Chicken?

[fatboy_daveb]

Hi all

Forgive the topic title but tonight I really did feel like a chicken. Given that the snow and ice had largely disappeared up here in Glasgow, I ventured down to Manchester to see my young daughter. It was great and really made my weekend. However, given the conditions, I decided to take a very easy approach to my drive down and back up today. I set the cruise control at 70 mph on both journeys. At 375 miles and with the fuel lights dropping to two bars, I decided to fuel up. I managed to get a whole 29.8 litres in after 2 clicks. That meant I could have easily finished my journey without re-fuelling or even stopping. I felt like a real chicken...or pudding (puh-din) as we say up here.

Please tell me that I am not alone in believing the Toyota Auris (or Prius) fuel display?

By the way, I do love the car. Especially the way that it handles the ice/snow when it hits it on one side at 70 mph on the motorway. A quick (small) wobble) and you wouldn't know you had hit it. A bit different to my 2004 Honda Civic Type-R that demanded that I move from stationary (on snow/ice) in 3rd gear to prevent wheelspin

Cheers

Dave

[daveybee]

Hi all

Forgive the topic title but tonight I really did feel like a chicken. Given that the snow and ice had largely disappeared up here in Glasgow, I ventured down to Manchester to see my young daughter. It was great and really made my weekend. However, given the conditions, I decided to take a very easy approach to my drive down and back up today. I set the cruise control at 70 mph on both journeys. At 375 miles and with the fuel lights dropping to two bars, I decided to fuel up. I managed to get a whole 29.8 litres in after 2 clicks. That meant I could have easily finished my journey without re-fuelling or even stopping. I felt like a real chicken...or pudding (puh-din) as we say up here.

Please tell me that I am not alone in believing the Toyota Auris (or Prius) fuel display?

By the way, I do love the car. Especially the way that it handles the ice/snow when it hits it on one side at 70 mph on the motorway. A quick (small) wobble) and you wouldn't know you had hit it. A bit different to my 2004 Honda Civic Type-R that demanded that I move from stationary (on snow/ice) in 3rd gear to prevent wheelspin

Cheers

Dave

Hi there... In my experience, the Auris fuel gauge / low fuel warning is a bit pessimistic in that, I recently had a single flashing bar and a low fuel warning with 19 miles left on the remaining cruising milage but I only managed to get some 34 litres into the tank meaning there was at least 11 litres left. Arguably, that would give a minimum of 90 - 100 miles in this cold weather. Like I said, pessimistic reading... D.

[DrCez]

...

At 375 miles and with the fuel lights dropping to two bars, I decided to fuel up. I managed to get a whole 29.8 litres in after 2 clicks. That meant I could have easily finished my journey without re-fuelling or even stopping. I felt like a real chicken...or pudding (puh-din) as we say up here.

Please tell me that I am not alone in believing the Toyota Auris (or Prius) fuel display?

I don't think there's any shame in being cautious if the weather is at all ropey. Were there to be a serious delay you'd need to keep the engine running to heat the car, not to mention the risk of shortages at the petrol stations, so plenty of fuel in reserve is a good idea (better to be a cosy chicken than a freezing penguin :) ) Some of those stretches on the M74 and the M6 in Cumbria are pretty remote: you wouldn't want to risk being caught short there (plus the police/AA wouldn't thank you either). For comparison last Christmas I did some long distance trips in my Prius in snowy/icy weather and typically covered 250-300 miles between refills. In the summer, when I was more inclined to see how far the car would go on a tank, the most I managed was just over 500 miles which included 70 miles after the low fuel warning started. I refuelled with 43.3 l (i.e. 1.7 l left in the tank, with the range at the equivalent of about -45 miles) and for the record the car showed 57.6 mpg and I calculated 52.9 mpg tank-to-tank.

That said, the fuel display on the Auris HSD and Prius (I reckon they are pretty similar) is not very accurate. The range indicator as the car gets low on fuel is also very pessimistic. On my car I've seen the low fuel warning start at anything between 19-25 miles; I assume the range depends on typical mpg (warning = about 8 litres left IIRC) but I've had trouble relating range to recent fuel consumption reported by the car. Fuel used per bar on the display is also variable. Some have said it's reasonably consistent for the first half of the tank but then gets cautious as the fuel level drops lower. These days I refer to the trip distance (reset when refuelling) and use a rule of thumb based on current mpg to provide a second (and probably more accurate) opinion of my range / fuel remaining.

[Jan&tone]

...

At 375 miles and with the fuel lights dropping to two bars, I decided to fuel up. I managed to get a whole 29.8 litres in after 2 clicks. That meant I could have easily finished my journey without re-fuelling or even stopping. I felt like a real chicken...or pudding (puh-din) as we say up here.

Please tell me that I am not alone in believing the Toyota Auris (or Prius) fuel display?

I don't think there's any shame in being cautious if the weather is at all ropey. Were there to be a serious delay you'd need to keep the engine running to heat the car, not to mention the risk of shortages at the petrol stations, so plenty of fuel in reserve is a good idea (better to be a cosy chicken than a freezing penguin :) ) Some of those stretches on the M74 and the M6 in Cumbria are pretty remote: you wouldn't want to risk being caught short there (plus the police/AA wouldn't thank you either). For comparison last Christmas I did some long distance trips in my Prius in snowy/icy weather and typically covered 250-300 miles between refills. In the summer, when I was more inclined to see how far the car would go on a tank, the most I managed was just over 500 miles which included 70 miles after the low fuel warning started. I refuelled with 43.3 l (i.e. 1.7 l left in the tank, with the range at the equivalent of about -45 miles) and for the record the car showed 57.6 mpg and I calculated 52.9 mpg tank-to-tank.

That said, the fuel display on the Auris HSD and Prius (I reckon they are pretty similar) is not very accurate. The range indicator as the car gets low on fuel is also very pessimistic. On my car I've seen the low fuel warning start at anything between 19-25 miles; I assume the range depends on typical mpg (warning = about 8 litres left IIRC) but I've had trouble relating range to recent fuel consumption reported by the car. Fuel used per bar on the display is also variable. Some have said it's reasonably consistent for the first half of the tank but then gets cautious as the fuel level drops lower. These days I refer to the trip distance (reset when refuelling) and use a rule of thumb based on current mpg to provide a second (and probably more accurate) opinion of my range / fuel remaining.

I'd go along with this, its much better to top off before a long journey this time of year in case the weather changes and you get stuck.

I ALWAYS fill up when i have 3bars left, usually before that, not a question of 'chicken' but just think how much of a turkey you would look if you actually ran out!!

Have you ever seen those guys by the side of a motorway with the AA man emptying a gallon container into their tanks - what wallies!!!

[Cyker]

My Yaris is the same; The fuel gauge gets very arbitrary once you get down to the last 2 blocks.

In fact, there are a couple of high-camber roads I park on regularly where if I face one way it'll say 2-3 blocks and if I face the other it'll be flashing!

[Jan&tone]

My Yaris is the same; The fuel gauge gets very arbitrary once you get down to the last 2 blocks.

In fact, there are a couple of high-camber roads I park on regularly where if I face one way it'll say 2-3 blocks and if I face the other it'll be flashing!

Lol - we had that years ago with a metro, parked it in the station car park side on to a slope. When we came back it wouldnt start, tank showed empty, which was not true, we took the handbrake off, pushed it a bit so it was facing downhill, it then started and showed the 'correct' fuel level - half a tank!!!

[kithmo]

I totally trust my prius fuel gauge, when the flashing block disappears I need fuel

Seriously though, I know that when I get to the last block, I can safely go another 70 miles or so before it runs out (not that I do). The most I've got into the tank, at the flashing block with 0 miles left to empty showing, was just under 38 Litres, i.e. 7 litres still left in the tank. At 50 mpg that's another 77 miles of fuel, even at 40mpg, say in winter short journeys everything on, that would give me another 62 miles.