When I got the first 85, I had several of those close encounters, being accustomed to driving other vehicles right down to the empty mark before refueling. I once chugged it into a station, and another time when starting out from a traffic light, it bucked badly and started sputtering. I made a quick U turn in the road and went back to a station I'd just passed. Never did have to walk,.
As I learned more and more about the Fiero, I started resetting my trip odometer on each refill. It's very very seldom that I ever get less than a full tank of fuel. I joined Freddy Clarke's Fiero Newsgroup in my search for information and help and soon learned of the "1/4 tank or 150 mile, whichever comes first" rule.
The experience with the gas station could have been worse as happened to me and TopNotch. On the Polar Bear Run, he and I both needed to hit the restroom really badly. We buzzed into one in Jasper, hoping to get out and make a mad dash inside. You know how it is that the urge gets very urgent as you get closer to a restroom? Well, the station was closed but fortunately there was a Walgreen's across the street. Neither of us walked as we made our way to the back of the store.
Figure your gas mileage on every tank for about a month, average it then multiply by 8. That should give you a ballpark figure of how far to drive before refueling.