Yea, but it doesn't get as good an mpg score ... and, it won't run in pure EV mode. But meah - it's still a nice ride. As for ignoring the blinking pip ... I used to go as far as 20 - 30 miles that way. But I kept a 2 gallon plastic reserve jerry can w/ me when I chose to test the limits. So it takes a good amount of ignore'ing to run dry. Lastly, for future reference (being a 28yr veteran at the happiest place on earth) - Disney (both east and western states) service garage will come out and comp you a gallon. All you have to do is say, "hey, I'm in the 'goofy' lot (or which ever) ... please rescue me from my self. And they will.
I haven't run out of petrol yet. One time though I went 1042 km on a single tank, so it must have been close.
Only time mine has ever been down to one pip was when I loaned it to my Bride while her Camry was in the shop. I wandered down to the neighborhood Mobil Station and added $5 worth. That's about a gallon off base, and I figured it'd be more than enough to drive to Andersen AFB where gas was about $1/gallon cheaper. Not knowing any better, I was pretty freaked out when the gauge didn't move, and more-so when it didn't move after I added $20 at the next village. I was VERY relieved when the gauge came right up after I filled it on base, thought she might have damaged something and invoked an expensive repair. Now I gas up at about three pips remaining. I think it's kind of fun, especially if there's a guy filling an F-150 or equivalent so I can loudly beetch about spending "$20!" (grin).
Why should the car be left in ready ? And why 3+ gallons (I presume you say that as a minimum.) Ignorant minds want to know.
The Prius took 10.995 gallons according to my receipt. I still had 1 bar left of battery showing but the vehicle had stopped. I'm not sure what the battery level was when it ran out of gasoline. Fortunately, that area of Florida is pretty flat. After I got the car rolling, I was just taking the car for a walk. When fueling it, I had left it in READY. Not intentionally. I had just hit the P button and got out to fill it up. I usually don't push the Prius to get the most out of a tank. Truth is, we had arrived at WDW in really early AM hours. I simply figured I'd fuel it before we left for home. Usually once at WDW we don't touch the vehicle again until we leave. That day was unusual and I wound up driving so we could meet our dining reservations at two parks. I actually had forgotten that it was low on gas and really don't remember receiving any further notification until it stopped driving and said, "Add Fuel". When you are a single father taking your DD9 and her 3-year-old sister to WDW, you tend to forget a lot that week. Actually Hill, my Insight is a 2000 model. It gets better mpg than my Prius.
Running out of gas or driving on the battery? Running out of gas isn't especially bad. It has the usual downsides: not cooling the fuel pump and getting to the crud in the bottom of the fuel tank. Other than that it is mostly an inconvenience. Driving on the battery is a different story. To get long battery life, the Prius babies the battery, never letting it charge too high or discharge too low. It is an effective strategy. To avoid damage, a Prius will shut down before the battery can get too low. You can force it to go farther by restarting. By doing this repeatedly, you can pull the battery down to a very low level. This should be avoided for two reasons: 1) You may need to pay Toyota to bring in the regional HV battery charger. This can take a couple of days and isn't cheap; 2) It isn't good for the battery and will shorten its service life. Running out of gas in a Prius should be handled the same way as with any gas car: pull over, stop, and go get gas. Tom
Well, I wouldn't say anybody is ignorant for not knowing, it is very different from any ordinary car. First, the gas guage is set up such that anything less than three gallons won't change the sensor reading. There was a technical explanation somewhere, I'll try to find it. Now, in their wisdom, the Prius programmers also required, when the car is run out of gas, that you must put enough gas in so it doesn't immediately run out again. I guess they weren't figuring that this car goes further than just about anything else on drops of gas. That minimum is three gallons. Also, once you've tried to restart an out of gas Prius three times, the car goes into a protection mode and won't start again without clearing the code. A dealer can clear the code for a sufficient amount of money, or you can disconnect the 12V battery.
That was very helpful. I assumed that the computer was doing work to keep the battery between a certain charge level.
Oops, is this true? Also for the non-bladder Prius? I just did my first ever 600* mile tank today and even stretched it to 1000.1km (~621 miles). The last blip had been blinking for 55+ miles and I was on my way to a meeting with only a 5l (1.3gallon) jerrycan in the back... Guess I dodged a bullit there... Even though I am fairly certain we don't have the bladder gastank in Europe, I 'only' managed to fill 45 liters (it's a 45 liter (11.88 gallon) gastank according to the specs) whereas the last fillup was 46.3 liters (12.3gallon) iirc It's been exceptionally warm here the last couple of weeks (up to 70-90F where 55-65F is normal for this time of year), so combined with long slow (55mph) highway runs finally get my numbers somewhat closer to the hypermilers on here. * I tried finding a 600mile thread in the Gen2 forum, but couldn't find one, hence me resurrecting this thread from the dead
I'm sitting here thinking, it must be terribly embarrassing running out of gas in a Prius! I hope I never do that.
3 times. First 2 times on purpose in the neighborhood with gas stations nearby, just to find out how much the tank would hold. It took over 13 gallons each time, but this is in FL. Could be 3-5 gallons less in freezing temperatures. Last time was accidental at night when most stations were closed. I think it took 13.1 gallons that time. The car shuts off before the battery is completely depleted. Each time the car stated right up after adding fuel. Not recommended, but there is a security protection measure in place. I imagine if you fill up each time and adequately recharge the battery afterwards, given you don't allow this to happen every tank, the battery will recover a few times with no issues.
