how many miles are you getting per fill up?

I'm one of those annoying people that thinks that miles per tank isn't nearly as important as miles per gallon.

The Gen II Prius has a gas tank bladder, that can affect how much gas it actually holds. Every fill up may be slightly different. Doing the math manually, over a series of tanks, is the only real way to determine MPG.

Your bladder may be stiff, due to cold weather, causing the tank to hold a bit less. You may be driving short distances, or have other issues with your driving that is lowering your MPG.

Right now, in the winter, 300 miles per tank is about normal for me - but I usually fill up at 2 or 3 pips, so I could probably get more, if I were a thrill seeker that ran it to the blink...

 

I average over 400 miles per fill up. In the summer, I can get almost 500.

 

I usually hit the last bar at 430 miles. If I wanted to get just under 500 miles I probably could, but have never tried to risk it.

 

I get 350ish..

 

With winter here, I'll get about 375 - 400; but come summer I'll be back to about 475 - 500. Best take ever was 610 miles and I filled with 11.2 gallons.

 

The tank is technically 11.9 gallons. Whenever I fill up at Empty, however, it usually comes out to 8.3 gallons.

 

I drove well past the last blip on the fuel gauge - I was relieved when I filled up. Best milage tank didn't take me quiet so far, but I managed 61 MPG over 560 miles on a long trip.

 

This is all true, but if you want consistent calculations it's fair to pay attention to miles per tank:

Ex/Sometimes I may be on my last bar and at only 370 miles. l fill up and pay for 8 gallons. Thats only 46mpg.
The next time I'll be on my last bar and have 450 miles. I fill up at 8 gallons again. Thats 56mpg. Now we're talking. I paid for the same amount of gas but milked more miles out of it.

My point is that if you keep driving extra miles while low on gas (to where your comfortable), you will get better mileage - which is what we are going for.

Thus, paying attention to your miles per tank has an influence on your miles per gallon.

 

I have a high of 524 miles, and a low of 372. The lower is last month, highest last summer. I usually wait until the last pip is blinking.

 

I've had my Prius since the last week of October...so relatively little data.

But, I usually fill up when I have 3 pips remaining...that's usually 300miles +-25mi, so a full tank would be around 400-450miles, based on that data.

Average displayed mpg = 46-48mpg, average calculated mpg = 51-58mpg.

Chuck

 

Are you sure the calculated mpg is 5-10 higher than the MFD?

 

Gas prices here cycle weekly....usually jumping up a few cents or more per litre most Wednesday mornings, holding until the weekend then ramping down slowly from Saturday on. So I don't always wait for a set number of pips... if on Tues evening I don't think I have enough gas to last through 'til at least Monday, I fill up. This doesn't always work, but it reduces my costs by a few percent overall. (gas here for the last 6 months or so bounces between 90 and 95 Canadian cents per litre)

 

In my car, yes...every time. It's never once matched. Twice it's been lower...every other time has been 5-10mpg higher than the MFD figure.

Chuck

 

Well, here the volume measured by the pump is temperature corrected to 15C. That is, they correct the volume measured by measuring the temperature of the fuel and correcting the reported volume of fuel transfered. I don't know if the Prius corrects for the temperature of the fuel when it measures the volume being burned, or if it uses the same reference temperature as the gas station fuel pumps.

 

We don't have the rubber bladder here in Australia so I normally get at least 940 Km (585 miles) and I often get over 600 miles per tank. So far my best tank is approx 630 miles.

 

My year long average is 52mpg. This is calculated at the pump. The display readout actually says 54mpg. In the summer I peaked at 57mpg once or twice, but lately due to the cold winter, I've been getting between 48 and 51 fillups. Usually get 400-430miles a tank, and I fill up as soon as it hits 1 pip.

 

It would be helpful if you provided more information. How long have you driven your car? When do you fill up? (how many pips are remaining?) How many gallons per fill up? How many miles per gallon on average? What is the ambient temperature?

If you fill up when there are still three or four pips on the gas guage, then 300 miles per tank is good. That's roughly six gallons burned making your mileage 50mpg. If you're not filling til the last pip is flashing, then 300 is not so good.

Temperature makes a big difference in your mileage and therefore your miles per tank for two reasons. Low temps can reduce the number of gallons that the tank can accept, and low temps will increase the time needed to warm up the ICE, decreasing mpg.

 

The way I like to measure it is:

75-100 miles - first pip
35-40 miles each pip after that

So after 9 pips (leaving 1 left), I have anywhere from 390-460 miles.


Sorry I know I made that really complicated but maybe some of you do the same thing...?