Ran out of fuel AND battery!!

oh c'mon, there is a gas station on every corner, when a gauge beeps at you (at least 6 l of gas left) you simply stop at the next station. Life is too short to stop at a gas station every 250 miles instead 500

 

Where does anyone indicate they have a panic attack with less than 250 miles fuel remaining? I didn't catch that. I only caught the people who indicated enough intelligence to not try to drive 50 miles past 2.5 miles remaining.

 

Most vehicles I've owned before The Prius, and for decades, basically just gave you a needle gauge (with various levels of accuracy) and maybe if you were lucky a low fuel light. That's it.

So The Prius's Pip gas gauge, beep tone warning, Distance to Empty and Cruising Range indicators seem to me like PLENTY OF WARNING....as to the fact that you might be getting low on gas.

Nope....if you run out of gas don't blame the Prius, blame the operator.

 

In effect, yes.

If you try to drive 50 miles past 2.5 actual miles' worth of tuel remaining, you'll obviously fail.
If you try to drive 50 miles past 2.5 miles distance-to-empty claimed by the display, you'll very likely make it with room to spare, unless something is badly wrong. There's a big difference, at least on the regular 3rd-generation Prius.

The fuel level gauge is a more reliable indicator if (and only if) you happen to notice when a given bar segment goes away or starts blinking.

 

I am not sure this is true unless you feel the need to run on fumes. I have been getting gas at 0 Miles to empty and it has not failed me yet. (sometimes that is one pip and sometimes it is zero pips, but I have never been unreliable due to running out of gas. I imagine that would work as well for those who gas up at 1/4 tank or 1/2 tank)

 

To each their own but I can't see any reason to run a tank practically dry, especially when it's a 400 plus mile range with a decent reserve. Maybe if it was a Harley with a stupid peanut tank that runs dry in 100 miles but not this. But to each their own.

 

Well not exactly a panic attack, but there are at least 3 posters (you included) that suggest you start searching for gas station when on 1/4 ((Ozark Man at 1/2) of tank.

I regularly fill at least 10 gallons, but the most I ever filled was 11 gallons (when car was bought used), I have never ran out of fuel. By Cramer standards I wasn't even close.

 

Your European Prius doesn't have a "bladder" in your fuel tank. Our US Gen2 Prii have a bladder that both makes the fuel gauge inaccurate and reduces the tank capacity in cold weather (by 2 gallons or more). That is a major contributor to the "running out of fuel" anxiety being discussed here.

JeffD

 

It was only inaccurate if you went beyond the refill warning.

That's why it was programmed to trigger at that level. Owners who push beyond that make the choice.

I witnessed that for 5.5 years with mine, in a cold environment too (Minnesota).

 

Yes, I start thinking about buying fuel around the 1/4 mark, not because of panic or concern, because I am in charge and will fuel at my convenience not at the demand of the car. That gives me the option of 100 miles and 100 choices for most convenience and best price for the fuel. My ego is secure enough I don't need to use 11.893 of the 11.9 gallons before fueling. I don't need to pay more per gallon because I've driven myself into a corner with not enough fuel left to exercise options. And finally and most importantly I always have enough fuel to make it to the hospital to get to my family without wasting time fueling because I was an idiot that felt I must use up all the gasoline before fueling again. Hopefully that will never be necessary but I'd hate being the fool at the gas pump when my family needed me and I'm smart enough to not let that possibility exist.

 

I always reset my Trip A when I fill up. Since it shows me distance and fuel economy, I can calculate the fuel usage and give myself a sanity-check as to how much I probably have left. E.g. if it's indicating 700 km driven at 4.5 L/100 km then I know I've only used 31.5 L out of 36 and I can easily get in another 100 km.

It does seem though the car slightly underestimates how much of its own fuel it uses, to the tune of 1-2%, so keep that in mind.