Ran out of gas.

[jmann]

So, I make fun of people who run out of gas. It is not like the little blue men in the engine call a caucus and say "hey guys, lets leave this poor fool stranded here.... in ....NOW." The car tells people when it is going to run out of gas. There is no secret to it.

OK, so I ran out of gas. And after sitting is a dumbfounded stupor for about 20 minutes, I decided to go back home. Here is the problem: 43MPG, 403 miles, 11.5 gallon tank => 91 miles remaining. Even if a whole gallon and a half can be accounted to the rubber bag catastrophe, I should have had a good 20 miles left.

Well, I got gas at this little crappy convince gas station at Peak N' Peak two weeks ago. I could barely get any gas out of this crappy pump.

Luckily I had half a gallon at home, so I was set, but what a pain.

[qbee42]

What was your gas gage displaying before you ran out?

Tom

[Bill Merchant]

Just imagine that single blinking box, going off-on-off-on saying GET! GAS! GET! GAS! GET! GAS!

We don't call it the Guess Guage without reason...

[IsrAmeriPrius]

Where is our curmudgeon in chief? He loves to pontificate to folks who test the limits of the Prius gas tank.

[edselpdx]

All these assumptions about the gas tank capacity.... At least you have the ability to note that the car WAS telling you it was running out, and the humility to sit for 20 minutes to wallow in the reality. GET GAS GET GAS GET GAS. The blinking pip and the MFD don't lie. Sorry about your little situation.

[gh4chiefs]

I'm a relatively new Prius driver and forum poster, but I've already seen so many of these types of threads that I just have to ask. I don't mean to offend anybody and please excuse my tone, it's more of astonishment and confusion than being a smart a$$. But what in the heck is the aversion to stopping and getting gas when the guage gets low?

I just don't get it.

[cbs4]

I get it.

People are busy, with many demands and deadlines to meet, and have to continually juggle time trade offs to meet them. Sometimes it isn't always convenient to get gas when the guage is 1/4 tank, while straining through thick traffic to get to an appointment on time.

While it is even less convenient to run out and be stranded, running low on other cars has a more predictable outcome... one that people have learned to "guage" down to the last 20 miles, despite the low fuel lights in other cars coming on some 30 miles prior.

The trouble is that running low on the Prius is less predictable. That's why new Prius owners run out of gas.

We established a policy: On our way home, after the last trip of the day, if the tank to any of our vehicles is half full or less, we must stop at a gas station and fill up before finally coming home.

I don't know about how the perfect individuals out there live, because I'm not one of them, so it is easier for me understand when someone runs out of gas. Even with the aforementioned established policy in our home, there are still times when I'm too tired to adhere to my own policy, and slink straight home to bed, with only a 1/8th tank.

But I don't drive the Prius, so I can get away with this sin. My wife however, ALWAYS keeps the Prius tank filled. She ran out of gas just once, when the Prius was only a few days old, and she never will go through that again.

I suspect that for most calculus minded people, it will happen only once for them also.

[donee]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmann @ Mar 13 2007, 12:29 AM) [snapback]404558[/snapback]</div>

So, I make fun of people who run out of gas. It is not like the little blue men in the engine call a caucus and say "hey guys, lets leave this poor fool stranded here.... in ....NOW." The car tells people when it is going to run out of gas. There is no secret to it.

OK, so I ran out of gas. And after sitting is a dumbfounded stupor for about 20 minutes, I decided to go back home. Here is the problem: 43MPG, 403 miles, 11.5 gallon tank => 91 miles remaining. Even if a whole gallon and a half can be accounted to the rubber bag catastrophe, I should have had a good 20 miles left.

Well, I got gas at this little crappy convince gas station at Peak N' Peak two weeks ago. I could barely get any gas out of this crappy pump.

Luckily I had half a gallon at home, so I was set, but what a pain.
[/b]

Hi Jmann,

Rubber shrinks in the cold. So, below freezing you cannot put more than about 10 gallons into the Prius tank. If you gassed up on one of those sub 15 F mornings we had a few weeks ago, well, then you might have been lucky to get 9.5 gallons into the tank.

During summer, it ll take 11 gallons, but just. And only after being stretched out for a few warm weather fillups.

Last spring, I did a fill up one freezing morning, just as the second pip dropped, then again in the afternoon at the same distance from the gas station after the second pip dropped , but it was sunny and 50 degrees. The difference in filling was exactly one gallon. Which is huge when it comes to trying to estimate based on mileage.

Quantized gauges are a problem too. One sees two-pips. Does no that mean .21 to .29 tanks worth left, or does it mean .15 to .25 ? Or worse yet .11 to .19 ? So, that when the second pip goes off, the one pip is left and exactly .1 tanks worth is left. .1 tanks worth is what? In the Prius, which self calbrates the gauge based on the fillup blader expansion, that .1 tank worth could mean any where from .75 (sub-zero fillup) to 1.1 (south texas summer fillup) gallons.

[livelychick]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gh4chiefs @ Mar 13 2007, 12:21 PM) [snapback]404897[/snapback]</div>

I'm a relatively new Prius driver and forum poster, but I've already seen so many of these types of threads that I just have to ask. I don't mean to offend anybody and please excuse my tone, it's more of astonishment and confusion than being a smart a$$. But what in the heck is the aversion to stopping and getting gas when the guage gets low?

I just don't get it.
[/b]

Haven't you seen the Seinfeld episode where Kramer and the car salesman push the car as far as it can go without stopping? That show was great about spotlighting idiosyncrasies of the human condition. Apparently, trying to outfox the gas gauge can be one of them.

I'm one of the gas gauge pushers, as well. I don't know why, but something inside me just wants to test the limits of how far I can go...there's a small thrill with wondering "Can I make it?"

Of course, it just plain sucks when you don't. I've run out of gas in the Prius once. And yes, I was only able to fill my tank with 9 and a half gallons or so when I did--that rogue gallon or two drives me nuts!

[aaf709]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gh4chiefs @ Mar 13 2007, 09:21 AM) [snapback]404897[/snapback]</div>

I'm a relatively new Prius driver and forum poster, but I've already seen so many of these types of threads that I just have to ask. I don't mean to offend anybody and please excuse my tone, it's more of astonishment and confusion than being a smart a$$. But what in the heck is the aversion to stopping and getting gas when the guage gets low?

I just don't get it.
[/b]

We're dealing with a number of things here. One is the desire to get the most mileage per tank. Another is the bladder. It's easy to think that if the tank holds 11.9 gallons and I put in 9, I had 2.9 gallons left, but because of the bladder it's only true that you put in 9 gallons. Also, if you ask other Prius drivers how many miles they were able to go on the last flashing pip, that number will vary and while one person was able to go 90 miles, another may go only 5.