First Tank of Gas, What a Ride !

[propking]

Well today I ran out my first tank of gas. literally ran it out of gas. I was trying to get to my favorite gas stop but came up a little short. I got 100 miles on the last block, 50 miles after it started blinking. I was getting off the expressway when all the warning lights lit up. Thats not a good feeling. I drove on battery power for a couple of blocks to a nearby gas station, put in a gallon and proceded to my favorite gas watering hole. The warning lights went out about 2 miles down the road. My first tank went 495 miles with an average of 47.9 MPG :clap:

[LisaMurray]

Oh no! I'm so afraid of the same thing happening to me (I notice we got our cars the same day!). I just hit two bars today, and I think I'm gonna fill up tomorrow just out of paranoia. This is totally foreign behavior to me...I've always been one of those people that pushes it to the limit with the warning light on. But with the horror stories of the "guess gage" here and on other forums, I don't think I'll chance it!

[Tideland Prius]

I usually pump at 2 bars but once I did go down to the blinking bar. I think it should be fine but once you get down to one bar, start planning before it blinks =)

[Ray Moore]

It varies by the car. I've gone 134 miles on the blinking bar. I was showing over 59 MPG at the time. I seam to be able to safely go about two times the mileage that I'm getting, which means a hundred miles is seldom a problem.

My strategy is to fill it all the way up and then when I've gone 11 times the current average MPG, I think about filling up. Games like this have replaced racing to pass all the cars that are ahead of me on the road.

[xantus98]

Yeah, I too have been very happy with my first tank. We were down to 2 bars and decided to fill up just to check the mileage against the display. Went 375 miles on 8.5 gallons. That figured out to be 44.1 mpg. The display showed we were averaging 43.8, so pretty close. Filled up slowly, as we had seen suggested here. When it clicked off at 8.5, I was skeptical. Tried to put a little more in, but it almost immediately stopped again. Full! What makes this even sweeter is that we would have only averaged probably 21 with the PT Cruiser we got rid of to get the Prius. Loving it all the more!!

[NHPrius]

LOL - I got mine on the 24th and filled up twice when I got to the 1/2 tank mark...... I am such a chicken!!

[DanMan32]

Got 600 miles on this last tank. Last pip started blinking at 580 or so. MFD showed 60-61 MPG. Filled with 10.55 gallons. Pump clicked off at 9.33, and I usually add an extra gallon after that.

Twice the display huh? Means I might have gotten close to 700 miles on this tank?

[finman]

Ya know, the warm-weather folks are an inspiration here! 600, 700 mile tanks? When will summer EVER return? It's been spring like in the 50s or so here but not quite the summer temps of 80s and MPGs in the 55s. After running out of gas with 70 miles on the blinking bar at 40 degrees, I've come to realize the warmer temps last summer (80s) allowed me 75 miles on the blinking bar and a 10.9 gallon fillup, meaning I had roughly 50 more miles before the gas would run out. Now I know. And that's half the battle sometimes. I agree with Ray, playing the gas "guess"-gauge is alot more fun than trying to speed around people and generally wasting gas...

[Ray Moore]

Dan-

You had a 700 mile tank on the line and you let it get away. With 61 MPG on the display and if you filled it up until you see fuel in the neck of the filler tube, you can get the elusive 800 mile tank.

This is, of couirse, just for amusement. I'm really glad to see the high numbers out there. You know what it takes and all the subtle things that can help and hurt your effort. I don't do anything to delay other drivers and I just drive it right around the speed limit unless I'm approaching a light or the top of a long down hill run. Are you using neutral much?

By the way, I was a little skeptical about just how much benefit there was to be gained in high humidity condtions, but I now am convinced that my highway miles definitely show a noticable improvement in high dewpoint conditions. Kudos to you.

[DanMan32]

Weather was quite mild this past week and tank, so I didn't need the AC much. Avg temp was in the low 70's, and humidity was low. Often ran with windows open at least a bit. Speeds about 45-55MPH on US19, a major 4-6 lane highway with traffic lights.

I am doubtful I'll ever see 800 miles on a tank, it is hard to maintain 60MPG and hard to get to use that 11th gallon. I've only exceeded 11 gallons twice, and at least once I put in a gallon or two beforehand. It did dip down to 59, maybe 58 midtank, but that could have been the previous tank.

Anyone notice that the first trip or two after filling up gives great mileaga? Why is that?