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I recently got a 2004 Prius, after trading in my 2003 Prius (which I only had 6 months.) In both vehicles I've noticed the following issues:
1) The fuel guage does not "go down" consistently. For instance, I recently had gone 180 miles, and it still showed a full tank. But in the next 30 miles, it went down 3 bars. Similar effects are noticed on every tankfull, mostly with the 2nd half of the bars dropping much more quickly than the first half. Can anyone explain why they do this?
2) Based on the MPG I calculate, the Prius is programmed inaccurately as to calculating MPG. MPG, specifically, is "miles per gallon", which is calculated by dividing the number of MILES you have gone by the number of GALLONS you use. (I'm a science/math teacher, can you tell?) Now, I've seen several folks post on this forum mentioning they regularly get "400" miles per tank of gas. I, myself, found the '03 Prius to vary widely - sometimes it would go 550 miles, other times only 425. On the first tankful in the newer Prius, I have gone 370 miles, and the fuel guage shows the last bar. If I extrapolate from what others have posted, as well as from my own experience, I will probably get just at 400 miles on this tankful. So, if I divide 400 miles by the 11.5 or so gallons I'll put it in when it's REALLY empty, that only gives me about 34 MPG, not the 43 that my screen is currently registering.
Has anyone else noticed this discrepancy? If so, how does Toyota manage to legally claim a higher MPG? If it's only getting 34-35 MPG, then my old Mazda 323 got better mileage...
I'm really interested in hearing responses on this, and thank you kindly for your time.
1) The fuel guage does not "go down" consistently. For instance, I recently had gone 180 miles, and it still showed a full tank. But in the next 30 miles, it went down 3 bars. Similar effects are noticed on every tankfull, mostly with the 2nd half of the bars dropping much more quickly than the first half. Can anyone explain why they do this?
2) Based on the MPG I calculate, the Prius is programmed inaccurately as to calculating MPG. MPG, specifically, is "miles per gallon", which is calculated by dividing the number of MILES you have gone by the number of GALLONS you use. (I'm a science/math teacher, can you tell?) Now, I've seen several folks post on this forum mentioning they regularly get "400" miles per tank of gas. I, myself, found the '03 Prius to vary widely - sometimes it would go 550 miles, other times only 425. On the first tankful in the newer Prius, I have gone 370 miles, and the fuel guage shows the last bar. If I extrapolate from what others have posted, as well as from my own experience, I will probably get just at 400 miles on this tankful. So, if I divide 400 miles by the 11.5 or so gallons I'll put it in when it's REALLY empty, that only gives me about 34 MPG, not the 43 that my screen is currently registering.
Has anyone else noticed this discrepancy? If so, how does Toyota manage to legally claim a higher MPG? If it's only getting 34-35 MPG, then my old Mazda 323 got better mileage...
I'm really interested in hearing responses on this, and thank you kindly for your time.