ICE vehicle fuel tank sizes are shrinking
Posted by Specialist_Heron_986@reddit | Autos | View on Reddit | 53 comments
ICE driving range hasn't improved in conjunction with gains in fuel economy where your average non-hybrid CUV still barely manages 350-400 miles per tank with mid-sized 4cyl sedans about 100 miles better. After a little digging, it's because fuel tank sizes for many popular models have been shrinking. Some examples comparing 2015 vs. 2025 models:
- Chevy Equinox: 18.8 to 15.6 gallons
- Ford Escape: 15.5 to 14.8 gallons
- Honda CRV: 15.3 to 14 gallons
- Hyundai Sonata: 18.5 to 15.9 gallons
- Toyota RAV4: 15.9 to 14.5 gallons
- Toyota Camry Hybrid: 17 gallons to 13 gallons (was 13.2 gallons in 2024)
Maybe it's to save weight or provide space for other components but its still unfortunate for those owners hoping to reduce their frequency of gas station visits.
FocusedADD@reddit
Any pound saved is a pound you don't have to propel down the road, stop, or turn. Improves economy, improves tire wear(cost of ownership), improves performance. Buyers have shown they'll accept a ~350 mile range so they keep it right around there.
Shrinking the tank also makes the average idiot see their more efficient car is cheaper to run, since they have to fuel with the and frequency and see the smaller number on the pump. I'd be willing to bet you handed someone a Mazda 3 or whatever with a 35 gallon tank they'd only notice it costs twice as much to fill ignoring that they're fueling only half as often.
AbzoluteZ3RO@reddit
This is absolutely true. I hear people talking about how much it costs to fuel up. They never talk about how often, or how much mileage they're getting.
GreaseGeek@reddit
Or how big their tank is. Yeah my Raptor with 36 gallon tank costs well over $100 to fill but my Miata with an 11 gallon tank has yet to cost me $40
withoutapaddle@reddit
This is me too!
RX-7 and F-150.
The former gets about 200mi of range, and the latter 800mi, haha. Yes, the truck has a 36gal tank, but the sad part is, even as a 5000lb brick, it gets better mileage than the RX-7.
geoff1036@reddit
RX-7 is an unfair comparison, rotaries just absolutely chug fuel đ
withoutapaddle@reddit
Unfair, but funny. In like a "laugh because otherwise you'll cry when you get 17mpg in a tiny car" kind of way.
GreaseGeek@reddit
I get about 450-500 miles in n my Raptor. Heâs a thirsty one. I try to fill up at half tank to keep the bill less shocking.
Blog_Pope@reddit
That is 100% the reason I don't own a Truck (well, that and teh 15 mpg if you are lucky). I was very close to buying an F-150 when the dealer mentioned the 35 gallon tank and my immediate thought was its going to cost $150 to fill (gas was like $4.50 at the time)
I bought a sport sedan and rent a truck when needed now.
irregularcontributor@reddit
Love hearing people brag about how something "only costs 50 bucks to fill up!". But past that I think it subconsciously makes a difference even to those of us that know logically, it does not.
PonyThug@reddit
Then why do they include glass sun roofs, luxury interiors, sound dampers, fancy wheels and all the other heavy stuff? 4 gallons of fuel is 24lbs, exactly the same weight of a single average aluminum car wheel. Thatâs between 100 and 140 extra miles a range.
Most people have more weight than that in junk in the car or the their trunk
Zorbick@reddit
They include those because they saved that mass in fuel and can now make their vehicle more premium without bumping up a cafe or carb class.
devilpants@reddit
And what is nicer. A quieter cabin or being able to carry an extra 4 gallons of fuel. Plus a bigger tank takes up more room, less aero under the car, etc.Â
PonyThug@reddit
A bigger take by 4 gallons wouldnât change anything about the room or aero lol. My truck has a 36 gal tank, vs the normal 23gal tank and the only difference is it is simply 20â or so longer. One is like 4ft long and the other is almost 6ft long. Tank weight difference is maybe 10-20lbs, full weight difference is 80lbs. So if I want better MPGs I simply half fill the tank by not driving a truck. But because I have a bigger tank I can drive an extra 200+ miles without refueling.
geoff1036@reddit
Trucks are built with much more wiggle room than cars. In a car, increasing the size of the tank would usually mean either shrinking the trunk, removing the spare tire, shrinking the backseats, or all of the above. In a truck you just hang it off the bottom of the truck.
PonyThug@reddit
Itâs definitely easier for trucks, but there were definitely pockets under my Subaru Impreza I could put a few gallon jugs right next to the tank if they optimized a little more.
Even dropping the OEM fuel tank 1â lower would add gallons of size, but then it would need a thicker bottom or skid plate, adding cost. My point is that I think a fair amount of people would pay for an upgrade if it was available
calmtigers@reddit
Some cars can be bought with high range fuel tank,
PonyThug@reddit
Yea some. Like my f150. But vast majority of âadventure carsâ like Subaruâs, mid size Toyota SUVs, donât have that option even tho they are the perfect candidate for an extra 100+miles of range
Leafy0@reddit
Nah itâs the opposite I think. It took me a long time to convince my wife her bronco is 3mpg better than our f150 because the bronco only gets like 280 miles between fillups and the f150 approaches 600 miles.
ChuckoRuckus@reddit
This here. Most donât pay attention to MPG or gallons they put in. Ask them how much fuel they use and theyâll say something like â$50 a tank, and every few daysâ. That info doesnât tell me shit.
junkybutt@reddit
I've always hated when people say this.
chaoshaze2@reddit
I am a bit annoyed with this too. I traded in a f 150 for a Ford edge to save on fuel and it does. I got around 17 mpg. My edge avg around 27 mpg. But I now have to stop for gas twice a week, when I only fueled up once a week with the truck. I save money but it cost me in time.
Much_Badger1654@reddit
Driving range equity.
meatmacho@reddit
Love my RAM 1500 and not only because of its 33 gallon tank. Sure, it only gets about 20 mpg on the highway, but that'll still get me a long, long way.
latch_on_deez_nuts@reddit
I have a 2015 sonata with the 18.5 gallon tank. Itâs nice because I can get 500-600 miles on a tank but filling that sucker up was tough during the gas price spike. Although not as bad as having a big olâ truck or SUV
blizzard7788@reddit
My 1977 Ford E-150 van had a 15 gallon tank and got 8-9 mpg.
ARottenPear@reddit
That sounded unbelievably small for a van of the era so I looked it up and could only find two tank sizes, 18 and 22 gallons.
blizzard7788@reddit
I donât know what to tell you. I had that van for 6 years. It never took more than 14.X gallons on fill up. I lived in North Dakota for two of those years and carried a Jerry can of gas with me. It was literally 50+ miles between towns with gas stations. Build quality in the mid to late seventies was not great for the big three auto makers.
coder7426@reddit
"empty" to full with an 18gal tank is probably 15gal.
NoradIV@reddit
It's strange that you mention that cars can "barely manage 400 miles" on a single fuel tank.
My '02 z06 has 18.5 gal. With the traffic I have to deal with in my commute, I get barely 300 miles out of a tank (considering that the low fuel light comes way before it's actually empty). I get barely 250 miles with my GMT-800, and that's if I drive at 70mph unloaded.
e36@reddit
Do these vehicles get better mileage, though? Just with some cursory googling I found that the 2015 Escape is rated for 25mpg combined and the 2024 Escape gets 30mpg combined. So taking those numbers into account:
2015: 25mpg * 15.5 gallons = 387.5 miles
2024: 30mpg * 14.8 gallons = 444 miles
So, at least on paper, the new models have more range than the older ones.
MyNameIsAirl@reddit
Yeah, one of the better parts of going from my 2015 Escape 1.6l to a 2022 Escape 2.0l is the increase in range and mileage. Went from getting around 24 mpg and filling up twice a week to getting 32 mpg and filling up once most weeks and sometimes on the weekend.
coder7426@reddit
People almost exclusively go by mpg not mpt.
element515@reddit
Eh. People talk mpg but care about mpt. You only really notice when you go to the gas station. How often and the cost. Majority of people never know their mpg once they buy the car
e36@reddit
Right. I was just showing that a smaller tank isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Mitch_Darklighter@reddit
This has been the standard for decades, cars are just generally built to get a 350-450 mile range. The average car built in 2021 has a range of 403 miles. My 80's Chevy sedan had a 25 gallon tank with 15mpg average for a 375 mile range. Random Google search any non-hybrid car average mpg and multiply it by the tank size.
1993 VW Golf - 27mpg * 14.5g = 391.5 mi
2005 Cadillac Deville - 22mpg * 18g = 396 mi
2011 Mini Cooper - 31mpg * 13.2g = 409.2 mi
sjgokou@reddit
Go EV and charge at home, youâll never visit a gas station or charge station.
juttep1@reddit
Bro 400-500 miles is 6+ hours of continuous highway driving. It makes way more sense to cut back on the weight and size of fuel
MarkVII88@reddit
2012 Mazda3 had 14.2g tank vs. 2022 model with 13.2g tank, and AWD models have 12.7g
U_Sam@reddit
The 12.7g tank in the turbo feels realllllly small. I can get 270-320 miles out of it but man does it go quick
TonalParsnips@reddit
Yeah its my least favorite part of the car, coming from an 18 gallon Highlander.
U_Sam@reddit
Yeah Iâm coming from an xterra and NA miata combo. It technically gets better mileage than both of them but the tank size kills it
funnyfarm299@reddit
When I can go 600 miles with a Camry, does it really need a bigger tank? Hybrids are amazing.
coder7426@reddit
My 2023 Supra holds 12 gal.
Hood_Mobbin@reddit
2023 escape 2.0l EcoBoost AWD and I get 500+ out of my tanks. I drive interstate mostly.
k-mcm@reddit
Range sucked in some older cars.
My 2007 Audi A3 3.2 Quattro S-Line had a range of 200 to 250 miles on mountain highways. Range anxiety was my primary reason for selling it.  My 2018 Golf R is essentially the same car but the newer engine on the same roads has a range of 400 miles.
reprezenting@reddit
We had 90-100lt tanks in our old falcons and commodores.
Now my bmw and Cupra both have around 50lt..
Novogobo@reddit
there's alot of reasons, but i'm totally sure some of it is deliberately sandbagging non hybrid versions to make the hybrid versions look better.
Diogenes256@reddit
I would like longer gas range in my cars personally, I live in the western US and I really do drive 500 plus miles here and there. It seems that the design standard is being met by about 300-350 miles and there is little marketing advantage to put a bigger tank in the vehicle.
Novogobo@reddit
my honda fit's gas tank is already tiny, less than 10 gallons, i'd hate it if it was shrunk so that it only got 350 miles between fillups rather than like 470. my time is actually worth something to me.
forsurenotsteve_@reddit
On my second truck with a 36 gallon tank. Canât go back.
Diogenes256@reddit
Heard that. Had a Tundra with the 26 while my buddy had the 38. That would be paradise.
danny_ish@reddit
Had a 95 suburban with dual 34âs, it was glorious. I often drove from D.C to Montreal, about 600 miles each way. I could do a round trip and not get gas for another week or two when back in town. Was awesome but I spent 30 min at the pump when it came time to fill. Could wipe all the windows, check the oil, and clean the interior and still have time left. Then NY got rid of the hold downs on gas handles, i started carrying a velco strap
AbzoluteZ3RO@reddit
It makes sense if you double the efficiency of the engine, you could cut the fuel tank in half and get another 10%(made up number) efficiency from reduced weight. Also maybe get more cargo space or w/e