I have driven over 4,000 miles in my 2011 II, base. The guide says I have an 11.9 gallon tank. But every time I fill up, and I mean every time, it is only 9.7 or 9.8 gallons. And I wait until the last pip is blinking and flashing at me. What the heck is going on? On a side note, since the warm up I learned how to glide and am getting around 56 mpgs on the current tank. I live in Wisconsin.
That is standard. One owner says he drives about 100 miles after the light starts blinking befor he fills up. I just filled up for the first time after letting the "miles to empty" figure get to ZERO and gues what.............9.8 gallons.
Wouldn't it be awful if you drove the car and the Miles to Zero went to Zero AND the car stopped! Car manufacturers (for decades) have built in a reserve into the gas tank, such that when the gas tank indicator reads "Empty" there is usually a gallon or two left over as reserve so the driver can get to the nearest gas station and refuel. When the DTE = 0 miles, you will typically have 1.8 - 2 gallons left in the tank. That gives you about 90 - 100 miles range to get to a gas station.
Completely normal. Lots of threads about it here. It there wasn't a safety margin below the low fuel warnings, a huge number of drivers would misjudge the remaining fuel range and get stranded by dry tanks. The primary Gen3 thread for this was started by Bob Wilson, who runs cars out of fuel for fun and sport: [WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III).
http://priuschat.com/forums/other-cars/94001-gas-gauge-says-full-but-thats-not-quite-true-npr.html might be insightful, even though it's a Ford engineer speaking.
True capacity when filled up to the filler neck, where you can see standing fuel, is probably over 13 gallons. When the gas pump click off on auto you can still nurse in 2 extra gallons filling it right up to the top of the neck. I know this a no no by most people...
I have done the same thing for drives from San Bernardino to Reno, and vice versa, on Hwy 395 (about 500 miles). I've never had a problem and it beats the high cost of gas in this remote part of the western US.
