When is it really "empty"?

Sounds like you all have much better guess gauges then I do.

I go 280 miles before the first pip dissapears and this last tank the last 3 pips just dissappeard out of the blue and started flashing add fuel.

For this tank my average is at 58mpg for 468 miles so there is no way that I really need fuel, but either way I plan on filling up close to my house another 30 miles.

When I first got the car I went 110 miles on a blinking pip without running out of gas. It seems my first pip and my last pip last forever but everything in the middle is just a usuless blur.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bmwquickspeed @ Jun 21 2007, 03:43 PM) [snapback]465950[/snapback]</div>

Phoenix this doesn't sound right, how many gallons did you add in your last refill. It seems that you have use a little less than 8 gallons at 58mpg, I would be surprised if your Prius's bladder has less.

My first pip disappeared at 110mi this time around and I'm driving at 55mpg...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Jun 21 2007, 03:48 PM) [snapback]466001[/snapback]</div>

I added 10.3 gallons to my last fill. My average MPG is much lower on this tank then the last but that is due to more high speed highway driving and very little P&G.

I agree that this seems wrong especially since I typically get over 600 miles to a tank and my last tank I got 725 miles.

Typically the only time I get a blinking pip in the high 400s and low 500s is when I am on a long trip out of town. My last tank did not start blinking until 660 miles.

It was very strange to me to see a blinking pip when less then 5 miles prior I had 3.

 

You know it's empty when you push the accelerator and you don't go anywhere.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 20 2007, 12:02 PM) [snapback]465242[/snapback]</div>

Well, my guage officially hit 1/2 empty on the drive to work today, at I think, 265 elapsed miles. So, if the half-way point is any kind of indicator (assuming pretty consistent driving patterns for the next half-tank) this could be my first 500+ mile tank. But, I think it will still mean "only" a 49 - 52 mpg calculation... No idea how I'll ever see 60+ --- this tank has been mostly local driving: it has some highway travel at the start, from the NJ fillup on the way home from NY, and then all local, to-and-from work trips; no extended highway driving is planned for the rest of the tank...

One question... I don't know if anyone's told me for certain---does hitting the Reset button on the MFD clear the Average MPG value to 0? (I'm thinking that if it does, I'd hit Reset at each fillup... I don't really care about the car's lifetime MPG displaying there, vs. each tank mpg, right now... I can calculate lifetime via my paper journal, later. I know filling up causes the MFD's elapsed miles to reset to 0... but a fillup doesn't appear to reset the Average MPG?)
-C

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(N_IL_Priusfan @ Jun 22 2007, 08:34 AM) [snapback]466277[/snapback]</div>

Yes it does in an '05, fill-up and then drive for a mile.

Wayne

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 22 2007, 08:24 AM) [snapback]466275[/snapback]</div>

Hitting the reset button zeroes the MFD's lifetime average mpg calculation. Increasing the tp to 45 has added a couple of mpg for me. Keeping the upper grill blocked has added a few more. If you have many short trips, warming the ICE is holding you back. Fire Engineer would say install the block heater.

The biggest factor though is the driver. There were 5 Prius at the rally. The average mpg's were: 63.7, 58.7, 56.7, 53.8, and 44.2. The course was mostly rural highways zoned 40-50mph. Hobbit is the one to ask for driving lessons. I think you are doing OK. I started with a cross country trip to Indiana and it has taken almost a year and 13000 miles for my lifetime average to creep up over 50mpg. You're doing good. Tweak the car and modify your driving style.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 22 2007, 09:24 AM) [snapback]466275[/snapback]</div>

An update: On today's drive to work, my 3rd pip went out (ie, leaving just 2 pips lit now) at 415 elapsed miles... I plan to drive on this tankful until I get the blinking single pip, then fill up. So I could still make a 500-mile tank out of it, perhaps... but I definitely think it won't come close to 60mpg... Not sure how Toyota assumes I'll drive the vehicle, to obtain the sticker's 60mpg City?

On a related mileage note, I had to chuckle watching tv last night---a nonstop barrage of new car commercials, of course, including one (I think Chrysler) that started by stating "You don't need an import to get great mileage" followed by images of their cars that got 28, 29, 32 and 30mpg respectively... (Highway values, of course!)
Two commercials later was the Prius ad, quoting the 51/60 mpg. How is it that most people continue to think 30mpg is "great mileage"?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 28 2007, 08:45 AM) [snapback]469345[/snapback]</div>

Glad to see I am not the only one who laughs at those commercials. What they fail to say is those cars that get such "great" gas mileage have the smallest underpowered engines possible in them, and those are usually base model packages, so if you want a car that has what a base model Prius comes with, you will be hard pressed to find one that will get the "great" fuel economy! I did a lot of car shopping before landing the Prius, so I have a pretty good idea what cars are on the dealers lots and what aren't.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 28 2007, 06:45 AM) [snapback]469345[/snapback]</div>

It is not Toyota, it is the EPA who came up with these numbers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 28 2007, 08:45 AM) [snapback]469345[/snapback]</div>

The EPA did set those estimates not Toyota, but I have found that if you change your driving habits you can obtain those numbers even without pulse and glide techniques. You just have to slow down and pretend there is something stopping you from smashing the gas pedal.

I drove from Amarillo TX to Flagstaff Arizona last weekend on 1 tank of gas its 600 miles of highway for a caculated 51mpg MFD showed just about 53mpg. This is right on par with EPA estimates.

I drove from Flagstaff to Scottsdale with a MFD screen of 72mpg for 130 miles. Granted this is a lot of down hill but I averaged 45mpg on the way up so that is still an estimated 58mpg to and from Flagstaff which is up a steep mountain. I was driving with the flow of traffic also and driving above posted speed limits at times but never by more then 5mph.

The biggest thing I found is that the cruise control always drops my average MPG.

 

Update: I got down to 1 pip showing today (and simultaneously broke 1,000 miles on the car) and decided with my plans for tomorrow, I'd better fill up, rather than see how long I could go before the blinking pip, or the "Add fuel now" message appeared...

So, 477 elapsed miles on this past tankful... and the fillup today was for 8.006 gallons... which calculates to 59.5mpg.

Which I don't know quite what to think, about that... the MFD showed Average MPG at 50.3 when I filled up today. This fillup was midday, 82 degrees, after the car had been driven for approximately 25 minutes. It was done at the dealership (they owed me a tank) and I watched as he kept putting more in... the nozzle would repeatedly click off, and he kept putting more in. Eventually he stopped, we powered up the car, and watched as sure enough all 10 pips slowly lit up.

So, either:
A) He didn't fill the tank up as full as could be. Enough to trigger the 10th pip, but maybe not a drop more... (My last 2 fillups were 8.52 & 9.71 gallons, and both times 2 pips were showing, when I pulled into the station!)
B ) The tank really is "full" and I really did get 59mpg (which would be beautifully close to the EPA 61 City---and this past tankful was mostly what I'd say is city/commuting driving.) But then why the huge disparity (9mpg) with the MFD's value?
C) I'm not properly calculating my MPG...? I assume elapsed miles, divided by gallons at the next fillup equals MPG of the prior tank?

Any thoughts?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 30 2007, 02:31 PM) [snapback]470725[/snapback]</div>

It's the bladder. Your tank capacity will vary from one fill up to the next.

 

I have filled my car up 3 times so far. The first one was a short fill of just over 3 gallons due to the fact that I had forgotten to reset one of the settings on my Scanguage. The next fill was 9.3 gallons at 669.8 miles with 2 pips showing and my last fill was 9.22 gallons after 701.6 miles with 2 pips showing. The tank I'm on now is at 762.8 miles and I just lost the ninth pip at(at 1 pip now) 750 miles with 76.6 mpg showing on the screen. I will probably fill up in the next day or 2 since I'm so close to the 800 mile mark.