2006 runs out of gas quickly

I absolutely love these stories of people running out of gas... I just cannot understand why people wait till they have 1/10th or less of a tank to go get more gas... I drive a 2002 VW new beetle now and go into panic mode when I get to 1/2 tank or less... and I can go at least 125+miles on 1/2 tank (beetle tank being around 12-13 gal) Why people... why??? Just go to the darn gas station...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bgdrewsif @ Apr 2 2006, 02:11 AM) [snapback]233703[/snapback]</div>

I see alot of these posts and am amazed at how many prius owners run out of gas.
When I get down to 2 dots left I get gas and it usually takes 8.5 gal. (2006 prius)
I know I have a 11.9 gal tank but that is fine with me I don't have to take 11 gallons at fillup.

I think people don't realize that the gas gauge might start blinking and you may not notice it at first.
when you do notice it you think it just started blinking when in fact it has been blinking for 5 min.

 

I typically start calculating when it goes from 4 bars to 3.. I reset the trip B.

Bar 3 typically gets between 50 and 60 miles before it goes away. Reset Trip B.

Bar 2 also gets between 50 and 60 miles before it goes away. Reset Trip B.

No, I don't know if it's in any way true, but I'm expecting Bar 1 to also get 50 to 60 miles. (I've never run it that far or long, so I don't know).

Bar 1 goes about 25 to 28 miles before it starts to blink and say 'add fuel'.

Reset Trip B again.

I've only ever gone about 5 miles, 8 miles the 2 or 3 times I've done this.

I only get that close because I drive 65 miles each way to work. If I have a good 3 days and my mpg has been 50+, then I prefer to go for day 4. I need to have 'close' to 3 bars starting out on day 4 of the commute in order to even try this. With just about 3 bars, I've made it to the gas station on the way home each time I've tried it.. having run on the blinking thing about 3 or 4 miles.

That's 530 miles on the tank and about 10.2 gallons of gas usually.

So, if your mpg's are closer to the 40's, adjust accordingly.

 

What, pray tell, is the point of waiting to put fuel in the car until it's running on fumes? This is insane. Complaining about the precision of fuel gauges is like complaining about weather forecasts - anyone over the age of 5 understands that both are imprecise at best and you adjust your behavior accordingly.


Like others here, I regard anything under 1/4 of a tank as an immediate call to look for a place to fill up. Warning lights? In 45 years of driving, I've pushed it only once [we were about 5 miles from home, and I knew the station I wanted to hit, and the light had barely come on in our Mercedes] and NEVER run out of fuel. The Prius is a car that particularly doesn't take kindly to this behavior.

 

I have to agree with the previous posters...Never wait until the blinky pip blinks...'because then, it's too late!

I often fill up at whatever gas station has the cheapest gas at the time. If it's 3/4 of a tank and fuel is $2.30, then I'm there. Makes it easier to buy less gas when it's more expensive!

 

Prius owners tend to push it to the max. They want to push their miles per tank up as far as possible. I think this is why they "challenge" the gauges. It's still very hard for me to understand. I have a 2000 VW Jetta and on the rare occassion I let the tank get to a point where the light comes on. I get gas ASAP! The last thing I want to do is give that car yet ANOTHER reason to go to the dealer. :blink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(clintd555 @ Apr 2 2006, 08:28 AM) [snapback]233764[/snapback]</div>

Well, they should be smarter and go for max "miles per gallon" (or lowest litres / 100km), and not miles per-tank. Who cares about miles per-tank? I'm sure that hummers get great "miles per tank" as well (although they have enormous fuel tanks too to compensate for their hungry, hungry engines).

Dave

 

I look at it this way. Whatever the price of gasoline I am paying about half what everyone else without a Prius. That is like getting gas at half the price. So why would you even shop for a good price under these conditiions? When my Red beauty gets down to about one or two bars I just take her to get filled up again. Last one was under 20 bucks. You simply can not complain about that.

Ok, the math. Currently about $2.60 a gallon. Half of that is $1.30 a gallon. Dang, thats cheap. Folks, this technology does not like to run without fuel. Things will break if you do this and your not lucky. That is what I have read. Go fill the damn gas tank instead of penny pinching. The Prius already is making it cheap for you no matter what you do.

Ahem. Ok, off of my soap box now.

Cheers

 

ITA with a lot of the posters here. Why wait until your fuel tank/bladder is almost empty before refueling? I don't need to 'push it' to see how many more miles I can go on a blinking pip, or to see how many miles I can get from a single tank. When I get down to 2 bars (or god forbid, 1!) I immediately find a gas station and fuel up. Have never run out of gas in a non-Prius, and don't intend to in a Prius. No reason to run out of gas in such a fuel-efficient car anyhow. I don't like living on the edge and don't want to risk damaging my car by running out of gas and forcing it to run on electric only while I franctically search for a gas station.

 

There are two types of people who drive with a blinking pip: those that have run out of gas, and those that soon will.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(David @ Apr 2 2006, 08:18 AM) [snapback]233758[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, it takes, what-all of 5 minutes?-to fuel up a Prius with 8-9 gallons of fuel. Compare that to the SUV at the next pump over getting 20+ gallons. Many times I pull up, fuel up and leave and the SUV next to me is still fueling up and they were there before I arrived. I probably waste more time purposely making my commute longer so I can seek out a higher mpg average on more mileage-friendly roads than I do getting gas about once a week.

 

Let's see now ... The tank holds 12 gallons, and conservatively I'll get at least 45 mpg, so when I have traveled about 540 miles (per the trip odometer) I can expect to be running on fumes?? Too easy B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lazy Cat @ Apr 2 2006, 02:51 PM) [snapback]233832[/snapback]</div>

This is the key to all those folks running out of gas: "tank holds 12 gallons". You drive until it has 1 or 2 bars showing and you get only 8 gallons into the tank when you fill it. People seem to be taking the 11.9 gallons of tank capacity as gospel when most of us know it can be less than that depending on temperature. Also there seems to be wide variation between gas pumps on what "full" means. So I think a lot of people think they have gallons left with the last bar blinking when they are really running on fumes.

At the local "get acquainted" night at my dealership, the "master diagnostician" of the service department got stuck with the Prius owners. On just such a question, he replied that the tank really only seems to be good for 10 gallons of gas reliably. He felt that 11.9 is possible only with filling into the filler neck and that put your carbon canister at risk. With temperature and fill variations, assuming the tank is only good for 10 gallons would keep you out of trouble. This seems like good advice even though I know the long distance gurus got a bit more than 12 gallons in and I have gotten 10.2 in just after the last bar started blinking. Assume 10, not 12, and don't assume you've got 2 or 3 gallons left when on the last bar.

- Tom

 

Once you know your car well, and the gas gauge's behavior, it's possible to safely wait until the last bar starts blinking. I always wait for this to happen before adding gas, except if I'm going to take a long trip. By waiting you simply reduce the number of visits to the gas station.

 

At a difference of 4-6 dollars per fill-up of 40 litres between different municipalities, it is strategic for me to 'challenge' the guage sometimes. If it's Friday morning, and my fuel guage starts blinking on my 50km round-trip commute, I'll wait until the evening, after chuch, to fill up where the gas is 10-15 cents cheaper.

I've run out of gas 3 times now. Only once did I not make it to a gas station. That darn blinking bar was just too general. Now that I have CAN-View, I can get a better idea of how much gas is left since it gets displayed as a numeric percentage. When it hits 2%, I know it's a good time to start thinking about getting gas.

 

I've "sort of" run out of gas once. Noticed the light blinking and was in a rural area. Went to the first station I could find. No problem yet. Pulled up to the pump, and was the second car in line. Someone else pulled up behind me so I thought I would be courteous and move up to the front pump, since the car that was there had just pulled away. I pressed the power button, and nothing happend, other than to have the display give me the message "add fuel" or something like that. I have tried to be cautious since then. Problem is you so rarely need to add with this car you tend to forget about it!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jceh1 @ Apr 2 2006, 06:25 PM) [snapback]233943[/snapback]</div>

That message is nothing more than the low fuel warning. It displays momentarily when the last bar starts to blink and every time you start the car thereafter until you fuel up.