If I was a police chief I'd put you on desk duty and suggest you switch to decaf.



Dan

 

"And you want to be my latex salesman?" (another Seinfeld reference that just seemed appropriate)

But seriously, as long as the person pulls to the side of the road safely and is willing to risk the ridicule of passing motorists, then it is okay in my book.

Now I know I would stop, laugh since it IS a hybrid-and it is funny to see one out of gas-probably make a quip: "Do you need a jump or an extension cord?" and then drive the driver to get some gas.

 

.....and what view might your insurer take if as the result of a deliberate and wilful act on your part you had caused traffic to back up and an accident had occurred in a road tunnel or on a narrow mountain pass?

I think we all know that it is safe to wait until all the bars are extinguished on the gas gauge. And that is one matter, but to deliberately risk running-out of gas altogether, even if you have a spare can is something else.

 

Chill, man. Yeah, it's something else, like dumb. But it's not criminal.

 

I think you're making an incorrect comparison. The database records the mileage of different people with vastly different driving habits and conditions. If you found a similar mileage database for Scions, you'd find the same kind of variation in ranges.

As others have reported, when all the bars go out, you still have a couple of gallons of gas. If you're an average driver in the 40-50 MPG range, it means you can still go at least 80 miles without running out of gas. If you've already driven 570 miles on that tank, you are driving with high FE (above 50 MPG) and could have driven another 30 or 50 miles with no sweat. You've already out run all the people in the database who report ranges of less than 570 miles, so why pay attention to them?

 

You live in California and know the layout our city has a good combination of everything steep mountains, hills and bad traffic with rain or an accident. You of all people should know what I'm getting at hear. Our fuel efficiency is very dependant on a number of factors and has a very hugh range from the best to worst conditions. How many SIG alerts happen on our freeways on a daily basis? Trucks overturn, our famous freeway shootings, car chases, brush fires, car accidents, then the people who have to tie up traffic looking and so on. Yes I'm confident I could have made it but, the bars started to fall off very quick compared to what I had been doing. After running out of gas three times in my lifetime I figured I don't like running out of gas on the freeways especially in Cali. Besides if we can't get an accurate reading from our MPG display (display listed 52.4 mpg and the actual was 54.9 mpg ) what makes me think the gas guage is always accurate. We have enough people in California that can't drive last thing I want to do is run out of gas and be the one causing the traffic jam. Remember that next time you are listening to the traffic radio talking about a stalled car in the number one lane of the freeway. Did the car breakdown or did someone decide I think I'll see if I can squeeze a little more out of my tank?

 

I agree. The first time I got to no bars I panicked and went to the nearest gas station, only to find I had a couple of gallons left.

The next time I drove for a further 40 miles...and still had fuel left.

As Elan said...it really does depend on how far you have gotten when you reach no bars - this will then tell you how much further you can go.

 

Yeah yeah, you're overstating your case. How many shootings, car chases, brush fires, and so on have you seen lately. And what do they have to do with the price of tea in China?

The HCH has a tank capacity of 12.3 gallons. Whenever I've filled it just after the bars all went out it has never taken more than 10.6 gallons. So when the bars are all out there are still at least 1.5 gallons in the tank, which in a fairly worst case is good for another 50 miles. And as you said -

Need I say more?

The point I tried to make originally is that if you got a range of plus or minus 5% on your Scion (with shootings, car chases, brush fires, and mudslides), you can fully expect that same +-5% variation in the HCH. The fact that there's a broad range of MPGs in the database from lowest to highest isn't relevant.

 

The owner's manual says the HCHII gas tank has a capacity of 12.4 gallons. Is this from empty to the first click or is it empty to topped off? I would think it would mean until the first click since this would be the suggested usable volume. (The owner's manual also says stop at the first click and do not top off.) I would just like to have a better idea of how much fuel I have left in the tank when I'm getting low.

 

I always fill up to the first click. When all the bars on the fuel gauge are gone, I can fill about 10.5 gallons to the first click, which means there are close to 2 gallons left at that point.

No manufacturer specifies tank capacity on the assumption that you top off.