how much fuel left in PriusC tank when it shows empty (the last bar blinks and car beeps)

If your prius is telling you to fuel up. I would encourage you to obey. I know that when it says 0 miles left and beeps there is some more in there. but what is the point in pushing it to the limit. I would limit my driving to 10-20 miles and get gas. I think it can be hard on your car if you run it out of fuel. SO FOR THE LOVE OF MPG OBEY THE GAS GAUGE.

 

Meh. Just drive how you want to drive. It's their car.

 

Trying to attach a pic from my mobile. We'll see whether it works.

The miles shown in this pic were all within the blinking-pip interval. It started blinking 10-15 miles before, so that's... what, about 85 miles.

After 85 miles on the blinking pip, I gassed up to ... 8.21 gallons.

This is making me think I could drive as much as 200 miles on that last pip.
Not that I'm going to try.
Not intentionally, at least.

Am I the only one a little taken aback by the ... um ... unobtrusiveness of that warning beep? You'd think they'd have added a bit more urgency to it, no?

 

I think you got VERY lucky. The Prius C tank is 9.5 gallons, you must have been driving on fumes / or battery alone when you pulled into the gas station!

 

^^ I wish I had your courage, Sir (or a fuel can in the trunk). I never dared to go below 1 solid (as in "non-flashing") bar, and I didn't even know it flashed. When the "cruise distance" said 0 miles, only 8 gallons fit in.

 

In general, gas tanks hold more than their rated capacity, even before filling past the gas pump auto shutoff.

 

I know I'm super late to this, but I've found it to be ABOUT 1.5 gallons left... I typically average 51 mpg, and I know I have about 75 miles left max when I get the warning. But I've also trained myself to drive painfully slow at startups/greenlights and coasting. I'd go half that just to be on the safe side, depending on your driving habits. No reason to be stuck on the side of the road. 30-40 miles tops and head to a station asap!

 

This thread is great.. I was just wondering about these scenarios and found all the answers here

-So, I have about 75~80 miles left when the last bar starts flashing or I hear beep?
-but should not to push it?
-when filing up the tank, best to stop when there is a click and not fill more, cause it can damage gas sensor?

 

i wouldn't fill anymore than rounding off, don't try to squeeze every last drop or it overflows into the carbon vent canister and destroys it.

 

I had the last bar flashing 2 fuel-ups ago, but the tank only took 8.4 gals, which means I will have had at least 45 miles of cruise left.

 

I now drive my car until it blinks and beeps then usually drive to the next weekend. I only drive about 40 miles during the work week. then I fill up. I have driven a long time on empty before when I got into the 700 mile tank club. I did this without toping off the tank it was filled until first click. I did have a gas can in the back with 2 gal of gas so if I ran out I could put that in. If you are not playing with your car to see how far you can go on a tank just fill up when it gets to 1 pip. as someone stated above the beep and blinking light are easy to miss if your not looking for them. It would be a pain to run out of gas.

 

Last night, my last bar was gone. There was no flashing or beeping. Only the gas light was on. I didn't want to take any risk or push the limit or anything. I filled the tank until I heard the first click and needed 8.9 gallons.

 

That never happens if you refill when you've got a reasonable amount of gas left in the tank. But that's not on, with this crowd, lol.

 

I was wondering who was going to respond to this question with an actual manual answer. The manual states 1.2 gallons and if you do the math it relates to an average of 55 to 70 miles.

 

Just drove back to Prince Edward Island from New Hampshire on the I-95. Started with a full tank (to the pump auto stop), fueled up at a third of a tank somewhere along the way, and drove straight on. Got to one "bar" on the meter and 90 km on the driving range just before the bridge. No blinking. Now, according to my thinking as I was driving: "The manual says I will be warned at about 5L of gas. (Just over a gallon.) It's not warning me, and the 5.0L/100K suggests that I have less than 5L of gas in the tank. No warning."

I chickened out just after crossing and filled up -- still had 25 km to go and my greatest fear is running out of gas on a highway and having to call roadside assistance from the shoulder.

I expected the light to at least blink when I was less than 5 L.

 

That said -- 1900 km (1180 miles) round trip on 90 L (24 g) of gas is indeed 50 mpg. Air-fist-bump.

 

It really is not a good idea to run the fuel injection system out of gas, but I have done the same I.e. gone 40 miles past the last bar going south and covered 471 miles and it took 9.097 gallons or 51.8 mpg actual in November or cool weather. Since the tank capacity is about 9.5 gal, I was about 21 miles or 0.403 gal from running out. I do not plan on doing that again as tank capacities could very 3% or 0.29 gal.

 

There are always production tolerances on every thing humans make. I would suspect that might be as much as + or - 0.2 gal and maybe more, so don't run to close!

 

My car loses the last bar, and it does not ever blink. The gas pump icon lights up and beeps. I have a couple of times run it as low as the non-blinking last bar plus beeping icon, and then plus about ten miles. No pushing of the envelope for me, lol. Yesterday was a bit more close. I parked in an attended garage where it got moved several times (the attendant told me) before I picked it up. This is when I found the last bar absent. I had no idea how much gas the attendant burned. I was four miles from the gas station. I EV'd most of the way. When the tank fill clicked the car had taken in 8.6 gallons.

 

The manual also states if you run too low or out, even after fill-up, the gas engine may not restart and a Toyota dealership may have to do some resetting in the system. Anyone had to do this yet. 2015 PriusC manual that is....