How many pips before you get gas

I usually have 2 sometimes 1 before I fill up. When I was experimenting max. miles & distance early on I use to wait til 1 or blinking pip but now feel physcologically secure in filling up w/ 2 or more pips showing .

 

I don't understand. Why are you putting gas in containers if you don't want to carry extra gas around? What are you doing with the containers?

 

At 3 pips I start looking for a cheap gas station, at 2 pips I start lookng for any gas station, and a 1 pip I fill up at the next gas station I see.

 

I leave the containers in my garage.

 

At the time of purchase a dealership employee told me my Prius 2 2012 model has a gas tank that will hold 11.8 gallons. After a complete fill up and then driving three to four days (20 miles round trip to work and back home) with the last PIP blinking the whole time, always with some trepidation, I have still found that I've had one or two gallons of gas left in the tank and have never been able to put in eleven gallons of gas. I always figure that when I hear the beep and the PIP starts flashing that I have at least three gallons left. I would actually like to know what the approximate mileage is when the beep sounds and the PIP starts blinking.

 

Nearly all cars have a significant safety margin built into the fuel gauge. This is necessary because the measuring components are cheap and nor terribly accurate, fuel consumption is very highly variable with changing conditions, and a significant number of drivers are not particularly attentive to the gauges. Numerous drivers will run out of fuel, so marketing needs make it essential that the car makers leave no room for these drivers to shift the blame to anyone else. So the low fuel warnings light up quite early.

A senior contributor here likes to test these things for fun, sport, and engineering curiosity. For an approximation from a typical 2010, read the first post of this thread: [WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III)

 

I pretty much wait until the last pip is blinking. I will fill up sooner if I see that gas prices are about to go up, or I find a good deal.

 

The first pip starts blinking after you have used ~9.2 gallons of gas.

I have found that if you multiply your displayed mpg by 10, that is the range you can drive using ~10.5 gallons of gas. Thus if you are displaying 50.2 mpg, if you drive 502 miles, you would find that you would add approximately 10.5 gallons (+/- 0.2 gallons due to pump to pump variations and as a buffer). You'll still have over a gallon of gas left in the tank.....and you DTE = 0 and your last PIP will still be flashing.

 

I really don't get the point, you folks go thru all this bother to skip going to a gas station 4 "extra" times a year? Wow you all must be very very busy.

 

Don't live in a gas station rich environment, so I tend to fill toward the last couple of pips/rectangles/blocks on fuel level indicator gauge thing. My wife will let the thing blink away and one day will not reach the gas station before the poor Prius runs out of fuel. It's that Law of Averages, usually catches up eventually.

 

I also get gas at 2.... usually fill up about 8 gallons or so.

 

did my first fillup today. dealer actually gave me a full tank on deleiveryof a used vehicle.

had two pips showing, not flashing 8.2 gallons showing 60mi DTE

Nice to know that the DTE seems to be fairly accurate.. This tank I'll wait until i see flashing... maybe...

 

DTE = 0 all the way baby! Seriously though, I just use the old multiply the current tank's avg by ten. Fillup is usually 9.5 to 10.5 gallons that way. DTE = 0 is just the starting point of considering getting gas!

 

That is reasonable near town, especially in mild weather. But in winter when traveling these roads, I start looking much earlier:

 

Yep, my commute from Tupelo to Memphis has plenty of gas stations along the way.

 

I fill usually after 50 miles into a flashing PIP. In my area Kroger has a gas discount program, so I like to purchase as much fuel as possible when filling. I also usually get .30 cent discount at the pump.

 

Right now, as I type this, my Prius is on it's final blinking pip. The DTE is 23 miles.

Experience tells me, I have absolutely no worries I can go at least 23 more miles and more.

For safety reasons...and just because eventually you DO have to refuel, I'll fill up once the DTE reaches zero. But I'll do so in a relaxed manner, assuming I actually could go farther.

 

second fillup... filled up at one flashing pip. had been flashing for about 15 miles. put in 9.4 gallons still had 2.5 gallons to go...

 

This is really not a game you want to play, I'm thinking of all the fun you will have waiting by the roadside for someone to deliver you 3 gallons of gas so you can start the thing, gee, sounds exciting-anybody turn 17 yet?