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New Prius C owner, need help calculating mileage

Discussion in 'Prius c Fuel Economy' started by Jory, Jan 20, 2014.

  1. Jory

    Jory Junior Member

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    Sorry if the answer to this is elsewhere. I've been reading the threads but nothing to answer my question as specifically as I need.

    I've had my C (II) for two days and when I bought it, it was late in the evening and the guy that fills up the tank at the dealership had already left for the night. My seller told me to finish the tank and come back and they'd give me a full tank. I have an appointment for this Wednesday to do my Luxcare and was going to have it filled up then, but I have to drive to school and back tomorrow. My gauge indicates 1/8 tank and the cruising range says 13 miles. I know from reading other threads that the cruising range is far from accurate, especially when the car is brand new (bought it with only 30-something miles on it. Currently at 61 just from driving around town for two days).

    What I need to know is if you think that I can reasonably drive 68.5 miles tomorrow (to school and back) on an 1/8 tank. My appointment at the dealership is at 8am on Wednesday and it's a block from my house, so there would be no further miles than that.

    Personally, I'd be shocked and possibly a little disappointed if I couldn't make it, because that was kind of the point of trading in my 20-21mpg car for the C, which should be double that. My former car (Kia Forte) made it to school and back on a little less than a 1/4 tank.
     
  2. Jory

    Jory Junior Member

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    I should add that the 68.5 miles to school and back are town and country roads, not hwy. Thus, my speed never exceeds 60-61mph, and is usually only 55-58 until I get into town, where the speed limit is 30.
     
  3. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    When it says 0 miles, that's accurate, no matter how many miles are on the car. Only the initial fill up mileage is suspect. You give us no information about mileage so I'm going to tell you to fill up before.
     
  4. minkus

    minkus Active Member

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    Without knowing any other information, you could probably make it, but I wouldn't risk it. Just add a gallon. Running out of gas in the c is worse than in non-hybrids.
     
  5. Jory

    Jory Junior Member

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    I don't know what you mean about "no information". I gave all of the information about mileage that I could think of. Like I said, I've only had the car for two days. I bought it with 34 miles on it already and it is now at 61. My drive tomorrow would be 68 miles. The "Cruising Range" at the time of my post said 13 miles. I left the lot with a 1/4 tank and am now down to 2 bars, 1/8 tank. I'm still learning what all of the features and menu items mean.

    Thanks. That's what I'll do. It took me a couple of weeks to get to my former car and its limitations. I will just have to do the same with this one.
     
  6. It sounds like you'd be running on fumes, if you make that trip.
    Not to ruin your awesome "I just got my car" vibe, but you may want to look at this:

    Ran out of fuel AND battery!! | PriusChat

    Don't chance it. The last bar will flash and it'll feel like you're starving your brand new baby until you refuel, even if it's just a gallon.

    Enjoy! (y)
     
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  7. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    When I responded I hadn't hit refresh, so I only saw the initial post and not your second post.
     
  8. Jory

    Jory Junior Member

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    I see. No worries. I had the dealership fill it up. Everyone was right and I didn't want to chance it.
     
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  9. Mr Incredible

    Mr Incredible Chance favors the prepared mind.

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    Real-world fix? Put in 2 gallons before your trip.

    Then go back to your dealership and get filled up. Start your mileage watching from that point.

    But you still can't be sure where the fill-up stopped, so your first REAL mpg check will be after YOUR first fill-up that you stop filling at the first click. Repeat. Check your mileage.

    The first tank will enable you to feel out your new car and how to drive it. Then you'll be ready to start checking mpgs for real.
     
  10. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    This^^ exactly. The stealership will probably only put in 8 gallons and call it full. The gauge will show full but will drop to the next bar super quick.
     
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  11. Jory

    Jory Junior Member

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    Exactly what happened.

    Seems to do that when I fill up, too, though. I fill until the pump shuts itself off. Can I squeeze more in? Seems weird to me that I can be averaging 40 mpg on a full tank but after driving an actual 40 miles I'm down a bar on the fuel gauge.

    I'm not so good at math, but, 1 bar does not equal 1 gallon, right?
     
  12. Jory

    Jory Junior Member

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    Also, I really appreciate your help. Bear with me, as I'm new to the Prius. Am I doing something wrong if I'm only getting a max avg of 40-41 mpg? I drive about 300 miles a week and half of that is under 45 mph and the other half is generally between 55-60 mph. It might not be that evenly spaced, but the imbalance would work in the under-45 direction, so really I'm high-balling it. I did make one trip where the trip's mpg was 49.5, but that was a very slow moving 40 miles driving 20-45 mph in a blizzard. Is the gas mileage worse in the winter? Should I expect higher numbers when the weather is warmer?
     
  13. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    You can put more in, but it's recommended you don't. But for future posterity, the tank will hold ~ another gallon of gas after the first click.

    The fuel clicks are almost 1 gallon each, but not quite. The PC has a 9.5 gallon tank and 10 clicks. :)
     
  14. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    You will get much much better MPGs in the summer... especially if you are using the words blizzard. Click on my fuelly signature and you can see the fill ups in accordance to weather (at least here in Ga).
     
  15. NewYorkan

    NewYorkan Junior Member

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    I just got a C4 too. Here is what I learn. Hope it will help you to increase mpg.
    1. For the 1st 5-10 miles. I got only 25 mpg due to gas engine is on all the time to heat up the car. Nothing much you can do about it.
    2. To increase gas milage, use ECO mode most of the time. In this mode, you will lack of power, but most of the time, you don't need power. Except for steep hills or entering highway, I find ECO mode will handle everything fine. So turn off ECO mode when you are in this situation. Doing this will bring you up to avarage about 45mpg.
    3. Here is another trick to increase another at least 5mpg. This trick require driver's labor and only work at speed under 40mph. You need to speed up faster than car in front of you about 1-5 mph, then let go the gas pedal, then gentlely press on the gas pedal to activate EV engine only. You try to control your speed with traffic flow using EV engine only. The longer you stay on EV engine, the better gas milage. This way, you still tailgate, and use only EV engine. Unlike, hypermiller idiots, pissed off all the people behind them. Of course, this have to be in ECO mode. Normal mode will easily kick on the gas engine. Keep in mind, gas engine is evil, and it sucks the heck out of your gas milage.
     
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  16. mahout

    mahout Active Member

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    its always foolish to believe all cars are the same, same model or not but typically:
    My Prissy has about 2 gallons before reading zero when indicator is dead center 1/4 tank. And when the last bar flashes I have about a gallon left (3 gallons at 1/4 tank) and that is typical engineering specs for all cars to have at least 30 miles to empty tank when gage reads empty. Its a safety precaution. In my car I could esily go 70 miles before the empty bar flashes but that doesn't say yours will, just likely to. I determined those nubers from refilling the tank from 'empty, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 full indications based on the number of bars just turned on. The next higher bar just turned off. If just your 1/4 bars have been on a while its no longer 1/4 tank but vcloser to 1/8 tank. So in your case I hope you added a gallon or two before embarking to be safe.
    Now what is this aversion to filling or partially filling your tank?
    PS BTW running your fuel injectors dry when the tank is empty is very bad on injectors and may cause a severe drop in mpg and have to be replaced due to unnecessary wear. Its not a good thing to run near empty.