Longest you've gone without stopping for gas

[tidecat]

What's the longest distance you've driven without stopping for gas?
The farthest I've gone is 398 miles from my parents' house in Maylene, Alabama to the gas station closest to my house in Louisville, Kentucky-and I still had 1.5 gallons left in the tank.

[NE2]

These guys have you beat: http://bikeacrossamerica.org/

[corco]

I drove from full to gas light on a rented Chrysler 200 last June and that sucker had a massive gas tank (16.9) although I only averaged 28 MPG- I think that's still 450+ miles though

[Alps]

I've broken 500 miles before, 501.4 or so.

[1995hoo]

Farthest I can recall is in 2008, went 455 miles from Portland to somewhere near the western end of I-78 in Pennsylvania in my current car (2004 Acura TL with a six-speed manual). I probably could have gone further, but I didn't know the area well (first time on that part of I-78) and the yellow light had been on for a while.

I may have gone further in the 1982 Accord I drove in the early 1990s, but I just don't recall. That car had a five-speed but was much smaller and regularly pulled over 35 mpg on the highway, even with the AC on.

I used to like to try to stretch it as far as I could before stopping for gas, but nowadays I'll just fill the tank when I'm also stopping for lunch, or in the morning after an overnight stop. I'd rather minimize the number of stops.

[djsinco]

I guess we are not counting the big trucks I have driven, that record for me would be the 1200+ miles when i drove bobtail (no trailer) from Denver, CO to Florence, KY. In my car, I drove from Salamanca, NY to Westwood, NJ in December and it was a total of 501 miles. There was a bunch of extra miles en route in this tankful due to meanderings I had to do in the Finger Lakes.

[formulanone]

These guys have you beat: http://bikeacrossamerica.org/

Unless they're each carrying 500-1000 pounds each, there's no relevance.

I've gotten 505 in my old Lexus; ideal conditions such as no A/C, rarely hitting 60 mph, and almost exclusively on backroads helped (usually, that car had a 300-350 mile range on my commutes, 400 on mostly-highway trips).

I've driven a Prius, but even though I drove some long distances, I filled up every half-tank.

[J N Winkler]

I used to have a 1986 Nissan Maxima with a 15.5-gallon gas tank.  Under favorable conditions (i.e., ones where the car could average over 30 MPG on the highway) I usually tried to avoid refueling until 400 miles after the last fill-up, but on one occasion I managed to get 553 miles and on another I got 570 miles.  In both cases my cruising speed was just above the shift point for fourth gear and most of my itinerary was at high altitude.  I believe I may also owe the 570 miles partly to slight overfilling of the tank.

[agentsteel53]

I believe I've gotten over 600 miles out of a Prius, averaging 56-60 miles per gallon. 

but the most I've consciously noted is 516 miles in an '89 Escort.  10.06 gallons.  Silver City, NM to Quartzsite, AZ via US-180 and US-60.  I lost about 6000 feet of elevation, and must have coasted at least 80 miles.

[kphoger]

I believe I've gotten over 600 miles out of a Prius, averaging 56-60 miles per gallon. 

but the most I've consciously noted is 516 miles in an '89 Escort.  10.06 gallons.  Silver City, NM to Quartzsite, AZ via US-180 and US-60.  I lost about 6000 feet of elevation, and must have coasted at least 80 miles.

I love those downhill fill-ups.  I once stopped at a gas station after having lost about 3250 feet elevation over 143 miles.  I told the attendant to stop filling once the nozzle clicked off.  Five seconds later:  click!  Say what??  So I had him try again, and it clicked right away again.  OK, one more time, same thing.  I usually get around 20 mph, and that tank ended up being 39.

[djsinco]

Denver to Kansas City with a tailwind = great mileage!
Kansas City to Denver with a headwind = terrible mileage!

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Well, I don't know how far I went on my car. But I believe we have made 400-500 miles more than once.

And in the UK version of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May went from Basel, Switzerland, to Blackpool, UK, without stopping for gas. Without the Channel Tunnel, they did 780 miles. And it seemed that Clarkson's car ran out of gas, but it actually had for another 120 miles, so it would have peaked at 900 miles without filling up!

[Duke87]

380.3 miles, from Effingham IL, to the Lawrence service Plaza on the Kansas Turnpike - on 9.952 gallons.
That is not the most I've put in my tank at once, mind you (it's a 12 gallon tank).

I had some pretty good segments in terms of fuel economy on my cross country trip last year, and by my math I could have topped 450 miles on some of them if I'd kept going without getting gas.

But, I had specifically planned ahead of time exact towns in which I would stop for gas about every 250-300 miles once I got west of the Mississippi, since I knew there might be some significant distances between opportunities to do so, so other than this one which was at the beginning of all that I did not clock any extraordinary lengths between stops.

[andrewkbrown]

503 miles were the most I've been able to get from my 1999 Toyota Camry.

I'm routinely able to make the 480-490 mile one-way trip from Washington DC to Wilmington OH (and vice versa) I frequently do on a single tank.

[Zmapper]

I usually get around 20 mph, and that tank ended up being 39.

You might want to try driving a little faster.

[kphoger]

I usually get around 20 mph, and that tank ended up being 39.

You might want to try driving a little faster.

Ha!  Thank you for noticing that!  Where was everyone else???  20 mpG.

[formulanone]

Please, I can't even keep up with my own deliferate mistakes, let alone the unintentional oens.

[1995hoo]

Good thing I never make misteaks.

(Mmmm....steak......)

[cpzilliacus]

Silver Spring, Maryland to Carnesville, Georgia (I-85 Exit 166).

573 Miles.

30 gallon tank.  Ford F250 (Diesel) pickup truck.

[djsinco]

Silver Spring, Maryland to Carnesville, Georgia (I-85 Exit 166).

573 Miles.

30 gallon tank.  Ford F250 (Diesel) pickup truck.

$120 fillup? Ouch!

[cpzilliacus]

Silver Spring, Maryland to Carnesville, Georgia (I-85 Exit 166).

573 Miles.

30 gallon tank.  Ford F250 (Diesel) pickup truck.

$120 fillup? Ouch!

A former neighbor had the same truck, except with a gas V10 motor.  He got about half the miles per gallon using regular unleaded fuel.  So even though Diesel is not the cheap fuel it once was, I'm still ahead.

[ce929wax]

466 miles from Corinth, KY to Holland, MI in a 2007 Saturn Aura XE.

[corco]

A former neighbor had the same truck, except with a gas V10 motor.  He got about half the miles per gallon using regular unleaded fuel.  So even though Diesel is not the cheap fuel it once was, I'm still ahead.

I drove a loaded E-350 Uhaul with that gas V-10 a month or so ago...managed a whopping 9.3 MPG with as much torque as my grandma generates when she turns a crescent wrench from Arizona to Montana, the whole way wondering why Uhaul doesn't have diesel vans.

[djsinco]

The reason U-Haul does not have diesel moving trucks (except for a few of their larger ones,) is simple; $$$
U pay for gas, they pay for the cheapest engine they can get.

[kphoger]

I'd rather drive a gasoline truck than a diesel truck in the cold winter anyway.  Gelling up is no fun.