Prius Mpg

[barrycoll]

After 480 miles, and with only one bar left showing on the fuel guage, a fill up was necessary.

After reading all the blogs, I thought that 46 litres would be about it, but whjle rubber necking the blonde in the MX5, I realised that I was ruining my paintwork

...so 33.90 litres went in, right up to the filler neck, (and over)which firstly means that one bar flashing means that I still have 11 litres of remaining fuel....

...sort of doesn't ring true, but I am sure that there was no air bubble in the tank stopping fuel entry

...anyway, that works out at 62.7 mpg which I am well chuffed with, as there was motorway/dual carriageway plus hours of stop/start on the M25...

priuschat suggest that your average mileage multiplied by 10 (the size of the tank) give the range available before a top up....well mine was 67+ or -, so less 10% is about right

cheers barrycoll

[barrycoll]

looking at other posts, I am wondering if the 2013 Prius has had some tweaks to make +++mpg possible?

has anybody else noticed this, or is it my imagination?

barrycoll

[johalareewi]

which firstly means that one bar flashing means that I still have 11 litres of remaining fuel....

...sort of doesn't ring true, but I am sure that there was no air bubble in the tank stopping fuel entry

That is not unusual.

On the gen3 prius, the last bar starts flashing when there is about 10 litres left in tank. YMMV

[Mkuk0]

Sounds about right, I usually only think about filling up when it starts flashing, and I've not put more than 38 litres in yet.

[barrycoll]

well that is very re-assuring folks...

of course, it depends on just how long you leave the last bar flashing, Russell!!.

so does that mean that others have found the equation of multiplying the current average mpg, by 10 (gallons, the size of the tank), should equal the available tank mileage.....less maybe 10% for digital optimism...???

thanks barrycoll

[johalareewi]

Factor in seasonal variation and you have it.

[Dave R.]

Rather than bars on the fuel gauge, I go on the computer's "distance to empty". When this gets to zero, I know that I have about 50 miles left in the tank (Gen 3 Prius).

[johalareewi]

It would be really handy if the "distance to empty" went negative once it reached 0 miles rather than sticking on 0. You could then drive around until it read -50 before filling up.

[Parts-King]

It's a gauge, an "indication" of the amount of fuel in the tank, why on earth do you let it go so low? Does eeking out another 50 miles really matter that much?

Kingo

[Dave R.]

It would be really handy if the "distance to empty" went negative once it reached 0 miles rather than sticking on 0. You could then drive around until it read -50 before filling up.

Yes - if I notice it, I set the trip meter to zero to keep track.

Even though I know it has 50 miles, it is still a bit unnerving driving around on an apparently empty tank!

[Dave R.]

It's a gauge, an "indication" of the amount of fuel in the tank, why on earth do you let it go so low? Does eeking out another 50 miles really matter that much?

Kingo

Normally I'd agree, but I used to have a 100 mile round-trip to work, and the petrol where I worked was far cheaper than at home, so it made sense to use as much of the tankfull as possible, otherwise I'd have been visiting the petrol station every 3rd day,

[Parts-King]

It wasnt a criticism, just wondered why it had to be run so low as to risk running out of fuel

Kingo

[geoffatstanpit]

Interesting! Mine's a Yaris so the numbers are a bit different - I get a cruising range of about 410 miles at fill up and if I let it get down to about 10 miles I can get 31 litres in the 35 litre tank so there must still be about 4 litres in the tank. Does make me nervous though - the last 50 miles seem to go by very quickly!

Which leads me to wonder what would happen if it did actually run out of petrol? Would the starter motor keep spinning the engine till the Battery ran out. Hope not!

Geoff

[kithmo]

Normally I used to fill up my old Gen 3 as soon as possible after the last block started flashing. I once had it down past the flashing last block to when the block disappeared and still only got just under 38 Ltrs in. If you work on 50 mpg that's still about 70 miles left. My new Prius+ doesn't flash, you get a little orange petrol pump shaped warning light appearing when you've been on the last block a while (it's easier to see the block than the light). I filled up just a couple of miles after the light came on and still only got 37 ltrs in.

[barrycoll]

after 1650 miles in the new Gen 3 T Spirit, we are now down in La Manga, Spain....the car has averasged 61 mpg as per ther display, less 10% for bad behaviour.........the car is well loaded down, plus a a Thuke bike rack, and 2 bikes

its interesting, that there seems to be an inner 'bloke' who is keen to see just how far the car will go before 'nada' happens....as Kingo says, its just a guage, so why try and play games with it, but ineveitably, and despite the lack of petrol stations around in central Spain, plus the fact that most are closed on Sunday, if the last blob is not flashing yet, why play safe???

it seems as if one will get more mileage per tankful, if one travels more miles before fill up...and that way madness lies, methinks

crossing the Pyrenees, climbing up the Bielsa Pass in Power mode the whole way, the car was down to the low 30's and looked depressing, but cross the top, and down the other side, and eh voila, as the frogs say, its back to the high 50s again, and still climbing....in fact, the sum total was no different to usual, and + and - cancelled each other out

on the other hand Mways are challenging, as its hard not to keep a steady throttle, and cant quite figure the pulse and glide routine....any body any ideas for best M way driving to keep consumption down (other than stick to 50mph that is)???

[johalareewi]

It's a gauge, an "indication" of the amount of fuel in the tank, why on earth do you let it go so low? Does eeking out another 50 miles really matter that much?

Kingo

As has been said, fuel prices vary from place to place so when it's time to fill up, it is handy to know if you can reach a cheaper filling station (on your current route) before you run out.

Also, life is too short to spend it queueing up to get fuel so I fill her up, then run until (almost) empty.

[AGL]

Whilst I appreciate it's a gauge, why is it so conservative? I do approx. 30,000 miles a year so i'm filling up 6-7 times a month and it's getting annoying at only getting 37 litres worth of motoring before the last bar starts flashing.

The first bar takes 100 miles to disappear, the last bar, and 20 miles, seems to disappear in a flash - and more like 11-12 miles, if that.

The consensus seems to be that there's about 50 miles left at 0, yet you can't trust it given how quickly the final part of the range disappears.

Why not just make it like other manufacturers - 50 miles remaining is 50 miles remaining. (or thereabouts)?

[aCactus]

Whilst I appreciate it's a gauge, why is it so conservative? I do approx. 30,000 miles a year so i'm filling up 6-7 times a month and it's getting annoying at only getting 37 litres worth of motoring before the last bar starts flashing.

The first bar takes 100 miles to disappear, the last bar, and 20 miles, seems to disappear in a flash - and more like 11-12 miles, if that.

The consensus seems to be that there's about 50 miles left at 0, yet you can't trust it given how quickly the final part of the range disappears.

Why not just make it like other manufacturers - 50 miles remaining is 50 miles remaining. (or thereabouts)?

They have made it like other manufacturers hence the pessimistic reading - remember Top Gear doing an economy run to Blackpool, all three cars showed empty/zero miles a long way from the finish.

[Parts-King]

I really cannot believe people want a gauge to be so accurate, they will wait until zero or near enough, to fill up, I cannot comprehend why

Why not make your judgement about filling up at 100 miles left, why does it have to be zero?

Kingo

[AGL]

Because it could be the difference in filling up every 4 days, or every 6 days.

[Parts-King]

..........or running out of fuel.........your busy schedule would be up s*it creek then.............hmmm, 5 minutes out of my life and I would be filling up every 4 days me thinks................but thankfully we are all different :lol:

Kingo

[Sverre]

Hi

I'm thinking about buying a prius v, but I would like to know more about how hybrids perform in sub zero degrees 1) with regards to gettin the heat up inside the car, and 2) the mpg (The battery's capacity goes down with temperatur, doesn't it, and what does that do to the fuel economy)?

(PS: Please alow my comment about running out of fuel with a hybrid - it has got a reserve range, it can run on electricity for some miles. Doesn't this give a bit of relief from some of the panic one can experience in a normal car?)

Sverre

[johalareewi]

(PS: Please alow my comment about running out of fuel with a hybrid - it has got a reserve range, it can run on electricity for some miles. Doesn't this give a bit of relief from some of the panic one can experience in a normal car?)

Sverre

It can run on electricity but not very far (unless you have the plug in prius).

With the gen3 prius, some USA owners ran out of fuel on purpose to see what would happen.

Check out

http://priuschat.com/threads/2011-prius-ran-out-of-gas.121779/#post-1749404

[Parts-King]

You do not want to be running out of fuel in your Prius, you are in trouble if you do. Much better to be filling up well before that situation occurs

Kingo

[Joseph D]

As Kingo says its just a gauge and for giving an indication of the content of the fuel tank.

What I do is, as soon as the beep sounds and the last block starts flashing, I reset the "B" trip meter with the intent of filling when next convenient before it reaches 50 mi.

The other thing I do out of interest is re-set the mpg read-out and both trip meters at each fill.

Then I have a reasonably accurate idea of how much fuel is in the tank based on milage. As it happens the tank capacity of the Prius is 10 imp gallons (you can actually squeeze about 10.1 gals into it) or 45.5 litres. The fact the tank is 10 gals is convenient, as all you need to do is multiply the mpg figure displayed for the tank average by 10 and it will give you a reasonably accurate estimate for the number of miles you can cover for this tank as shown by trip meters.

I have never run out yet, and I have had only one uncomfortable search for a petrol station while in Europe on a Sunday. I think I put in 44.something litres, so was not close to running on vapours, and the ICE still was running as I approached the forecourt. I don't usually cut it that fine, and at 50 mpg 1 litre is good for 11ish miles.

I'm not encouraging anyone to push things to the limits, merely sharing a method I have found reliable so you can be confident how much fuel you have. What you do with that knowledge is your business.