Ahhhh,

I envy those on the warm coasts. Here in Chicago we're about done for the winter! Down to 36-37 I'll go.

Although I'll have to see how my secret weapon - the block heater helps. It should help with the warmup period, but won't do anything for the cold (denser) air and cold (more drag) tires.

 

This may be a stupid question, but is the cruising range a "learning system?" I have noticed that when I push the limits of the tank (I always chicken out and only end up using 14.3 gallons) but when I do slightly push the limits and drive past the zero cruising range, it will register more cruising miles the next time. Like it "learns" that there is still more of the tank to use?

Second question, what is the most number of gallons you have ever had to put in the vehicle? I have only maxxed at 14.7 so I am obviously not pushing my vehicle to its limits.

Third, what is up with the cruising range suddenly dropping at the end. That's part of what makes me chicken out. Like this morning, I started the car and it said 19 cruising miles. I went two miles down the road and then it dropped to a 0 cruising miles? So I reset my trip B and I've gone 18 miles, I have a 25 mile trip home, do you think I'll make it?

 

Not a stupid question at all...the cruising range is a "learning system." When I first got my TCH, the cruising range showed about 420 miles when the tank was full. Now, after one year of driving, it shows over 600 miles. Like you, I don't like how the cruising range can suddenly drop as it gets closer to zero. Last week, mine showed 60 miles and dropped to zero over the course of about 5 miles! I believe it looks at your current consumption rate and assumes it will remain constant. The problem is, it can't recover back to a positive number once it hits zero.

The most gas I've ever had to put in the tank is also 14.7 gallons. I'm perfectly comfortable with not pushing it beyond that.

 

Yeah, it learns--and somewhere (this thread or another, not sure) someone pointed out that topping off (in addition to any other issues) may impact the "learning" feature, so if you topped off regularly to get a little more gas in the tank, it might actually fail to learn you're able to get more miles off a tank.

And as for the sudden drop--well my first assumption is that when you're starting a new trip, cold car, your mileage basically sucks. Burn gas even when you're sitting still (aka 0 mpg) while it warms up, and it can take miles to get the FE to rise above 25 and show up on the MFD. I don't know when it recalculates cruising range but I'm prepared to believe that on a cool morning it's going to look at some point and see "oh hey, he's only getting 15 mpg, he'll be at 0 cruising range in 2 miles not 20! (or something, don't look at the math, lol) I found it kind of cool/interesting/something when I was driving home yesterday and somewhere on the road the gas pump light turned _off_, which again I assume is because I was getting sufficiently _good_ mileage to make the numbers work out that I hadn't dropped below the threshold at my FE.

Finally, I can't possibly imagine you'd have any problem going 25 miles. Well under a gallon, and lots of people go at least 50 miles beyond cruising range = 0.

My largest fill-up was 16.7 gallons, for 716 miles, nominal FE from MFD was 44.7, but that was the last tank I topped off, too. I've done 16.4 and 16.2 gallon fillups as well.

 

I'm glad to say I joined the club a few weeks back. We had just about perfect weather and I had very very few short trips during the 2 weeks on the tank. Ended up going 702.6 and then put 15.390 gallons in the tank. Probably could have made 750, but was about to take a long trip so needed to fill it up.

 

The "Bugs" Camry has a real good shot at 810-830 miles this go around. At 51.4 mpg...she has been sipping in the Hot Sun of the Cajun Coast. I'm just "over" 1/4 of a tank left at 600 miles. I'm hoping around 700 miles when the yellow light ticks off. In any case...I'm proud she has done so well gliding through the flatlands. She has been as high as 53.0 mpg at times but seems bent on settling in around 52 mpg towards the finish line. Honestly, the price of gasoline has really driven me to do my very best. Wish me and my "Bugs" luck. I will post updates as I near the end.

 

From what I've read about driving with little fuel in the tank, I wish your car good luck. I hope this 'stunt' doesn't end up damaging your fuel pump.

 

No stunt...just great car & driving.

 

Update: Currently 750 miles on bugs Camry. MFD shows 51.6 mpg. I estimate the following gallons used based on subtraction of:

2 from 51.6= 49.6 mpg = 15.12 gallons used. Should hit 800 miles on a tank of gas with 16.2 gallons used.

3 from 51.6=48.6 mpg = 15.43 gallons used. Should hit 800 miles on a tank of gas with
16.5 gallons used.

4 from 51.6= 47.6 mpg = 15.75 gallons used. Should hit 800 miles on a tank of gas with 16.7 gallons used.

Since the bugs has been around 50+ mpg for as long as I can remember on this tank...I believe I will use 16.2 gallons used with 1 gallon to spare. I'm confident and going for the 800+ run.

 

I filled up this morning at my favorite Shell station. So here are my results:

800.1 miles
MFD 51.7 mpg
Filled up with 16 gallons of Shell regular unleaded
Price per gallon at Shell was $3.99
Yellow Fill Light came on at 678 miles

Will add picture tonight when I get the compact Flash disk back to the house.