Do these things EVER use gas?

They are easy on gas, but don't get too excited. They aren't known for precise fuel gauges. Long term average for that model is about 43 miles / US gallon.

 

What is the MPG display showing?

As for the gauge, beware that, for a variety of cost and 'customer expectation management' reasons:
(*) the top of the gauge is not at actual top of the tank;
(*) the bottom of the gauge is not at the actual bottom of the tank;
(*) the bars are not necessarily linear;
(*) repeatability from tank to tank is less than ideal.

Therefore don't read much into your observation of being down only a single bar at 90 miles. The gauge is simply not accurate enough to make any projections from that.

 

Do you ever hear the engine running...

 

mine is self charging...

 

Not only do Prius cars NOT use any gas, they actually make gas as you drive. In fact, the reason you lost one bar off the fuel gauge is because the car has made too much gas while you drove it and some spilled out and now you are down a bar.

Seriously, I get about 45 mpg average over the past 2.5 years of ownership in a place that has all 4 seasons. The fuel gauge is very inaccurate. The first pip takes longer then others (sometimes, but other times it doesn't). The gas tank has a bladder that expands and contracts as you use the gas up and in cold weather older bladders do not expand all the way and you can only get 7 gallons or less into them. Yet the fuel gauge happily shows all 10 bars when that happens. What most of us Gen 2 owners do is track each fill up and miles driven on that and average that out. I personally (and many others) use fuelly and you can see my track record in my signature. You can text fuelly right at the pump and it will keep your record updated. I find it very useful.

Oh, and do not run this car out of gas! Gen 2 will run your hybrid battery down in case of fuel outage. This will not be pleasant to deal with as it will need to be towed to the dealer and hybrid battery charged before the car works again. So fill it up very soon after the last bar starts to blink (or before then). Best of luck!

 

Saw one of my co-workers at the gas station after work one morning and he asked why I was buying. I smiled and jokingly told him the gas had gone bad from time and I was trading it in for fresh.

It's hard to beat Prius as a daily driver...even for those of us that drive "normal".

 

What makes it nice is using gasbuddy.com to see the local prices.
You can be a bit choosy.

And not having to fill up every day like some of the big SUV or whathaveyou.

I do have to push mine until last light blinking or miles per empty is way past zero,
BUT BUT I have a gen3 and a "c" which is a bit better and I do this because
I have to allow $20 bill to fit worth of gas in.

Since gas pricing has been dropping hard, $2.36 in my neck of the woods,
I am seriously considering doing a $10 bill and just filling at 2 bars rather than pushing my luck.

With the Gen2, I hear a lot more running out of gas, so dont push it.

 

I just filled up my 2006 Gen2 earlier today for $2.379/gallon. In order to determine distance to empty (AKA "DTE") I have been using my fillup gallons and average mpg for the last five fillups in order to determine DTE. For example, my last fillup (prior to today's fillup) was 8.125 gallons on a 54F day and my mpg average was 48mpg. Thus, calculated DTE was 390 miles (8.125gal x 48mpg). I drove 10 miles past DTE in order to try and figure out maximum range on Gen2.

Prior to fillup, I traveled exactly 400 miles (furthest distance ever between fillups) but the tank only took 7.825 gallons today (a 40F day - I attribute underfill to lower temp than last fillup).

My last blin (AKA pip) first showed up at 265 miles. While the last blin began flashing at 310 miles. IOW, I drove ninety ("90") miles with a flashing blin. By the way, the last 15 miles were driven on a local highway where there is a gas station about every quarter ("1/4") mile. Sad to say but I am essentially treating the current Gen2 gas gauge readings as so inaccurate that they are worthless.

PS I drove about five miles back from the gas station. Later today, I will try to recalibrate the fuel gauge (and perhaps have a semi functioning fuel gauge).

 

I only burned half a tank in my '19 ZR1 last night...but I won every dig and roll.

 

Wouldn't chance it with the bladder tank. It'll cost ya.

 

I wouldn't bother. Just drive it and fill up when the blinking starts. It's one of those Gen 2 quirks that is just not worth wasting time on, IMO. My gauge is reasonable, but it is a Gen 2 fuel gauge, so reasonable has a different meaning here. I use it strictly as a very coarse indicator. Almost a go-nogo kind of thing. Is it time to gas up or not? If the thing is blinking, I try to fill up ASAP, otherwise keep driving and look at my consumption screen for how much I traveled on the current tank and what my indicated economy is and how much fuel I put in last tank. It is not super-critical, so I stopped worrying about it and learned to love it. This car gives me so much ownership enjoyment that I forgive its few silly quirks. Instead I am very impressed with its robustness and fuel economy and (so far) reliability. I have owned many cars in my life from many manufacturers and this one is really the best so far. 224K miles and still drives like new. So the fuel gauge is crap, big deal!

 

Oh, yes, it also makes brake pads and rotors! The do not get used up, but rather get newer and newer as you drive.

 

Don't try to go until that last bar is gone, because it won't go away. At least, not until there isn't enough electricity left in the batteries to keep the ignition turned on and displays lit. At that point, you have a serious problem with the traction battery.

A single blinking bar is as low as it goes. It isn't like my Subaru where that bottom bar goes completely off.

 

Banksy - I'm a little late to the party here but I'll throw in my two cents' worth anyway. There are some threads around here about the "guess gauge" and the inconsistent gaps at the top end before it goes down a bar. I've had it drop a bar anywhere from 50 to 174 miles. Others have reported the same. In the end it all evens out pretty consistently by the time you get near the bottom of the gauge.

With the rubber bladder in our North American tanks, though, the amount the gas tank holds is very inconsistent. The tank may hold from 8 to 11 gallons on any particular fill. Waiting until that last bar starts flashing is not a good idea nor is trying to always get a high number of miles on each tank,. That flashing bar might mean having less than five miles left in the tank to 75 miles left. My rule of thumb is to just fill it when convenient after it's down to two bars (or just started the last bar). It's a lot more "stress-free" driving that way. You don't become distracted obsessing over miles per tank, staring at the gauge all the time, etc.

One more thing to note. Because of the inconsistencies, calculate the mpg at the pump or use an app. The mpg number on the MFD screen is noted for being a little optimistic but from tank to tank it can off by as much as 10 or 15% either way. Coupled with the varying amount the tank holds, it can take a few tanks to spot trends and problems. too.

Most important of all, just drive and enjoy the car.

 

Oh, yes, we forgot to tell you. All the money the car makes for you in gas you spend on battery. Sorry to hear about the triangle of death. But from your other threads I gathered that it was a $500 refurb job from previous owner and may still be under warranty. I hope it works out well for you. But the best thing to do for battery is to replace with new. Refurbs simply use modules that are too old at this point and will not be reliable.