also the volume of gas changes with temp. gas volume expands as temp goes up
not appreciably...only if "gas" was truely a gas (as in vapor), then its volume would increase with temperature, and marginally at that! For example, 1 "gal" (technically should be in volume) of gas vapor would only increase to 1.06 for a 20 degree increase (ie, 70F to 90F)
Probably a semantically better way to phrase this, to avoid any confusion, would be like this:
The total volume of the tank is 8.7 US Gallons. 1.3 of that is considered Reserve, and the trip odometer switches to a tank countdown mode when 1.0 gallon remains in the tank.
To be honest, they could avoid all this confusion by not ever mentioning the word "reserve." It confuses everyone. It's not a 1959 VW where you can reach up front and flip the lever to get one more gallon when you run out.
This is actually a myth confirmed by AAA. The outside air temperature does not effect the gas you are pumping, because the tanks that hold the gas are many feet under ground, where if anything, it is much colder ;)
Also, just a thought, how much gas does the fuel lines hold? Might that be where the 'inaccuracies' stem from?
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