When to fill up

Shortly after getting my first Prius (funny saying that - just bought a Prius "v" two days ago) I read on the awesome Prius Chat forums that, provided you reset your trip computer at each fill-up, if you multiply your MPG by 10, the result will be the number of miles you can conservatively go on that tank. The number 10 was chosen because it is conservative (it's an 11.9 gallon tank) and it allows you to do the mental calculation easily. So for example, if your MPG is 57.2, multiply that by 10 and you know that you can go 572 miles - conservatively. I've done this for every fill-up (152) and have never run out of gas, plus have the benefit of fewer visits to the gas station.

 

It does't matter which one you reset. Personally, I always use the B trip. It's the one I reset for my fill-ups and the one that's on all the time so that I can monitor my MPG. My A trip has never been reset. I like that it displays my lifetime MPG.

 

The trip A is reset when the 5,000 mile light is reset, from what I've read. I also read there is another way to reset the maintenance light without resetting trip A. What is the real deal about this?

I purchased my Prius used and have not had to do this yet.

 

I have never heard that. I bought my 2010 Prius new and my trip A has never been reset.

 

I'm almost invariably in familiar territory, but still have a rule: any time I'm rolling by a Chevron and gauge is even slightly below half, I pull in and fill up. And this is maybe every 3~4 weeks, so no big deal.

What was the question again?

 

you can reset the 'maintenance required' message by putting trip a on the display, shutting the car off, hold down the kph/mph button and turning the car on. you will see a progress line go across the screen, and the message disappear. i don't think it resets trip a automatically.

 

Thanks. That's good to know it will not clear out Trip A.

 

if you take it to the dealer for the maintenance needed, they might clear out trip a though.

 

Going to a dealer, for me, that will never happen unless it's there for traction battery warranty work (53,000 miles to go). I can not tell you how much I dislike dealers. I enjoy working on my car and truck.

But, thanks for the "heads ups".

Cheers!

 

Several members of this forum have run the car out of fuel. Search for that and you will find it's not a good idea. None of them have damaged the fuel pump (that they currently know of) but I suppose it is possible. It is cooled by the fuel flowing through it.

When in town I fill up around half a tank. When on a trip, I fill up when it's below half a tank, I'm stopping anyway, and the fuel station looks "professional" (some of them look like they are run as a hobby). The Prius uses so little fuel I don't really care what the price is.

 

All this talk about trip meters, there's one I really like, pretty bullet-proof: the odometer.

 

It depends on how fumble-figured the oil change guy is. Or the driver.

My 2010 was reset by shops twice. And by the driver more times than that. That is why my lifetime MPGs are based on paper fuel logs (entered into spreadsheets), not on a simple trip meter.

My new Subaru does have a lifetime MPG display separate from Trip A/B, and far more difficult to accidentally reset.

 

All of my fuel logs are also recorded separately. But I like to keep the running lifetime total of the car's record to compare it against mine. The car reads 51.x, and actual is 49.x (I'm not at my car right now to look).

 

When to fill up
Whenever you want to.
The G3 has an 11.8 gallon tank.
I usually go until the low fuel warning, and then I go another 40 miles or so and I'm able to put about 10 gallons in the tank at the first click.

That means that for my car (a 2010) I have well over a gallon in the tank remaining
YMMV.

I wouldn't worry about the fuel pump.
I'm thinking that the fuel inside the pump does most of the cooling, and Prius drivers are always making Olympic tank distance performances:
600 Mile Club | PriusChat
700 Mile Club | PriusChat
800+ Mile Club | PriusChat

In my 5 years of Priusdom I've not heard of anybody zorching their fuel pump.
Not once.
I have heard of more than one person sucking a tank dry...and with all of these people wanting to brag about putting all of these miles on one tank, I'm guessing that if there were a real danger of damaging the car, at least one of these members would have done so by now, so be not afraid!

Fill it up when YOU want to.

 

I may be odd-man-out, I don't track my mileage, other than seeing what my individual trip was and not resetting my trip "B".

I just don't care right down to the mile what I'm getting. As long as it's somewhere around 40 to 55 depending on that day, I'm happy. I sit in the car while my wife shops (with the air conditioning on), and that brings down the mileage. I bought this car because we're moving and I will have a 35 mile commute each way to work. My 4x4 truck gets about 14 mpg. My fuel savings will pay for the Prius.

Also, I like high tech stuff, so this car is right up my alley. Waiting for a self driving car. Wish I had the lane keeping and auto brakes option.

 

Sitting with the AC on makes the gas mileage worse. Over all, the Prius AC is very efficient. On auto with low demand it draws as little as 650 watts of electrical power. When the traction battery gets to about 40% the ICE starts up to recharge the TB up to about 45 - 50%. When the battery is back down to 40% it goes through the cycle again.

I am attaching a picture of my EngineLink HD IPad app that I monitor. It shows the AC horse power demand on the battery.