0 "miles to empty" = 50+ miles to go before running out...

Thats what i though i still had 4 miles left thats me warming my car during lunch and then not warming the car when i clocked out of work with the temperature in the 20's. Drove home for 13 and it stilled showed 4 miles till dte. And i babied it thinking i was cutting it close with the amount supposedly i had left. In any of my vehicle i owned and my current 08 4runner i trust my fuel needle more then the digital fuel level on the prius. This is another weird thing also i fueled up when i had half tank and it still showed 190 miles to dte with the fuel level on full.

 

Was that reading immediately at startup, or minutes later?

 

When i was sitting in my car during lunch trying to get warm from i think 8 miles it went down to 4 miles so it stayed like that when i had to go back and start working again. So when it was time to clock out i brought my car to the front of the building. Went to clock out then went to the car and started up and went home thats when it stilled showed 4 miles to dte. When i got home sawed it still showed 4 miles thats when i decided to head to the gas station a few blocks away from. Just in case it didnt want to start in the morning.

 

But what about the time you fueled from half a tank up with DTE = 190 miles? Was that retained reading of 190 miles, on the full tank, spotted just as you started up at the gas station, or after you got home?

 

After i left the gas station on my way home. I put all my fuel ups in the fuelly app. Once i was around 3 blocks away thats when i switch the display to reset the trip and notice dte didnt say 370 miles

 

Maybe the manufacturers should just drop-kick all these miles-to-empty gauges, just keep the gas gauge.

 

Again, that is a completely bogus argument. Why multiply a relatively inaccurate reading (fuel level) with a highly variable value (consumption) to end up with some wildly varying number to indicate when your fuel tank will probably be empty?
This is also caused ofcourse by that stupid, stupid, STUPID (have I meantioned stupid) decision to use 10 bars as a fuel gauge. In what world is that something people would want.
Just report the actual fuel level, that way people can make much more informed decisions.

 

The accuracy can't improve much I think, too many variables. And considering the inherent inaccuracy, just filling up a bit sooner solves this immense dilemna.

 

Because some personality types, different from your own, want it.

You don't need to look at it. If you don't like it, just ignore it. It isn't even a default display, you must intentionally go find it.

In the process of going from the old style of very nonlinear analog needle gauges, they somehow did a decent job of linearizing this display. I like it, because it is much more linear than all the previous cars I've driven (back to the pair of 1963 models on which I learned to drive). Enough so that my nerd/math/engineering personality can better compute numerical fuel remaining on the fly, rather than have a mere seat-of-the-pants feel.

That would be nice too. My ScanGauge-II is now programmed for that, and it helps, but is subject to consider 'sloshing' that limits its usefulness. While the Prius gauge has more coarse resolution, it is much better filtered.

 

My 2008 4runner has dte reading also which i found highly inaccurate which i ignore and dont display it. So i learned how much a tank gave me by the miles i driven and the fuel level. I suspect that toyota program the fuel level to relate what the dte is showing pretty dumb.

 

They should all hand it over to the video game company, Konami. They've built the most reliable DTE meter technology I've ever trusted. Growing up playing teenage mutant ninja turtles on arcade systems, my ninja turtle would lose a life when it's life bar-meter completely depleted.

 

Really? I could estimate fuel used or remaining a heck of a lot more accurately with the analog needle of my 1981 Mazda. The Mazda gauge was also much easier to see under some common lighting conditions.