Ran out of Gas, got BAD advice from Dealership!

Freaked out a salesperson here in Fort Collins (who happened to be pretty well informed, in fact) when I asked if they had the card that "compared the emissions of a Prius to spilling a cup of gas". At least this salesperson understood the power-split-device (and didn't call it a "cone and belt CVT"), understood the smart key ststem, and was generally familiar with the vehicle.

 

I agree .. Harsh and quick to judge is what I heard too. You were running it to the edge but how would you know. I'm sure your gage showed full when you received your car, and after all, 11.9 X 45 = 535. You were 85 miles under that. But now you've learned and I'm sure it won't happen again. And .. Your experience will result is some of us being even more careful with our own gas gauge monitoring in the future.

Your dealer did provide very misleading information (would have cost you a bundle to have it towed). I admire the fact that you went elsewhere for a second opinion. Now I know that if I ever do run out of gas I'll need to put in at least three gallons. Thanks for the info.

By the way, most cars, if not all, nowadays have a little more than two gallons left in the tank when the gauge reads empty. That's done on purpose to help make sure the fuel pump stays submerged (cooled). I've run down to the blinking gas gauge indicator several times on my 2004 Prius but have never been able to get more than 9.4 gallons in the tank (yes, even after eeking the gas in at a very slow rate). So .. When we get down to the lowest bar on our gas gauge, there's probably still 1/5 to 1/4 tank of fuel in our cars (meeting the requirement suggested by some that we should fill up in the vincinity of 1/4 tank).

 

I live in Anchorage. Yeah, the one in Alaska. I've got just over 1100 miles on my '06 and, until this latest cold snap, am getting around 36 mpg when our temperatures are a balmy 20F, give or take.

Over the last week, we've had a number of days with the temperature lucky to get into double digits--unless it's a negative double digits like now where my Google Weather says it's -11F @ 10:24PM. With the temp around the zero mark, my mileage has dropped to around 30 mpg.

I'm not complaining: this is a reality up here. Everyone's gas mileage suffers when we get a cold snap and I'll take my 30 mpg over the 10 mpg, or less, my '01 Exploder would get under similar conditions.

It's actually very nice out: no wind, nose hairs freeze rather quickly, mustaches and beards ice up, and the snow goes "screech, screech, screech" with every step.

 

Salesman? Better it came from the service people because that sounds very fishy.

I did my 5th battery run with no problems, and at about 2 red-bars.

 

I will trust nothing more than 46 mpg

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Duane @ Oct 14 2006, 04:10 PM) [snapback]332842[/snapback]</div>

You resurrected a thread from March to say what?

 

I always refill when it hits 3 bars, which is typically around 300 miles. Running out of gas is nothing to take chances with.

I recently saw the indicator staying at full after going 200 miles on a tank, which had to have used at least 4 gallons.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sharkmeister @ Oct 14 2006, 07:25 PM) [snapback]332860[/snapback]</div>

I have only had my Prius 3 months and am now on my 4th tank of gas. The first tank I was really into seeing how far I could go on a tank. Esp after reading all the posts about gas mileage..So I let the tank get to the blinking stage..Ran about 30 miles on it and then said I better get some gas before I make this new experience a bad one..I put in just under 9 gallons..My second tank I was much more sophisticated.(ha) After all, I had read many posts about the proper way to fill the tank for maximum filling...I was pumping that gas as slow as I the pump would allow (lowest automatic setting) (much to the angst of the people waiting behind me) I expecte it would pop off and stop pumping like it always did... As I am looking up at the beautiful Florida sky, I look at the gas pump and I have over 10gallons so far...I am saying to myself there goes my MPG average bec of course I had prefigured what I expected to fit in the tank...When I looked at the gas nozzle there is gas pouring down the side of the vehicle...OOPS! The pump never clicked off. I had to use the MFD calculations for that tank...As you would expect I got an awful lot of mileage out of that first bar on the third tank considering I had filled the tank up to the cap!!! Now when I pump the gas I go reasonably fast for the first 4 gallons then slow things down and it seems like there is no problem...I fill up when I hit 2 bars remaining...Using the MFD from all three tanks and calculations from my first and third tanks, averaging 52.4 MPG. This tank is 1/4 gone and I am around 57 mpg so far which is by far the highest I have seen...With all this said, I truly enjoy this vehicle.. Very comfortable (esp with Wet Okole covers which I highly recommend), looks good, saves money, and does the environment good...What is not to like about it?