What's the range once the gas light comes on?

why would you want to run out of gas?

Toyota is trying to insure you don't, as it takes a particularly bad toll on a hybrid.

 

it is more convenient to have your Prius towed to the dealer?

 

It depends on what your average mpg will be during the remaining gallon or two of gas. If you do not charge and just continue driving then you can make assumptions based on your projected average mpg. If you are tooling along on the highway at 65mph then you can probably go at least another 50 miles or 100 miles. After that things get dicey. The general rule of thumb that Codyroo came up with for current MFD average x10 (50mpg x10 = 500 miles) doesn't apply well to a PIP for obvious reasons.

I regularly go 50 miles after the light starts blinking as long as I am maintaining over 50mpg average.

 

Suggest you fill it up at a convent time when it reaches 1/4 full.

 

yes, i would be interested in that as well, never heard of it or seen it.

 

We are over thinking this. All he wanted to know was--Do I need to panic when the light blinks and it is 20 miles to the closest gas station? The simple answer is NO. You have at least 50 miles to get gas. After that it is sweating time.

 

In aircraft we have two terms- "fuel capacity" and "useable fuel".
The PIP's "capacity" is 10.6gal, we really don't know it's "usable" amount- you'd have to drive it dry to find out.
Conventional wisdom here is that the low fuel light comes on when about 8 to 8.5 gal have been used. How much "usable" fuel remains after that? We really don't know...

 

There are 2 places to find it. "cruising range" on the "car" screen, or on the trip computer scroll through till you see the picture of "[gas pump]>>>xx miles".

I would say have got at least 40-50 miles once that things comes on. You will probably have 20 in the cruising range when the last light blinks also, so usually a days worth of driving or more for me.

 

Tony pretty much has it right. his methods apply to people of all driving styles.

now, waaay back when I had a car (2004) that was compatible with CANVIEW, the blinking bar came on at 1/8th of a tank (12.5% for those who are digitally bound)

now, obviously the objective was not to go to zero % so, when the beeper starts, what I did is mentally calculated another 10% added to existing tank (always reset one of the trip meters on every fill up!) and know that is my target.

this will allow you fudge room but i strongly suggest that you not go there.

 

Press the trip button on the steering wheel to cycle through the various screens. You'll see the distance to empty eventually at the bottom portion of the HSI. Alternatively, you can read it on the touchscreen by pressing the Car button.

I find the DTE useless except on long trips. You'd think it calculates the amount of gas and the amount of EV range you have to get to DTE. Nope. It only caculates it the one time when you refuel. After that, if you never plug in, it is accurate. If you do, then the DTE will just continue to countdown to 0 as you go. For me it, says 0 at the last 2 or 3 pips.

I don't bother with it anymore. All my fillups have been in the low 8 gallon region as the last pip flashes. 10.6 gallon tank means greater than two gallons remain. 80 average mpg means I have 160 miles range when the last pip blinks. I suspect, you'll have to go through the same experiment.

 

Having experienced running out of gas on the highway after thinking I had at least half a gallon left in the tank, let me tell you it is extremely embarrassing do so in a Prius. I remember feeling sheepish when the roadside assistance truck guy came up to ask what the problem was...

 

a dte gauge is not the same as a fuel remaining gauge.

 

Some sort of quantitative data here… Last weekend, the quick alarm went off and the last pip started blinking. I probably went another mile or two at about 65mph before getting off the freeway and filling up. The car took 8.512 US gallons. According to specs from Toyota a completely full tank holds 10.6 US gallons. So apparently, I had 2 gallons left. That would have given me - conservatively - another 100 miles. DTE was worthless, indicating 0 miles, when there was clearly at least another 100 miles at 50mpg.

So in this admittedly small sample size of about four (including the OP) it looks like there's at least 2 gallons left at the first sign of blinking.

I agree with the poster who mentioned 'fuel capacity vs usable fuel'. I do not think I'd push it much past 9 gallons, personally. So I probably had - safely - another 25-50 miles before hitting panic the button. At the time, I was about 40 miles from home. So I stopped and filled up.

 

i've seen the exact same thing.

 

It is true he is new, so may not realize how much worse it is to run out of gas in a Prius. And how disorienting to run out of gas and keep moving. If he DOES keep moving until he also runs out of battery, as I did in my Gen 2, not only can't he 'jump start' the High Voltage Battery, but neither can the tow truck operator, or the dealer. Toyota's regional rep has that battery charger. So it will be days, not hours, to get his car going again.

I do currently have a v, and to a large degree I drive it like my Gen 2, where I learned the following rule:

If your mother in law is in the car, get gas at 3 pips. You will never hear the end of stranding her and having to go get gas. (at least 3 gallons, as the Prius does not recognize small amounts of gas as a 'change'

If your wife is in the car, two pips should be your safety limit, she will NOT believe that running out of gas is 'romantic'.

If you are alone in the car, you can run down it one pip, but expect to call a buddy for gas every so often.

If the last pip starts blinking, or the low fuel light comes on, get gas NOW. If the car suddenly gets sluggish, pull over immediately and turn off the car until you have at least 3 more gallons in it.

The Gen 2 was more evil than the v (and the PHV) as it did not have a fixed size fuel tank, so it was harder to predict when empty might happen.