My "experience" with my Prius is that the Miles to Empty IS conservative. But I wouldn't want anyone to adopt my approach and then find their Prius is different. But basically, I have found I can drive my Prius to Miles to Empty-Zero and then fill up and still have at least a gallon or more fuel to go. So to avoid any problem I fill up once it reads Zero....but not with a sense of panic. Of course I adapt this approach on long road trips or trips into rural areas. Also I have found you have to keep an eye on "Miles to Empty" when it get's close. It can read 9 miles to empty...and then suddenly be at Zero---in way less than 9 miles.
I hear ya and not discounting the fact that it's tough to get MPG like that. I give them a big thumbs up for doing it.. I just meant I don't see that impossible where I live. Main factors being the hilly roads and traffic. I would cause some major disruptions trying! The short hills I have to get home are over 10% and get up to 15-20%.. so far from "glide" able. No way I'm buying the "I was just driving normal" description! I know what it takes to achieve that and it's not "normal" driving! Reminds me of a gorgeous Porsche 911(997) I was following last night. She was driving normal in her book but she was crawling and slowing almost to a stop on a green making a right turn. Must be the "P" car thing.. I went from 23 to 25 mpg to 45.. and content with that. To get from 45 to 50 mpg just isn't tolerable for me.. I would pull my hair out! Back on topic.. the fuel gauge is conservative for our safety. There's about 2 gallons left when the fuel gauge starts blinking. "Normal range" is anywhere from 400 to 800 miles per tank!
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. My first tank was 425.3 miles and I put in 9.369 gallons. I will definitely push it a bit more next time to see what I can get out of it. I ended up with 45.39mpg. I have inflated the tires and I'm watching my driving a bit more. We'll see what the 2nd tank gets me.... Thanks again!
i agree with what people have said. Fuelly.com is a great way to keep accurate record of your MPG. For me, MPG has gone down a little as i put more miles on my car. I put about 100 miles per day all freeway driving but i don't drive slow. I stay somewhere between 72-75mph... so that is part of my problem. Either way i am getting better MPG than any other car out there so I'm not complaining. See my signature for my MPG... keep in mind i have owned this Prius 2 only since late Aug. this year. I just hit 10K also
This has been a subject that has been discussed in great length on many other posts and threads. You can run the fuel down to zero miles remaining and the tank will have at least 1 1/2 gallons remaining. This is by design and not due to inaccuracy. It is so you don 't run the car out of fuel. Doing so will cause you more headaches than you can imagine.
click the fuelly sig and setup an account. After that, you just update your signature by adding a Fuelly sig with the BBC code they give you.
Got it! Thanks so much. I've been on forums for YEARS, and have always seen people link things like this in their sig, but never cared because I didn't have vehicles with anything to brag about when it came to fuel economy, lol. And there it is. Thanks again.
My mpg is far from good to brag about but it's not about that. It's really about sharing what real world mpg #'s are.
Haha. Just bought the car 2 Fridays ago. Even so, I have driven over 600 miles since I bought the car and have only had to fill it up once. For a total of like $27. Sure beats my wife's SUV with a 21 gallon tank that barely gets 15 MPG and costs $70+ to fill up every week!
thats my method right there...i multiply it by ten and then add my average MPG to it...our tank holds 11.9
Keep in mind that it's not good to run any car on low gas too often. The fuel in the tank cools the fuel pump. When the gas runs too low, the fuel pump works hotter, thus shortening its lifespan.
This would only be applicable at highway speeds on the Prius. At low speeds the pump barely has to do anything on the Prius.
Nobody has mentioned the safety factor. You don't want to be down to your last quart of gas if an emergency arises. Maybe it's because of my previous job where I had to keep computer networks running no matter what happened, but I try to always be ready unexpected emergencies, like large power failures, earthquakes, storms, etc. I expect to use my Prius for emergency power so I always have at least a half tank of gas to power the house or to get to safety.
I drove about 5 more miles after the DTE says 0 and pulled over to get gas. The car took a little less than 10 gallons to fill up which means I still have approx 2 gals left in reserve after the DTE says 0. I can probably still go about 50 miles on it but didn't want to take that chance.
If you are driving a regular Prius (not a plug in) then the easiest thing to do is reset a tripometer each time you fill up. Then watch your MPG for the tank. Once the mileage and the MPG x10 equal each other...then fill up.
Excellent thread, fuelly certainly makes it super easy to keep track of mileage as well as cost of fill ups and such
