What's your average miles when first fuel bar goes down?

It is going to vary depending on mpg achieved during that first segment. Thus you need that info to be able to determine if your mileage is normal or not. There will be a big difference between someone who got 70mpg for that segment vs. someone getting 42mpg.

 

not sure how much it will help you but I noticed yesterday the first bar disappeared. I was at 90mi on that tank.

 

Mine dropped one bar from full today at about 72 miles.

 

The first bar does not seem to drop proportionately with the last bars. I notice it because it gets my hopes up. I keep thinking I will have 9 times 70 miles = 630 miles on the trip meter by the time the 9th bar drops and it is time to refuel. Alas, I have yet to end up with better than 420 miles on the tank before needing to refuel. This is not because I drive so much more conservatively immediately after refueling. I am speculating that the initial bar drops later and later depending on how much the automatic cutoff on the gas dispenser nozzle allows the tank to be over filled...

 

On tank 2 (first tank filled by dealer), I was at 82 miles before the fuel gauge went down one tick.

 

70-80 miles.


Tom

 

I believe it will depend on how full you fill up your car. For instance our Prius
will take another 2 gallons of gas once the pump first clicks off, this will fill up
the tank to the top of the neck. I know about the implicatons of the evap.
canister filling up with gas, and I have only filled like this a few times
and when I did I was traveling and began driving immediately.

In this case the first bar on the gas guage will drop at about 160 miles or so.

I am not sure of the Prius C, but I am sure once the pump first clicks off you could still
put in another gallon or so.

 

I've only filled my PC2 tank twice now, and both times I was able to get another half gallon in after it first shut off. Since the tank itself only holds 9.5 gallons, and I had put 8.5 gallons in, I didn't want to push the issue and end up with a spill.

 

Third tank of gas, first tick down at 92.7 miles (filled with Shell 87 octane).

 

72.5 miles

 

I think we see the same exaggeration but in reverse when it gets to the last flashing bar. Miles-to-go will say 60 but then go to 0 in about 20 miles of actual travel.

 

I think you are expecting too much accuracy, linearity, and consistency from a crude cost-minimized indicator.

All my non-hybrid car fuel gauges displayed inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies. While Toyota did provide a digital display instead of an old-fashioned analog needle, it didn't raise the bar much on this issue.