What am I doing wrong?

Why would they leave 2 gallons of gas when the fuel gauge is empty. That doesn't make much sense to me.[/QUOTE]

It makes perfect sense......Toyota does not want you running the Prius out of fuel......it's not good for the car.

Want better mileage, slow down !!!!!!

 

Cars, for as long as I have driven, have had a built in "emergency" amount of gas. Basically when the gas gauge goes to "E", there was usually a gallon or two left so the "inattentive" could nurse it to a gas station without being stranded.

It probably is very difficult/expensive to exactly measure the amount of gasoline in a tank, but having an artificial "empty" that is +1.5 to + 2 gallons from true empty is likely easy and inexpensive.

 

Because it is a high-mpg hybrid, it doesn't need as much for safety margin (for inattentive drivers and for the occasional horrible-mpg conditions) as a non-hybrid needs.

My Subaru has more than 4 gallons below E, my last Ford had about 3 gallons below E. That was better than my first Ford, which ran dry above E.

 

Don't worry about miles per tank. The car basically hides about two gallons that are only possible to tease out if you drive with the "0 miles" range left. I get around 50 mpg or 49 or something like that and regularly drive until the range indicator is at or near 0 and yet still only get 500 miles on a tank because a good two gallons are in reserve.

Others have found, btw, that when you do get that 0 miles range left you have at the very least one gallon left and probably closer to two, so you can use that in the future if you think you're almost out of gas.

 

I'm not a prius owner yet, but the first thing that jumped out at me was the OPs use of econ.
I would think that switching to power or at least normal would have some effect
given the driving conditions he mentioned.
Again, I don't own so you guys please correct me if I'm way off.

 

The OP's problem is his driving style. Changing from Econ to Normal or Power likely won't have any effect. He continually refers to miles per tank rather than MPG, but yet said his previous car got 18mpg (PT Cruiser?). Knowing that fact, since it also had a 4 cyl, it comes down to driving style. Given the OP's combination of current driving style and driving conditions, he will never get better mileage.

 

I run AC all the time on low fan setting and can consistently get over 60 mpg. This current tank with 300 miles I'm at 65 mpg. don't understand what the issue is with people and AC. Just make sure you drive in a manner that consistently charges the battery every chance you get.

 

Use www.fuelly.com to track your mileage better. It's a great tool.

 

This past weekend I went for a trip to Indianapolis, IN and Chicago, IL (700 mile trip) and I averaged 68mpg going 60mph and 57mpg going 75mph. I normally get 50mpg going 70mph but I've noticed when I left MI my gas mileage went up dramatically. I'm assuming my poor gas mileage is due to the cold weather, wind, and all the hills Mi has to offer. Driving technique is a big factor in getting good gas mileage. You want to accelerate somewhere in the eco bar pulse & glide, and brake slowly to maximize battery charge. If you want to improve your gas mileage by 2-4mpg I highly recommend replacing the air filter with a K&N hi-flow intake. I did this with my Prius and it produced a little more throttle response at low rpm resulting in better mpg. As soon as I hit 120,000 miles with my Prius I plan on replacing my catalytic converter to a hi-flow to boost mpg. As for the Eco, Normal, & Power modes on the Prius it really doesn't do much except change the throttle response on the gas pedal. I just leave my mode eco at all times unless I'm driving in heavy traffic where I have to maneuver to get to a destination.