Hi All,
I managed to get 550miles in one full tank for my 2006 06 reg Prius T Spirit. I found its amazing in a petrol/electric car but I wonder does anyone who managed to get more than 600+ miles.
Also, does anyone know how many miles left if the fuel level indicator is flashing?



Jolly

Well Done!

I followed the thread with great interest on PriusChat of one of our American friends who got over 900 miles from his Gen 3

Various comments on that thread suggested that over 1000 miles had been achieved by people in Japan.

Anyway, has I say well done.

What happens if you do run out of petrol? Would you be tempted to continue driving with just the power coming from the HV battery?

That's a good point timberwolf. Shall I let you try that and tell us in the future?

Tips for driving over 550miles: use 'LO' setting for ventilation if you drive alone, have all the windows shut for aerodynamics, and pump up your tyres for additonal 1bar and finally, gentle on the accelerator!

When you see the fully charged battery on the Energy Monitor , use EV mode in the 30mph zone (e.g. town or your home drive way!). This will help your fuel consumption. I did this everyday when I drive to work and drive back home. If you think about it in the long term, it will add 25 to 30 miles extra in a month!

Its a nice strategy if you want to use that 'Magic' EV mode button!

I love pressing buttons in my Prius....haha!

Jolly

It's not a good idea due to a "feature" that does not prevent the HV battery SOC from getting too low - the result one dead Prius that has to be transported/towed to the dealer for repair.

And have I read somewhere that if you do run it on battery only when out of petrol then you can permanently damage the HV battery and I believe they're not that cheap to replace

I had understood that the HV battery has come down in cost, if I remember correctly approx $2500, so probably a direct conversion to GBP

On the Gen 3, this problem was fixed although it upset at least one guy on Priuschat who liked to run out of gas often.

i have just filled my gen 3 t-spirit up after 450 miles, averaging 62 mpg (car has now done 1200 + miles) and i still had 2 bars showing on my fuel level. so i beleive that the gen 3 could indeed reach the figure you had from your gen 2.
i am just waiting for the first opportunity to give it a long run on the motorway with cruise control set at around 65mph.
when i have done this i will report backto you all.

I too managed 550 miles in my 2006 56reg T Spirit - that was with plenty of long trips with gentle acceleration and not going over 70mph (including a trip to France). I'm struggling though to keep the mph over 50 at the moment as most of my journeys now are very short and don't allow the engine to warm up sufficiently I guess.

Have no idea how much petrol is left left when the light starts flashing - I reckon I must have been close to empty when I filled up after the 550 miles - hopefully not too close Does anyone know?

If you know how much you put back into the tank you should be able to get an idea as the tank is meant to hold 45 litres when full.
Apparently there is still a fair amount left even when the warning light comes on, but it's not generally a good idea to run the car until it's empty. There is a bit more discussion about this towards the end of this thread.

I have just found a more definitive answer on Priuschat here. Bob Wilson (6th post down) quotes 2.1 US gallons = 1.75 UK gallons = 8.0 litres remaining when the last fuel bar starts flashing - at 50 mpg you could keep going for almost 90 miles before running out. Bob does not recommend running until empty but, assuming the UK Gen III model behaves like the US one, you can find out what happens if you read his post

If driven very frugally the guys in the MPG marathon think you can get 84 MPG from a Gen III Prius T3 http://www.mpgmarathon.com/
Fulll results here http://www.mpgmarathon.com/MPG_RESULTS_2009.pdf

Some of the Japanese hyper-milers manage some astonishing mpg. I like the following link because it has some pictures of a blue Prius If teddy-girl managed a 112.2 mpg in a Gen 2, what were they doing to only achieve 84 mpg in a Gen 3?

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1793

Many thanks - very helpful.