not 600 miles?

My folks '58 VDub had a very effective low fuel warning: there was some sort of baffle in the gas tank, that held back 5 liters. On the firewall there was an l-shaped handle, normally pointing up. If the engine started to sputter, you reached down, rotated the handle 90 degrees clockwise, and that opened the baffle, allowed that gas behind the baffle to be used. Purely mechanical, direct connection.

 

what was the DTE gauge like?

 

The low fuel light comes on when there is about 1.8 gallons left, going by the manual.

On my Camry, the DTE display was replaced by the low fuel warning. Toyota stopped giving you a range estimate when the low fuel light came on.

 

There was no gauge, not even gas gauge. My dad would take off the gas cap (in the front, under the hood) and check with a stick.

 

On Gen 5 Prius Prime and Gen 5 Prius AWD, the fuel-tank capacity is 10.6 gallons. On Gen 4 Prius, Gen 4 Prius Prime, and non-AWD Gen 5 Prius models, it is 11.3 gallons.

 

Do note that when the dashboard says 50 miles left, there are really a lot more than just 50 miles left. Though just how many are actually left is very uncertain.

 

That's been my experience with other car brands and makers - No more DTE when the fuel lamp is lit. I was driving my GMC @ 17 mpg, and the fuel lamp popped on - nearest station was 30 miles away. Needless to say I was not happy to lose my DTE.
That's what happens when you switch from a 70 mpg daily driver to your hunting & fishing truck.

WHAT, I'M EMPTY AGAIN!!!!

 

In both my Prius and my Forester, the low fuel warning and the loss of DTE (Distance To Empty) happen at different points.

My 2012 Prius starts flashing its (not sufficiently in-your-face) low fuel warning at about 20-25 miles DTE, but DTE continues counting down to zero (it doesn't go negative). But that isn't the end. As Bob Wilson tested and posted long ago, with DTE=0, it can still go another 100+ miles before fuel starvation, though I have personally tested mine out to only 50-60 miles past '0'.

In another test, my 2014 Subaru flashed its first low fuel warning at about 70 miles DTE. DTE (rounded or truncated to 10 mile increments, not 1 mile increments as in the Prius) keep counting down, past an additional warning, until it reached 30 miles remaining. Then it blanked out. At very approximately the distance where it would have fallen to 0 if it hadn't blanked out, the vehicle did suffer fuel starvation. Fortunately I had also suffered cold feet on my BWilson-style out-of-fuel test, and had just pulled up to the last fuel pump before the next stretch of un-serviced road, which was longer than the capacity of the can of spare fuel I had brought along. The engine died as I was reaching for my fuel log book. The refill took several 1/100ths of a gallon more than its stated tank capacity, remarkably close considering the variables involved.

These tests revealed that my vehicles assign very different meanings for Distance To Empty.

 

NOW that brings back memories. The duel purpose stick gauge/hood prop.

 

That's not unique to the Prius.......and isn't something new.
Gas gauges have been designed that way for at least 40 years.

 

NOT a wise thing to do.

 

Yeah, but with the Prius you can go 100 miles or more on “empty”. With my old hemi ram or charger, I could go maybe 20 give or take then would be pushin the car or callin for a tow.

That….. Is the thing.

Edited “empty” for the literal people. I think we all know what I meant. My old GEN 4 Prius would say 0 miles till empty yet somehow I was able to go almost 100 miles more than a couple times.

 

Just editorial, if the tank is truly empty, you're not going anywhere.

Too, all this "how low can you go speculation", if you could sneak a boroscope into the gas tank, see the bottom-of-tank dribs-an-drabs sloshing around, it might change your perspective.

Another argument for filling up much sooner: the unexpected can happen. Keeping the car at least half-full may save your bacon some day.

 

Before Prius, all but one of my cars had 100-ish miles of fuel range remaining (and one a lot more) when either the needle was squarely on 'E' or the low fuel warning light turned on. The sole exception was my very first car, which went dead with the needle still above E. That incident is why I have tested or at least better characterized each vehicle since.

Since Prius, my Forester has only about 70 miles left from the first warning. But taking its multiple low fuel indicators into account, I must say that it has the most accurate fuel gauging of anything I've owned.

When seriously unfavorable circumstances happen, I want to be able to back a better judgement between the choices of continue forward, turn around and backtrack, detour off the planned route, pay up to a serious price gouger taking advantage of an abnormal monopoly situation at a previously planned refueling location (been there, told him to shove it, made it through), camp out at a closed station until it should reopen, or do something else more drastic.

 

SIGH.

Different companies have slightly different ideas about how much "reserve" there is built into the gas gauge.

And there might be about the same amount of gas in the tank but your Prius will go 2 to 3X as far on that amount.
AND if you were to run it completely out of gas and the hybrid battery was DEAD (or almost so) things can get
a little more complicated than just putting gas in the tank.

This really is NOT a hard thing to grasp.
I don't understand what the concern really IS.

 

I had a Ford that left me gasless on the side of the road with the DTE saying I had like 7 miles left.

Some cars' DTE's should not be trifled with. Find your fuel tank's capacity, then note how much fuel it takes to fill up. If your tank is almost empty when your DTE is very low, know you can't ever push it as the manufacturer left you little wiggle room.

The Prius has massive wiggle room and that may have more to do with protection of fuel components than convenience.

 

I think it is more about "managing customer expectations" and reducing angry calls to Customer Service complaining that "the car said I had enough fuel to get there, but then left me stranded in the middle no-where on a dark and stormy night."

 

Up to 2 gallons is a bit much though don't you think? It almost encourages the customer to not take low-fuel situations seriously.

IMO, a car should have maybe 1/4 *EDIT* GALLON left when the fuel/DTE gauge says empty.