Ok, had the prius c four for a few months now. What is up with the gas gauge? When I get down to one rectangle my cruising range drops to like 9 miles. I got gas and put in 8 gallons, which means I had 1.5 gallons still. Why is it showing such low cruising range mileage? Looked through the manuals by couldn't find anything helpful. Also, is there a way to see exactly how much gas you do have? The rectangles seem a bit arbitrary to me when it comes to representing an actual amount of gas? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks for the reply. I think I got it. Also, when we were buying the car the saleswoman specifically told us "when you are driving below 45mph the car is not using any gas, that is why the city mileage is higher that highway". I don't think that this is true, am I right? Sounds a little bit like bs to me.
you are correct. when you are under 43? mph the engine may not be turning under certain circumstances. she just had her info a little off. forgot to give you a warm welcome! all the best with your c.
This is sometimes true - at least on the regular Prius - the car is capable of traveling on battery alone at less than 45 mph, but only at very low throttle. Any significant acceleration and the engine will kick in to provide more power. The battery only driving is also only possible when the engine is warmed up. The regular lift back Prius has a EV light so you know when this is happening, not sure if the C also has this.
Fuel consumption is very highly variable, depending on future conditions (traffic, weather, elevation change, driver style, etc.) that the car cannot possibly know. It can only guess based on past averages. If it did not set aside a buffer or safety margin, many customers would discover that variability the hard way, running out of fuel in very inconvenient or hazardous situations, and raise holy h*** with the customer support help line. With Americans, 'idiot proof' is impossible. The best that can be achieved is 'idiot resistant'.
Not just an American issue of idiot proofing; there was one guy on here (not from the US) who complained he ran out of gas and the 3-4 different warnings of low fuel was not enough warning...when the low fuel light coms on, you probably have about a half gallon left (I did). If you run out of fuel, ensure you tell AAA to bring at least 3 gallons of gas with you (read the owners manual).
In my case when my gauge goes to 0 miles left, there is about 1.5 gallons left in the tank. That is actually the reason I found this forum. I was trying to figure out why my display was telling me I had a range of 4 miles and when I filled the tank I could only get 7.2 gallons into the tank. My salesman told me it had a 13 gallon tank. I research just about everything else about the car but not the fuel tank size. So I thought this was really weird, found out I was miss informed. Now I like to watch the remaining range to see how long that last mile lasts. It is a strange pleasure, but it entertains me. I have had it last almost 10 miles once.
That observation suggests that the 'c' has different DTE algorithms than the Liftback. The pattern I see on my Liftback is that DTE must decline at least 1 mile for every 2 miles driven, even when gliding downhill with no fuel burned. Also, in city traffic or minor hill climbing (e.g. from arterial below to my house 400 feet above), if DTE is down to the 5-10 mile range, it has a tendency to suddenly snap to 0.
out of a very long standing habit, I refuel when I have half a tank of fuel showing. does this affect anything?
If there is little fuel price competition in your area, then this affects nothing. In my travel area, where there are drastic price differences, reflexively filling up that soon would often significantly lighten my wallet. Planning far ahead, and having some real knowledge about the true bottom of the fuel tank, allows me to save a significant amount of cash. Mendel lives in a province where I have noticed an astounding lack of price competition. Down here, that pattern would be taken as strong evidence of criminal price fixing.
