into it. I hate it sometimes I'll be so scared to run out of fuel when the light has been on forever, yet when I fill up I still have several gallons left

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Gas tank size is usually related to the average fuel economy of the vehicle. Most vehicles are designed so that they hold enough fuel to drive at least 200 miles between fill-ups.

yeah, when i got my 3, i was pissed because I had to fill up at the same time I had to fill up my Altima (got 19mpg when i got rid of it). After some research, I found out that the Altima had a bigger gas tank.

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
My mazda 3 has 14.5gal, but I've never put more than 12.5gal into it. I hate it sometimes I'll be so scared to run out of fuel when the light has been on forever, yet when I fill up I still have several gallons left

yeah, I realized that too.....when my gas light comes on, I think I have only about 15 miles left....

 

[dawp]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
My mazda 3 has 14.5gal, but I've never put more than 12.5gal into it. I hate it sometimes I'll be so scared to run out of fuel when the light has been on forever, yet when I fill up I still have several gallons left

yeah, I realized that too.....when my gas light comes on, I think I have only about 15 miles left....

my car has a computer display that shows avg and current mileage, range, avg speed and when it says 0 range, I can go about 60 more miles without worrying about running out of gas. and i have never ran out of gas.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
My mazda 3 has 14.5gal, but I've never put more than 12.5gal into it. I hate it sometimes I'll be so scared to run out of fuel when the light has been on forever, yet when I fill up I still have several gallons left

yeah, I realized that too.....when my gas light comes on, I think I have only about 15 miles left....

my car has a computer display that shows avg and current mileage, range, avg speed and when it says 0 range, I can go about 60 more miles without worrying about running out of gas. and i have never ran out of gas.

Yeah mine has the range calc too, but I just hate worrying about it. I too probably have about 60 miles after it reaches 0, but I don't like letting it get so low. Plus nowadays filling up sooner might be a 5 cent difference in gas price

 

[Itchrelief]

I believe the Ford Focus has a 13-odd gallon fuel tank. It actually increased in size by a fraction of a gallon a few years ago, then may have gone down slightly in 2008.

 

[LTC8K6]

You really should not drive around with very little fuel in the tank for the health of your fuel pump.

 

[xboxist]

My '08 Honda Fit has a 10.4 (I think) gallon tank. Granted, it's a sub-compact... but still. Wish it could hold 40.

 

[SithSolo1]

G35 has a 20 gal tank and I assume the G37 has the same.

 

[KDKPSJ]

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
My mazda 3 has 14.5gal, but I've never put more than 12.5gal into it. I hate it sometimes I'll be so scared to run out of fuel when the light has been on forever, yet when I fill up I still have several gallons left

yeah, I realized that too.....when my gas light comes on, I think I have only about 15 miles left....

my car has a computer display that shows avg and current mileage, range, avg speed and when it says 0 range, I can go about 60 more miles without worrying about running out of gas. and i have never ran out of gas.

Well, it really depends on manufacturer. When I had 07 CR-V, the light turned on fairly early. I waited until the trip computer said 0 range and filled the full tank. I found out there was at least 1.5 gallons left as it only filled about 14 gallons out of 15.3 gallons full tank.

On the other hand, my current 325i, trip computer says real range, which is very close to real amount left in tank. I did same with my Bimmer, and it filled about 16 gallons out of 15.9 gallons full tank, which is 0.1 gallons left! Since I found out that, I always stop at the gas station when it says I have 50 miles range, lol.

 

[Black88GTA]

Originally posted by: everydae

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: Riverhound777
My mazda 3 has 14.5gal, but I've never put more than 12.5gal into it. I hate it sometimes I'll be so scared to run out of fuel when the light has been on forever, yet when I fill up I still have several gallons left

yeah, I realized that too.....when my gas light comes on, I think I have only about 15 miles left....

my car has a computer display that shows avg and current mileage, range, avg speed and when it says 0 range, I can go about 60 more miles without worrying about running out of gas. and i have never ran out of gas.

Well, it really depends on manufacturer. When I had 07 CR-V, the light turned on fairly early. I waited until the trip computer said 0 range and filled the full tank. I found out there was at least 1.5 gallons left as it only filled about 14 gallons out of 15.3 gallons full tank.

On the other hand, my current 325i, trip computer says real range, which is very close to real amount left in tank. I did same with my Bimmer, and it filled about 16 gallons out of 15.9 gallons full tank, which is 0.1 gallons left! Since I found out that, I always stop at the gas station when it says I have 50 miles range, lol.

Careful. Mine left me on the side of the road, completely out of fuel...with "34 miles remaining" clearly displayed on the trip computer. :roll: It was more than a little embarrassing having AAA show up, lights and all, and pour gas in with traffic backed up a long way past me due to construction up ahead. Ugh.

 

[Kroze]

Originally posted by: dawp

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Gas tank size is usually related to the average fuel economy of the vehicle. Most vehicles are designed so that they hold enough fuel to drive at least 200 miles between fill-ups.

my car has an 18 gal. tank and at 30+ mpg I can go 500 mi. hyway or about 450 average per tank full.

My car have 13 gallon tank & I get 30+mpg. I ca go 450mi highway or about 400 average per tank full. (11.5 gallon per fill up)

 

[Pandaren]

Originally posted by: Steve
My 1996 Accord has a 15 gallon gas tank.

The 5th Generation Accord actually has a 17 gallon tank. On average I get 31-33 MPG on the highway (65-70 MPH constant, good weather). Theoretically I could go well over 500 miles on a tank of fuel -- 544 miles @ 32MPG.

I was looking at a new Civic, and the gas tank did seem a bit small at 13.2 gallons. The Civic gets 36MPG highway, so its theoretical highway range is 475 miles.

Maybe its just me, but I like having a 500+ mile highway range. A small gas tank doesn't matter as much to me if the car has good range.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Gas tank size is usually related to the average fuel economy of the vehicle. Most vehicles are designed so that they hold enough fuel to drive at least 200 miles between fill-ups.

This

I thought it was ~650km

 

[Toastedlightly]

My thunderbird has a 17 gallon tank. I get ~25 mpg, so it isn't too bad.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Pandaren

Originally posted by: Steve
My 1996 Accord has a 15 gallon gas tank.

The 5th Generation Accord actually has a 17 gallon tank. On average I get 31-33 MPG on the highway (65-70 MPH constant, good weather). Theoretically I could go well over 500 miles on a tank of fuel -- 544 miles @ 32MPG.

I was looking at a new Civic, and the gas tank did seem a bit small at 13.2 gallons. The Civic gets 36MPG highway, so its theoretical highway range is 475 miles.

Maybe its just me, but I like having a 500+ mile highway range. A small gas tank doesn't matter as much to me if the car has good range.

I need my daily driver for work, so highway mileage means little. If I have a long road trip, I either ride with someone or rent.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
New Altimas have a 20 gallon tank, iirc.

Impressive range with the 4 cylinder.

600 miles of highway driving

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
New Altimas have a 20 gallon tank, iirc.

Impressive range with the 4 cylinder.

600 miles of highway driving

They also make that car with a 3.5l V6 engine. No point in putting a smaller tank in the car with the 4-cylinder engine...it's not cost effective to make two different tanks for the same platform.