i find it hard to believe anyone responsible enough to afford a car would indulge in the personal gratification of driving on empty for the thrill of it. try living in an area with hurricanes earthquakes and lava flows or perhaps race riots nowadays ,,, personally i go by mileage in that once i hit 300 miles itz time to fill up. besides that with todays ethanol poisoned gas you should keep it full to keep out the moisture as much as possible. make it a good habit to fill it and to keep it full. itz your choice.
@robertmaria - there are numerous people on here that run to empty to see what they can get from a full tank. There are alot worse out there that are on other hypermiler specific sites that go to all sorts of crazy lengths ...... sure what harm is it!
Easy for you to say as you can wander over to Kilauea and put up a little grass shack in front of a lava flow, but the most of us Lower 48 folks don't HAVE convenient volcanoes! But you are correct it is a choice, so to quote the final line of a Doctor Who series (The Mask of Rasselon?), "Choose well, choose very well!"
For some of us paired-up folks, gas stops and bladder stops are mostly separated -- decent toilets at places were fuel is unavailable or overpriced, and good fuel prices at places were toilets are unavailable or undesirable.
I am just so glad that I do not live in an area with hurricanes, earthquakes (no, wo do get them, 20 years ago 5.8, massive!), lava flows or race riots so I can behave irresponsively. And when it is my choice, why are you telling me to fill it up. BTW: I think you have a very rosy view of car owners and their responsibleness. Not everyone you see on COPS has stolen the car he wrecked.
But what do you do for entertainment? Chase tornadoes? Hunt grizzly or polar bears with a 22 caliber handgun? (Evens the odds) dive off cliffs with a bat suit or a parachute? Test fly an airplane you built yourself? Sail single handed across oceans? There is infinite variety in ways to behave irresponsibly depending on where on "Earth" you live!
Even though it has been my observation and experience that once my Prius reads empty...I do indeed have about 2 gallons left. I prefer to NOT proliferate this way of thinking. Too many idiots that will "accidentally" run their tank dry, claiming they thought they had two gallons left. Because they read about a "reserve tank" or " fuel in reserve" at Prius Chat. Just fill up...at some convenient point once the final Pip starts blinking...sooner if you're bored.
I've always thought I had about 60 miles to find a gas station once I get a low-fuel warning. If there are two gallons in the tank, that should equate to about 100 miles, to my thinking.
Why, prior to the Prius, this was never an issue (insert "Harrumph" here!) Tank runs low, go to gas station. Wash, rinse, repeat. I'll never understand why people try to see how low they can go before stranding themselves and possibly damaging their vehicle. What matters with the Prius is Mile Per Gallon, not Miles Per Tank.
From my experience, when I go to the first gas station(usually within 10 miles) after the beep, my fill up is usually 9.1-9.3 gallons after the first click.
Sure...unless you're in the next installment of "The Hills Have Eyes" then adapt your filling routine to fit your environment.
LOL. I had a 2-hour argument with a young fella who was trying to convince me that vehicle range was more important than miles per gallon.
