What a full tank of gas will get you

$ 1.79 per gallon. Wow. Here in San Francisco we pay 2.40 !

 

It depends on what driving you did after the fillup. If find that the MPG is up right after a fillup because the ICE is already hot so it isn't going through the warm up sequence. (It is this warm up sequence that is the MPG killer on short trips.)

 

3 bars is get gas now? I guess I stretch it a bit farther. I wait until 1 bar flashing, though I suppose in the winter I should not take it down that far. I've only filled up 3 times but I didn't notice any difference in the feel of the brake pedal or accelerator.

And as jfschultz said, if the car was warm and you drove it straight home a short distance on low speed streets, yes you could get that big (very temporary ) boost in MPG. Don't drive it again, or it will drop big time!

 

As added info, I've filled up just after 1 bar flashing 3 times. The most I got in was 9.6 gallons so I had at LEAST 2 left. At my current tank's MPG, I have another 90 miles before it dries up.

I have been writing down the mileage as I drop each bar this time. Bars 3 and 2 were about 50 miles each ( avg on the tank is 45+) Just hit 1 bar flashing tonight so I'll see what distance I got between losing bar 2 and 1 bar flashing.

 

3 bars will give you about half a tank...

the flashing bar when it starts will do so at just under 3/16th of a tank.

so you really dont have much to worry about even if you wait until the last bar starts to flash.

 

Miles between bars varies quite a bit. Mine can go between 30-50 miles before losing a bar. Of course, the first bar varies even greater, depending on tank expansion (I guess) anywhere between 60-120 miles.

 

that is the way that Toyota gas gauges have been working for years.

on the older cars, there was a "low fuel" warning light that was in place of the blinking bar. it was better in that you had other things to reference like the analog gas gauge which was always right at 3/16th of a tank when the light came on.

the Prius, unfortunately did away with the dual measurement and now only has one, but i have tested the blinking light and its pretty close to 3/16th of a tank when blinking.

but in reverse, the first bar is also about 3/16th of the tank (actually more like the first 2 sometimes) much more variation here since it is predicated on the tank being completely full. (something that we all know is rather time consuming)

so that leaves the remaining 7 ro 8 bars to represent slightly over half a tank. not very linear to say the least.

so if you need a system, set your trip B when you see the bar blink. and figure you can go easily 100 miles, but set a goal for 50-70 miles and you should have plenty of safety factor built in.

many people have reported running out of gas as little as 50 miles after the blinking started. i tend to think that they misjudged how far they had driven on the blinking bar or they didnt notice it when it first started blinking.

in my car, after the blinking bar started, i turned off the car, and later when i got back in it and started it up, the blinking bar took nearly 5 minutes to start up again. that kinda surprised me a little. but i feel that this might have contributed to some running out of gas much quicker than they expected to. also whether they had the gas gauge fix could have caused them to run out... i dont know, but you dont have that issue to deal with.

 

On the return leg on a long-ish road trip I noted exactly when the last bar started to flash. Knowing that there was cheaper gas about 45 miles ahead, I stayed on the freeway and passed many more expensive stations. I was able to squeeze 10.5 gallons into the tank, so I know I still had some reserve gas. The Prius saved me about $1.25 on just that full-up by being able to get away from the expensive San Francisco bay area gas prices.

You fill on 3 bars??? I can go an average week on three bars. You are killing one of the joys of Prius ownership . . . less visits to the gas station.

 

I don't worry about running out of gas. When I first got my car in 2001 I ran it right out of gas the first time, just to see what would happen and how much gas the tank really holds. I ended up about a 1/4 from a gas station and just ran slowly on the EM, pulled up and filled the tank. No Problem!