2009 BMW 750i: 20 Miles Plus on Zero Range

I would love to see video of a rich guy pushing his brand new BMW 7-series to a dumpy gas station... :-D

That said, there's something uniquely thrilling about being able to see how far you can go on a tank of gas without running out.

A $90,000 car and you're playing games with the gas fumes? It's obvious to me that:

a) you don't own this car so you don't care what happens to it, and

b) you're an idiot.

Jeez, I freak out when it beeps the first time. With like 40 Miles left.

What a rush

This is why these gauges and readouts have to have a ridiculous amount of safety built in, for nonsense like this. Thus, everyone's gauges are less than accurate.

The fuel pumps are cooled by the surrounding gas. So you are hurting the fuel pumps by doing this. But obviously you don't care as it's not your car.

Reason # 34 to not buy a car that Edmunds has gotten it's hands on...

"I would love to see video of a rich guy pushing his brand new BMW 7-series to a dumpy gas station... "

The rich guy in the 7-Series doesn't have to do that though... he just pushes the BMW Assist button (free for 4 years) and a truck will be there in no time with enough gas to get him to the nearest station.

Still... Scott, um why didn't you just get gas?? Running a car with DI down to fumes is not good...

it's funny how some of the editors don't seem to like that some of us comment that we would never EVER purchase a used IL test vehicle ... yet another example of why not.

Yeah, it can also do damage to your fuel line and fuel pump. The manual in my BMW even says it can damage your fuel system by running it low. Also, I found this on bimmerforums.com

From dagoo98:
"First of all, running your car low on gas, les than 1/4 tank causes contaminants to gather which in turns clogs your fuel filter and dirties your injectors. Also, gasoline cools the fuel pump, if you don't have a steady flow of gasoline in the fuel pump it begins to heat up and that causes damage over time. I have no idea how much one costs for my 540 but I don't want to find out because I want to stretch out a tank of gas.

If my word isn't enough, the manual explicitly states that driving the car after the range is less than 30 miles can cause extensive damage to your BMW and that's why it has the idiot gong informing you that you only have 30 miles left. It will and does cause damage, you may not see the results immediately but you will see them eventually."

You should watch the Seinfeld episode "The Dealership". Kramer does the exact same thing, in a rather hilarious manner.

"That, my friends, is a rush. "

I did that once when I was a teen. I thought I could make it and I was wrong. A and I wound up pushing a 5000lb car 15 miles. That's harder and more hellish than it sounds.

Now that I'm older and wiser (?), I never let the tank drop below 1/4th.

"I did that once when I was a teen. I thought I could make it and I was wrong. A and I wound up pushing a 5000lb car 15 miles. That's harder and more hellish than it sounds."

Really? Because that sounds pretty hard and hellish. :)

I'm entirely unconvinced that the Edmunds crew treats their long term vehicles worse than any other average driver on the street. Sure, they get tested thoroughly and see many many different drivers in their service time, but the Edmunds people seem to also know how to take care of their cars. Things like maintenance and inspections are actually done.

^^ That, and you got someone else to tell you what it's like to drive on an empty tank so you don't have to find out yourself.

I doubt doing this once or twice will ruin anything.

I did not notice the red lines at the bottom on new 7s. Where they get the design cue from? The Tron? I like the dash on last gen 7s better.

These pigs eat up a lot of gas so it doesn't really surprised me when I notice the tank below 1/4. Perhaps it might not be a bad idea to carry a gallon of gasoline just in case but then again I don't think it would be smart to carry something flammable in the drunk. I would be too tempted to set someone on fire. That's why I am huge in gun control, to make sure I don't shoot someone.

I was going to add a comment on how foolish it is to run the tank down to empty but I can't top what bkochuk had to say.

I'm waiting for one of the regulars to pop in and tell us that a CTS-V will go FIFTY miles after the range readout drops to zero...

Oh it will roadburner, it will.

I keep coming back to this article to stare at that clean and clear gauge cluster. Well done BMW; it's old school classy like the front lit gauges on Mercs and older Bimmers but still looks modern and futuristic with that cool info display thing. It's just pleasant to look at and there appears to be no blinding neon blue or quickly dated graphics anywhere. How a proper functional gauge cluster should be.

I think that one of these days you guys ought to run one of your fancier cars all the way down to where it chokes and dies. And make sure you do it on the freeway during rush hour.