Ran out of gas in my new to me PIP

we don't worry, we just like to share our experiences.

 

the only reason you have that neon sign in your face is because i complained so much about the short beep and flashing last gas bar not being enough warning. maybe gen 4 owners will run out of gas less often thanks to me.

 

trust me, we've all been there. just some of us won't admit it.

 

Expected high tomorrow here in coastal BC is 17C, translates to 63F, kinda nuts for November. do not know when I'm gonna put on the snow tires. Maybe around Christmas?

 

time to sell my florida property. although, there are a ton of acorns this year...

 

On a previous car with a very nonlinear gauge, the 1/2 tank mark was at 140 miles, about 1/3rd of the car's actual useful range.

On my normal 400 mile trip, the best gas prices are 330 miles apart. Stopping at 140 miles meant paying the highest possible tourist trap / captive market prices. In a region where the price spread is commonly $0.80/gallon, sometimes even $1/gallon, those un-optimized fuel stops can be quite costly.

 

I've only seen that warning one time. It was my very first tank of gas. I needed to know how far I can drive, approximately, (worst case scenario) before I run out of gas.

I don't want to see that warning again. No purpose in driving my car to fumes. I did the experiment one time, and that's enough. There was also a voice alert. I believe I had the Nav turned on at the time. That's a very nice feature.

I guess I top-off my tank more often than other Prius owners. (Peace of mind.) I have no reservations about buying gas, and I'm really not concerned with what it cost. Currently $2.81 here. Buying 8 or 9 gallons for my Prius is the very LEAST of my worries. Thankfully.

 

i don't mind filling up, but i don't mind waiting until the last pip flashes. it's only 8 gallons, and i like to see the average mpg calculation, even though it's almost always the same.

 

Here's some good news. I just filled up with my favorite Mobil Synergy, not that that's important. But the display MPG and the actual calculated MPG were only 9/10 apart.

Display 62.4
Calc 61.5

That is the best it's ever been. Maybe the computer is getting better?

 

Not sure, but the MPG is impressive in either case!

 

More likely, it is just random fillup variation, or lucky conditions. I know of no reason why the computer should be getting better.
Don't get your hopes get up for consistently better displays.

 

In the last 8 months, the most it has ever been off. was 2 MPG.

Regardless, I certainly can't complain about that! Anything over 50 is outstanding in my book! ( I only got 18 mpg in my six cylinder Camry.)

 

The very first tank of the very first car I actually owned, is where I discovered that it is possible to have a fuel gauge error allowing the tank to run dry while the gauge still shows fuel remaining.

Since then, I have never run the gauge low on the first few tanks of a new-to-me car. Build up a bit of refill history first, for gauge calibration purposes. Only then run it low for testing purposes at a time and place of my choosing, under benign conditions when and where the consequences of running out are not a significant issue or inconvenience.

 

I usually fill up when it gets to 500 miles driven on the Trip-A. (Or even sooner.) I guess I'm too conservative, I allow myself a lot of leeway and caution.

OK guys, sorry, all that is off-topic. Back to the PIP boys.

 

i forgot to mention, we got synergy!

 

I find the fuel gauge way too pessimistic - flashing and beeping when in fact there's still 20% of fuel in the tank (45 litre tank in European PIP) is a bit ridiculous IMO. Seems to be a Toyota thing. My previous car had an unreliable fuel gauge, so I'm used to resetting the trip counter on every fill (and always filling) and keeping an eye on that, and also know I can safely do 60 miles after the range goes to 0 - haven't ran out yet...