Distance To Empty issue?

[X_BMW]

Had a question about DTE in the C7.5 A6. Is the DTE off quite a bit for anyone else? I have noticed that when I drive about 5 miles, the DTE usually drops about 15 miles and this has happened on every tank of gas on the same route to work I take 5 days a week. Also, the DTE is always measured in increments of 5s. Im not sure if thats the case for everyone. All of my other vehicles are usually pretty close to what the DTE shows.

[zabds319]

Mine is similar. When I fill up it’s usually at 450 miles, and then it will drop rapidly. I don’t know if the computer is counting on all highway miles and then I drive in the city (with worse mileage than the car expects) or what, but I don’t really rely on it. Every other car I have ever owned had a much much better DTE function.

[daytona rs7]

yes, the DTE is always in increment of 5's.

and the DTE at time of fill up is calculated based on your previous driving. example, if your last tank of gas was a road trip and you got 30mpg, then fill up after the road trip your DTE will be 600 miles. if immediately after your fill up you are driving around town gettin 20mpg, the DTE will drop rapidly because it was calculated based on "wrong" driving habits at fill up.

I have found my DTE somewhat accurate as long as my driving style stays the same before and after fill up.

[X_BMW]

yes, the DTE is always in increment of 5's.

and the DTE at time of fill up is calculated based on your previous driving. example, if your last tank of gas was a road trip and you got 30mpg, then fill up after the road trip your DTE will be 600 miles. if immediately after your fill up you are driving around town gettin 20mpg, the DTE will drop rapidly because it was calculated based on "wrong" driving habits at fill up.

I have found my DTE somewhat accurate as long as my driving style stays the same before and after fill up.

Thats the thing, my driving habit has always stayed the same. I drive to and from work 5 days a week (~ 15 miles roundtrip a day) and on weekends we take the wife's car since we have a few kids and my car sits in the garage. Once in awhile I will have a trip in my car but I have kept a track of the DTE from the day I bought the car and it still does the same. Since /u/zabds319 is experiencing something similar so its not just me but it might be just the A6. Not sure either way but dont see a point of DTE if its not accurate at all.

[zabds319]

Thats the thing, my driving habit has always stayed the same. I drive to and from work 5 days a week (~ 15 miles roundtrip a day) and on weekends we take the wife's car since we have a few kids and my car sits in the garage. Once in awhile I will have a trip in my car but I have kept a track of the DTE from the day I bought the car and it still does the same. Since /u/zabds319 is experiencing something similar so its not just me but it might be just the A6. Not sure either way but dont see a point of DTE if its not accurate at all.

Same. My driving habits and style are the most consistent and reliable thing in my life. Sometimes I’ll run an errand, 1 mile round trip, not aggressive driving or anything, and the DTE will drop 15 or more miles. It’s incredibly inaccurate. I only rely on it if I’m doing road trip-style interstate driving, which is like once a year.

[15 Phantom S6]

The distance to empty is always recalculating based on how yore driving. I't not very accurate, it's better as a guesstimate of what you'll get.. It's just like when the DTE is 0 or --, you still have 50kms or so before you actually run out of gas.. I intentionally ran out of gas and found this out..

[zabds319]

The distance to empty is always recalculating based on how yore driving. I't not very accurate, it's better as a guesstimate of what you'll get.. It's just like when the DTE is 0 or --, you still have 50kms or so before you actually run out of gas.. I intentionally ran out of gas and found this out..

Yeah I get that it’s an estimate. What bothers me is how it’ll drop 25 miles after 2 miles of tame driving. I have had many different cars from many different manufacturers and when they say 384 miles to empty you better believe 284 miles later, regardless of how I drove, it’ll say 100 miles to empty. Does the car die at “zero miles to empty”? Of course not. But my S7 estimate seems so arbitrary it’s annoying and I try to mostly ignore it but it bugs me.

[wuplur]

• The customer complains of one or more of the following issues:

‒ When the vehicle is completely refueled, the vehicle range (“distance to empty”) that is displayed is different than the vehicle range that was displayed the last time the vehicle was completely refueled.
‒ The displayed vehicle range drops inconsistently.
‒ After the vehicle is refueled, the displayed vehicle range does not change for a long period of time.
‒ When the vehicle is driven on hilly roads for a long period of time, the displayed vehicle range suddenly changes by a significant amount.

• There are no DTCs related to fuel senders stored in the instrument cluster control module, J285 (address word 17).
This condition does not involve or affect the accuracy of the fuel level indicator, but only the estimated distance to empty display on the on-board computer.

Technical Background

The primary purpose of the vehicle range display is to help prevent the vehicle from running out of fuel. As soon as the fuel gauge needle enters the red zone (well before the tank is empty), an audible warning and a low fuel indicator light activate, and the vehicle range display may show 0 miles (see owner’s manual for reserve fuel capacity volume).
The average and instant consumption figures shown in the on-board computer are not used for calculating the range. Instead, the range is calculated using an internal weighted value. Two different calculation methods (filter algorithms) are used for determining the range display.

For vehicles older than model year 2009:

Only consumption figures of the last 50 kilometers (31 miles) are included in the calculation. The last kilometer has the most weight and the first kilometer has the lowest.
If the vehicle is driven efficiently right before the vehicle is refueled, the displayed vehicle range could be much higher than it was after the previous fill-up. Conversely, if the vehicle is driven aggressively right before the vehicle is refueled, the displayed vehicle range could be much lower than it was after the previous fill-up

For vehicles from model year 2009 and newer:

A gradual driving profile is built from the last 50 kilometers (31 miles) and from the last 500 kilometers (310 miles). The short-term consumption figures over the last 50 kilometers (31 miles) and the long-term figures over 500 kilometers (310 miles) are included in the calculation, which is also based on the tank volume. With this method, the range display can only rise when the vehicle is driven efficiently for extended periods, resulting in a more accurate vehicle range.
Tip: In both methods, the range display after fill-up depends on the driving style before fill-up, so the range displayed after fill-up will not always be the same. In addition, the displayed vehicle range does not refer to the whole tank volume; it only indicates a trend based on the short-term to medium-term fuel consumption.

[coop3422]

The DTE on my C7 A6 has never been close. My commute and driving style are always the same. I'll fill up, it says 800km. I usually fill up with a quarter left, or 160-200km. I'm usually around 470km, tops is 520. I've tried dynamic, comfort, drive, sport, and manual. None of it seems to have a significant impact. I spend most my time in manual mode with dynamic steering and comfort throttle. I track everything through fuelly and usually average 20-21mpg.

I will say the bulk of my driving is during rush hour, into and out of downtown. If I worked at my old office, I'd probably see better numbers. I have a somewhat heavy foot. Lately I've been thinking about dual pulley....

[97B518TQM]

I only care about that number when gets to 50 or less.


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[doublezero30]

theyre never accurate in any car from my experience. like another person said, its based on your last fillup. so maybe you were a little heavier on the gas pedal last week than this week or vise versa. the only tried and true way that i calculate is reset the trip and divide the miles you drive by the amount of gas it takes to fill up

[coop3422]

theyre never accurate in any car from my experience. like another person said, its based on your last fillup. so maybe you were a little heavier on the gas pedal last week than this week or vise versa. the only tried and true way that i calculate is reset the trip and divide the miles you drive by the amount of gas it takes to fill up

I don't know if I believe that. Every time I fill up, it says I have 800km to empty. My driving habits are always the same. Mine doesn't seem to take it into account at all anyway.

[DeRico]

Mine drops pretty quick. It'll usually hang around the 150 range for a couple days then decrease to 95 and hang there for bit. Not concerned cause my driving habit is all over the place, one day I drive 85 the next its 70.

[doublezero30]

I don't know if I believe that. Every time I fill up, it says I have 800km to empty. My driving habits are always the same. Mine doesn't seem to take it into account at all anyway.

well, you dont have to believe everything

[X_BMW]

theyre never accurate in any car from my experience. like another person said, its based on your last fillup. so maybe you were a little heavier on the gas pedal last week than this week or vise versa. the only tried and true way that i calculate is reset the trip and divide the miles you drive by the amount of gas it takes to fill up

I have a complete different experience with all of my past experiences. I have and had multiple cars that show DTE and its pretty close to what the DTE shows no matter how I drive. I just sold my 535i and it was always within ~50 miles of what the DTE showed and I had that car for 7 years with the same commute I am making in my A6. Like I said initially, I drive the same route 5 days out of the week and rarely drive the car on the weekends and yet the DTE in the A6 is way way off. Driving style can not be that different if I am the only one driving the car and every tank fillup, driving 2 miles and DTE dropping 15 miles.

Yeah I agree resetting the miles is really the only way to get an accurate reading but just frustrating that its pretty useless in our cars and hard to just ignore it but oh well, just have to deal with it.

[WatchMeSpend]

The DTE on my C7 A6 has never been close. My commute and driving style are always the same. I'll fill up, it says 800km. I usually fill up with a quarter left, or 160-200km. I'm usually around 470km, tops is 520. I've tried dynamic, comfort, drive, sport, and manual. None of it seems to have a significant impact. I spend most my time in manual mode with dynamic steering and comfort throttle. I track everything through fuelly and usually average 20-21mpg.

I will say the bulk of my driving is during rush hour, into and out of downtown. If I worked at my old office, I'd probably see better numbers. I have a somewhat heavy foot. Lately I've been thinking about dual pulley....

Mine never says more than 750 km on a fill up. I do get better gas mileage in comfort mode vs dynamic because the shift points are way lower. I do have an APR Stage One tune and gas mileage in stop and go traffic is fantastic, especially when compared to my 2006 A6 4.2 S-Line. Pure highway gets even better. Drive in manual mode? Maybe on a short trip to the store, but with 445 HP on tap, if you press a little aggressively on the throttle in first or second, you are really speeding.

I'm thinking a single pulley Stage Two, but with a TCU tune to take advantage of all the power up top.

[coop3422]

Mine never says more than 750 km on a fill up. I do get better gas mileage in comfort mode vs dynamic because the shift points are way lower. I do have an APR Stage One tune and gas mileage in stop and go traffic is fantastic, especially when compared to my 2006 A6 4.2 S-Line. Pure highway gets even better. Drive in manual mode? Maybe on a short trip to the store, but with 445 HP on tap, if you press a little aggressively on the throttle in first or second, you are really speeding.

I'm thinking a single pulley Stage Two, but with a TCU tune to take advantage of all the power up top.

I think I'll tune it at some point. I use manual mode every day, but part of that is because I really miss having a manual car. If these were offered with a 6spd, I would have one.

I average around 11.5L/100km give or take 0.5L. I reset my trip every fill up, as well as track in Fuelly so I'd say I have a pretty solid idea of what it's doing from an economy stand point.

I'm sure I'd do way better if I wasn't going downtown during rush hour, to and from work. With that being the car, I'm okay with what I'm getting. It's just not close to what the DTE shows.

[esemes]

wish it could just be turned off, or cycled off.

[bknewtype]

I only care about that number when gets to 50 or less.


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this lol

its nice when i fill up and do straight highway miles and drive like 50 miles only to see it "gain" 10 miles for DTE. once the car turns off and i start driving again it starts dropping pretty quick, like its reevaluating and saying " I'm taking those 10 miles back, and more "

and this has been true for ALL my audis.

[Valpo A7]

When I fill up our stock 2012 A7 I will consistently see 510 - 550 miles ( 820 - 885 KM) DTE. 90% of my driving is highway. I think the closest I ever ran it to completely empty is 440 miles (~ 710KM) and I put about 18 gallons in it. I think it still said about 25 miles DTE.

I fill the tank Sunday night or Monday morning and then again Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I can go 3 working days between tanks. I'll have enough gas to get to work but not home on the 4th day. I rack up about 750 - 800 miles each week thanks to my 125 mile round trip for work 5 days a week.

[Vinng86]

this lol

its nice when i fill up and do straight highway miles and drive like 50 miles only to see it "gain" 10 miles for DTE. once the car turns off and i start driving again it starts dropping pretty quick, like its reevaluating and saying " I'm taking those 10 miles back, and more "

and this has been true for ALL my audis.

I've seen this in other cars as well. I think it's just taking the fuel efficiency at startup, which is always bad because it's not at operating temperatures yet. By the time the engine's already warmed up you've consumed enough fuel for those extra 10 miles.