Gas meter

Generally, I wait until it starts flashing before I look for fuel - you have a buffer of about a gallon or two before the engine will die from lack of fuel; but you generally don't want to push it to that point. Fueling with a bar left is better than everyone walking because you decided to 'chance' things, and ran 'er until empty.

 

Since the '10/'11 gen3's don't have a rubber bladder fuel tank like gen2, you are pretty safe like a typical car to wait on the flashing pip. Believe you have ~2 gallons left at the start of pip flash, but have not pushed beyond maybe 40 miles of that, once. No awards for x miles on a tank, and you don't wanna be walking.

 

IIRC, there is a single ping, but I don't always notice it.

 

Yup, one beep... but every time you start the car it will beep in that state.

OP, be sure to read though your owner's manual front to back... there is a lot of good information in there.

 

Hit trip until you see the estimated miles to go figure. It seems to start flashing the 1 bar at 20 miles to go.

I've been 0 twice and it still didn't take 10 gallons to reach the first click. I know the tank's 11.9 gallons, but I still can't bring myself to drive past the 0 regularly even though it'd save a little more gas.

 

I never do that on the first tank of any car anymore, after tank #1 of car #1 ran dry with the needle above E. First, get some refill experience, to see how much fuel it is taking compared to the claimed capacity.

I normally reach 1 bar with DTE (distance to empty) of ~50 miles. Then that last bar starts flashing, and beeps once, at DTE = 25. At that point, my refills are about 9.5-9.6 g.

Don't count on yours being identical. When testing, be sure to have a warm raincoat and good walking shoes.

 

I never let my gas drop below a 1/4 tank; just a habit I've developed. My concern for getting down to 1 bar or blinking is if I'm unexpectedly caught in idled traffic. I know the Prius can idle for seemingly ever on a full tank, but I don't know how long a bar lasts if caught on the freeway for an hour or so. I'm just not willing to risk it. Based upon gas price increases, it's cheaper to buy gas now instead of later.