450 Mile Club

I'm not that brave, I'd rather avoid the hassle and fill up at 2 or 3 pips. No sense running to the bottom of the tank and risk damage to the fuel pump.

 

I foresee a wave of folk stranded by the road.

Look for gas at 2 pips
Get gas at one pip
Get gas NOW if it starts to blink.
Walk to gas if it quits blinking.

Do NOT run down your HV battery trying to drive without gas
Refill with at least 3 gallons before you try to restart.

 

Good luck...

 

Gringostar, may your guesses always be right.

 

OK - I am confused. Why is 450 miles a big deal? 500 miles should be just a walk in the park.

 

So, I'm trying to "completely understand" why any one would find such
a "double-dog dare" attractive. :noidea:

Someone who typically drives in moderate outside air temps which
don't result in significant tank bladder size reductions assumes that
nobody else lives/drives in 0 degF weather which can have significant
fuel volume reductions.

Someone who apparently has a significant inclination meter
misalignment assumes every Prius has the same issue and starts
"blinking" the low fuel warning well before it should.

In addition to these Prius specific anomolies, I see two general fallicies:

Hindsight Bias: Using data currently available, tending to greatly
exaggerate the degree to which events that have already happened
were predictable based on the evidence available at the time. In
general, events that have actually happened are routinely judged to
have been likely, and events that failed to occur to have been highly
unlikely, regardless of their actual probability.

Overconfidence: A tendency to overestimate the reliability and
accuracy of our own beliefs.

Although it would be imprudent to play Russian roulette with the known
to be unreliable combination of the Gen II guess guage and fuel
bladder, prudence would be best served by a quick call for some
roadside assistance insurance before playing this loser's game.

+1

 

You have a Gen 3 with a fixed sized gas tank and better mileage.

The OP has a variable sized gas tank, mostly dependent on temperature, and less mileage in most scenarios.
Foolishly ignoring the pips and getting gas by mileage alone is less insane in a Gen 3.

I have extremely mild winters, but hot summers, my gas tank is 2 gallons smaller in winter. The chemistry of gas changes with the weather, you want more volatile gas in winter to aid starting, so refiners add butane, but the Gen 2 Prius does not burn it as well as summer gas, with less volatiles.

There are just so many reasons that "it worked before' is not the right way to handle range in a Gen 2. (or any car, but especially North American Gen 2s)

 

Agree w/all of the above.

I've never put in more than 9.975 gallons in my tank.

It's bad idea to assume that you have 3.5 (or 1.8) gallons left in the tank or that you have 3.5 (or 1.8) usable gallons in the tank.

Given that temps are colder now, you'll likely have reduced capacity as well (it's noted in the manual). You might also find http://priuschat.com/forums/other-cars/94001-gas-gauge-says-full-but-thats-not-quite-true-npr.html insightful, even though it's a Ford engineer talking.

Unless your inclinometer is out of calibration, have fun verifying that you can always go 75+ miles w/low fuel light blinking.

 

You are replying to someone who once ran dry a mere 7 miles after the thing started blinking.

I seem to remember plenty of other Gen2 drivers having reported running dry at less than the distance you drove. With the magic of that bladder, you drew one of the long straws in a game where too many others have drawn short straws.

While I also play this game, it is for shorter distances on the warning, and with the aids of extra instrumentation and no bladder.

 

It is very simple. Your tank is not a tank. When you can only pump in 9 gallons, it may not be because there are 2 gallons left in the tank. It may be because the tank has folded or creased. Or it may actually have more capacity. You will never know.

You cannot judge how much fuel you have left based on miles driven or average miles per gallon over the current fillup. When the Prius says you need gas, you need gas. Playing chicken will make you run out eventually.

 

The GenII has a blader for a fuel tank and often holds less fuel than the Geniii. On average the Geniii also gets better mpg. The GenII was only EPA rated at 46mpg.

As for pushing the limit, why? Bragging rights? Some have driven 100 miles with the light blinking and others less than 10 before they ran out of gas. If you like the risk then go for it but you shouldn't encourage others to do the same. It's not safe.

FWIW I've only acheived a 544 mile tank at 57mpg. approx. 33 miles on the blinking light.

 

Without the fuel bladder (Australian model) my Gen II routinely gets over 600 miles per tank. I've even had a tank as high as 680 miles (1095km). But without the bladder I can pretty much rely on using close to the full 12 gallons (45L) every time. I usually refill between 40 and 44 liters.

 

Your non-North American domestic market vehicle with the actual tank also has a larger capacity of 45L. The USDM and CDM models with the bladder have an 11gallon capacity, fully expanded.

 

I don't know, I just do not get it. What is the big deal to some with driving until you are on vapors? The person who fills up with 8 gallons versus 10 will need to fill up one extra time every 4 to 8 weeks give or take. Figure a fill-up takes maybe 5 minutes and we are talking about a max of an hour or so a year. Honestly that does not seem too big a deal to me to be sure that I'm never stranded on the side of the road with no gas. That being said, I'm also one of those guys that has comprehensive auto insurance and added coverage beyond the state minimum.

 

You don't get it. You don't know whether you have an extra 2+ gallons of reserve or not. If the bladder has shrunk or folder over then you do not have much of a reserve.

 

Thanks Jimbo. My understanding of the Prius is limited our 2010 Gen 3 model. I was not aware of the limitations of the earlier models.