Im still waiting for my first fill up, taking forever , but i was wondering has anyone filled up their 300 Hybrid right when the light has come, if so, how many gals did you fill? I've seen mixed reviews, from as low as 13.2 gals to 14.1 gals. Also how many miles did you accumulate when the light came on ?

Thanks

- Dave

 

My low gas light comes on at about 14.0. My mileage is about 490; so in theory, I should get over 600 miles when completely drained. However, as I understand it especially for hybrids, you need a couple of gallons to keep the fuel pump primed. Otherwise, the car will not be able to start under conventional means and will need to be towed to the dealer to have them start it.

 

When i got the car it indicated 520 miles, since it went down to 480, but in the last 150 miles it is slowly increasing again. Im guessing it will go about 500 until the light comes on. And if its 14 gals when the indicator comes on as you say, that would translate to 35.7 mpg. Which is great for a first run of not babying the throttle. I have seen it go up to 41 mpg at times. Im pretty confident 37-39 mpg will be fairly easy to do with traffic and will most likely be my real world average.

 

That is about what I'm getting for FE too. I've been trying to break 40 mpg, but always just shy, like 39.5 (calculated, not based on the computer). I guess I'm not much of a hyper miler like some of the guys here.

 

Is this true? That would be a real drag. I drove my prius to near empty once---but it worked just fine after refilling.

 

It's in the manual. I've gone down to 20 km remaining range with the reserve light lit up. Scared the heck out of me.

Running out of fuel

When the vehicle has run out of fuel and the hybrid system cannot be started, refuel the vehicle with at least enough gasoline to make the low fuel level warning light (→P. 762) go off. If there is only a small amount of fuel, the hybrid system may not be able to start. (The minimum amount of fuel to add to make the low fuel level warning light go out is about 3.0 gal. [11.3 L, 2.5 Imp.gal.], when the vehicle is on a level surface. This value may vary when the vehicle is on a slope.)

 

I drive the ES Hybrid until the miles left is as close to 0 as possible and then refill. I usually get 490 to 500 miles between fill-ups and overall average calculated since new is 36 mpg driving in ECO mode. I drive normally but look ahead and coast to red rights.

 

We have also got a 2012 CT200h. When we first got it, Lexus stuffed up and we had a loan CT200h for 3 months while they ordered the correct vehicle, so i tested everything i could think of, including running it dry of fuel.

I carried a 5litre can of fuel in the boot, and proceeded to run it dry, because i wanted to see what happened, and if i could continue to drive on electrics alone etc if there was no fuel.

eventually i ran out of fuel, and alarms came up on the dash and the vehicle just rolled to the side of the road and wouldnt restart on electric at all. so i emptied the 5litres into the fuel tank and it restarted back onto petrol and continued to run again no problem, but it would not run on electric without any fuel in the tank.

I'd say after reading that snippet of the manual, that perhaps they've had issues in the above situation if the electric is too low perhaps and it runs out of fuel?

I thought it was a good experiment though. (esp since i was giving it back anyway)

Steve

 

Does this mean that the hybrid system turns on after refueling over 3.0 gal? It seems to indicate thatthe hybrid system wont turn on if youve run out of fuel and do not fill up over 3.0 gal....

 

Im sure it will start up with a gallon in there, if it was that severe that you must have 3 gallons, Lexus would comment about it.

Well, had my first fill up today at 470 miles , never got more than 270 in any car i had, and thats the GS. I drove it just a few miles after cruising range hit 0 and filled up. It was 15.1 gals, so i think when the warning light goes on you have about 3 gals left like Arty101 suggested. After the light goes on you have another gallon of petrol before you reach 0 cruising mile. And about 2.3 gals left after you hit 0. So in essence you can drive (not that i would) a minimum of 70 miles before you call AAA.

 

I think the manual means if you run out of fuel completely and the car dies, you have to fill up at least 3 gal/11 L for the car to start up again. This is for the ES, the CT may need less with its smaller tank.

On my car the reserve light turns on at 60 km or almost 40 miles remaining. I always refuel at that point. The 3 gal figure probably includes a reserve beyond the zero range mark so I wouldn't go very far, definitely not 70 miles, after the computer reads empty.

I saw an Autocar UK video that had them driving a Mercedes diesel hybrid for 1000 miles nonstop. They too could keep driving past the zero range mark. I usually see 950-980 km remaining range for a full tank, about 600 miles per tank. I love dropping by the gas station just once every two weeks

Wish I had a Tesla but that's for the future...

 

chromedome, when the light comes on in your car and you have 40 miles remaining, how many miles or km have you driven ?

 

Furthest I've driven when the reserve light came on and the low fuel warning showed up was 880 km. Now it's a bit less because I'm blowing off the winter blues with Sport mode...

 

so you went about 550 miles , roughly 39 mpg, thats great
I doubt ill get that much in L.A., but looks like ill get a steady 35-36mpg , which is double the 18mpg i was getting in the GS so i couldnt be happier