When does the fuel light turn on?

i don't know about yours, but mine doesn't have a light. the last bar starts flashing and there is a very quiet, very quick beep, when you're down to the reserve.

 

How many miles to empty is showing on your display?

 

how many mpg's are you averaging? 50 x 12 is 600, that's pushing it.

 

you have to toggle through the trip display button. trip a, trip b, odometer, dte.

 

There is no "Low Fuel Light"
The Last Bar on the gas gauge starts to flash with usually 26 miles left till empty according to the Trip odometer setting that shows "miles to empty".
When the "Miles to Empty" indicator reaches zero I have 2 gallons left.
I have filled it up at that point many times.
So....Two gallons left is about 100 miles or more.
I usually run past the zero to 50 to 80 miles or more.
That how I regularly get 600 out of a tank.
My usual MPG is 54 to 58 calculated.
Sometimes I only get 50 mpg if I've been speeding too much.

My 2009 Corolla was almost exactly the same.
Low fuel light came on with 26 miles indicated on "Miles to Empty"
At zero miles to empty it would still have 2 gallons left.

The EPA number on that car was 35......I routinely got 37 to 39. Got 40 once by driving 55 mph from San Diego to Santa Barbara & Back.

 

depends on how far you like to push it. i get 60 mpg, so 600 miles when the pip starts flashing. that's when i fill up. some will go deep into the reserve, and some will run out of gas.

 

Mine (current 2012, previous 2010) will go about a half gallon with the last bar steady, before it starts flashing with a single beep alert. There is no separate warning light.

Mine would have no problem getting to 500 from this point, but the first tank is absolutely not a reasonable time to test the bottom levels of the tank. Fill it up now to confirm that your gauge is working 'normally'. You ought to get about 8.5 - 9 gallons in on this refill, to the first or second click of the pump auto-shutoff.

After confirming that the gauge is normal, read the first post of this thread before pushing beyond the flashing last bar next time: [WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III) | PriusChat

And you should get several tanks of practice and familiarity with the car before putting much effort in joining the 600 mile club.

 

babying is in the eye of the beholder. but length of trip, weather, hvac use, topography, and other factors can have a serious effect on mpg. it's flat around here, i drive the speed limit or less, pulse and glide, drive to the furthest part of my trip then work my way back, moderate use of a/c and heat, no one else in the car, blah,blah, blah.

 

Don't try too hard yet, it is easy to unintentionally sabotage your results. Instead, drive normally (for you) for a couple tanks to get familiar with the car, and get a baseline MPG. Then try to work up from that. The baseline will help let you know when you are going the wrong way.

Then read up on hypermiling. Numerous members have their favorite threads here on PriusChat. I started elsewhere before coming here, these are the two threads at CleanMPG.com that most helped me:
Beating the EPA - The Why’s and How to Hypermile
Pulse and Glide plus Warp Stealth in the Prius II for maximum FE …

See also the MPG vs speed chart here. If you are driving faster the 60 mph, then don't expect 60 mpg.
Updated MPG vs MPH chart | PriusChat

 

i use mobil 87 typically, but i've never heard of a particular brand increasing mpg's.

are you running your tyres at 44/42 f/r? and correct oil at proper level?

 

You seem to have two, completely disconnected goals, lol.

 

Yeah could be, my bad. My 2 cents: concentrate on mpg, forget about miles per tank. Just fill up when it's getting lowish: scraping the bottom has no benefit.