Ever since I switched from driving a big Toyota Sequoia to the Prius, it’s not uncommon to have people (even strangers) ask “Hey, what kind of mileage do you really get with that thing”.
So a few weeks ago I decided to do a test, and see just how far I could drive on a full tank of gas with the Prius. I wanted to find out, definitively, how far I could drive once the “add gas now” warning started to flash. Here are the details.
The tank holds 11.9 gallons, but from what I’ve read online it’s difficult to fill the tank completely. There is a bladder inline between where you fill the tank and the tank itself to prevent fumes from escaping. The down side is you end up only fitting about 10.9 gallons in the tank.
The Details
I used regular unleaded, 87 octane.
The miles are 90% highway, since the vast majority were on the drive to and from the office, which is just short of 50 miles round trip every day.
On the highway I would use the cruise control and set it to 55. The Prius seems to be tuned to get it’s peak mileage at 55, and the cruise control does a much better job and managing the overall mileage then if you try to do it yourself.
I had a one gallon tank of gas in the trunk, ready for the refill once I ran out.
So, the results?
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After 5 years, the Prius is finally paid off, and to celebrate I decided to buy it a new pair of shoes. Well, maybe not so much to celebrate the payoff but more because the tires were so bald that I would practice drifting on a regular basis on the way home. I was actually getting pretty good at it and was thinking of competing.
I wanted to get a much wider tire, so I also had to get different wheels, and if you’re going to get new wheels why not make them nice and shiny! 
