New Owner Questions about mileage?

AHHH, what's the question?

 

On the blinking light I get 380-440 miles. Stats are on Fuelly

 

I rarely let my Prius get down to one 'dot' because it has a gas bladder, not a gas tank. However, when I have two dots remaining, I usually have about 400 miles on my tripometer whenever it goes from three dots to two. The range on a Prius is pretty much equal to that of many other cars. Roughly 400-600 miles per tank depending on how you drive it.

 

Also, I have a tip for you that I had to learn the hard(er) way. Always put like at least 3 or 4 gallons on fill ups, or it will not register on your fuel gauge.

 

The Gen II Prius has a rubber bladder in the gas tank. When it's cold outside the bladder will not stretch and your "fill-up" will be short a gallon or more. We call the Prius gas gauge the "guess gauge" and advise people not to try to stretch out the last pint of gas in the tank. There is also a warning about over filling in the user manual. Good Luck with your "new" car.

 

Greetings Nicholas and "Welcome" to Prius Chat!

To answer your question - On our Prius I get anywhere from 320 to 400 miles before I put fuel in. I can go further, but I don't chance it... You can see my stats on fuelly also in my signature.

Yes, the Prius you have has the "bladder" and the guess gage. Yes, when you put fuel in, try to add a minimum of three gallons otherwise the gage won't respond. Yes, the bladder changes due to the temperature.

Here are some hints that will help you when you go to fill up.

1. When you get to the pump, power down the Prius completely.
2. Open the fuel door and unscrew the gas cap 1/2 way.
3. Go inside and prepay to fill the car. If you use a card at the pump, try to wait at least 60 seconds before you completely remove the gas cap. If you don't want to stand around, take the time to check the oil while the cap is loose.
4. After venting (step 3), remove the cap. Insert the pump nozzle into the tank as far as it will go and then proceed to fill the bladder. Use the slowest speed on the nozzle. Allow the pump to shut off automatically. Once the pump shuts off, hang up the pump as you are done filling the bladder. Then put the cap back on, and turn the cap until you hear it click and then close the fuel door. It is not a good practice to top off the Prius.
5. Go inside get your change and you will be good to go.

Note: Wintertime your fills will be less than summertime fills. I am referring to gallons of fuel versus amount of pips on the guess gage. Each block is called a pip. Also, to get an accurate average of your MPG, calculate the mileage over several tanks, not just one and average all of them together. If you just do one you will not have a good base number as the bladder and the guess gage is not always consistent. Finally, I would suggest you get in the habit of filling up with no less than two pips left on the gage until you get a good feel for the car. If you see you are only putting in about 5 or 6 gallons, then you pretty much know you can go a little further. But when you start getting up around 8 gallons or more, then you know you are getting close to the bottom. The tank capacity is 11.9 gallons, but most of us have found you just don't get to use all of it. I have ran down to the last pip and never had a problem. Several go down to the where the last pip is flashing and then buy fuel.

There is a wealth of information here on Prius Chat. Also if you have a owner's manual, read it. I learned a lot reading ours (over 300 pages)

Enjoy the ride and again "Welcome" to Prius Chat!

Ron

 

Hey welcome Nicholas...as mentioned by Dorunron and others we have the flexible gas tank. In the summer we can get up 9+ gallons on a fill-up, and if we get 50+ MPG on a long trip, our max is 485 miles/tank (summer). In the winter we get 8 gallons max on fill-up, and MPG can easily be lower 43-44 MPG in local driving so as low as 325-350 miles/tank (winter). If your used car is "new" by that I mean settings reset, you may have to drive a few tanks. Don't fall into the trap of waiting until 1 blinking pip to fill up...common to run out of fuel and this can potentially lead to other problems.

 

It takes a while to get a handle on your mileage. As a new guy never let the car go below 2 pips. The pip capacity is not linear and could leave a newbie on the side of the road out of gas if you try to max the tank out.

You do not want to run out of gas in this car. It will be very expensive. Hundreds of horror stories on this site about people who thought they had more gas than they did.

At 2 pips go to gas station. Open gas cap. Stow cap in door. Go inside and get a drink and let the gas tank vent to atmosphere which will allow the collapsible bladder in the gas tank to relax. This will help in a drama free fill up and allow you to fill the tank up without gas burping back out and pump clicking off prematurely. Pump in gas on slowest setting. On the first click hang it up. Do Not Do Not top off the tank.

You should get around 8 gallons. Do the same thing again and divide miles driven to however much gas you put in to first click. Drove 400 miles since last fill up. This fill up I put 8 gallons in. Thats 50 mpg's.

After a while you won't even need to track it you can just use the mfd consumption meter.

 

87 Octane is what the Prius is designed for. If it is without Ethanol, that is a plus in your favor.

Ron

 

87 Octane.

Don't get into the habit of measuring by the TANK because that implies how far can I go on a tank and makes you want to drive as far as you can on a tank. Run out of gas once and have to be towed to the dealer $$$ will skew your mpg's financially for years! Another words what good is great mpg's if I have to drop $500 at the dealer because I ran out of gas. It's happened to hundreds of people here.

$500 is alot of fuel.....cabeesh?

2 pips---vent---fill up=drama free fueling and Prius ownership.

Good Luck to you young man.