cn2004

Quick questions to what exactly is the tank size for the 450h?

vlad_a

17.2 Gal. Don't expect to be able to get to a complete empty.
Hybrids are known for leaving a reserve amount of gas in the tank and turning off the engine, even though you may have a couple gallons left.
I had a Prius pull that on me 2 miles away from a rest area. Almost made it to the gas station on the battery. Had to push the car uphill to find out it had at least a gallon left in the tank.

cn2004

Makes sense now that you mention. I was driving and the gas tank was on E and the driving range was 0. Wish they would have told me that. I see you have a 2013. Is it the same size for 2010?

BertL

RX450h fuel tank sizes are the same 2010-2013. I just verifiied that in the online owners manuals as 17.1 gallons.

FWIW, all of my Lexus and BMW (hybrid and not) have always had a "a gallon or two" more gas remaining when they showed "E". My former 1996 Toyota RAV4 that my mother still drives does the same thing. I find that to be a good thing, but I personally start looking to fill up when I hit 3/4, just in case, and never let it get to Empty. There have been a few threads debating how much exactly is left in the tank of an RX at the "E" mark in recent months -- This one is a more recent thread that may contain some points of interest. It started out about an RX F-Sport, but towards the end generically covers similar info for all RX.

Enjoy that ride!

vlad_a

Bert is correct, I'm off by .1 Gal. According to the manual, there should be approximately 2.7Gal (2.8 for RX350) remaining when the E light comes on. I've been trying to find when RX450h will cut the fuel to preserve the hybrid system and if there's a way to access some of the reserve. I believe RX400h has an override to squeeze a little extra gas in a pinch.

BertL

^^^ You don't know how many times I rewrote those first two sentences trying to not make a big deal of a little 1/10 of a gallon. Let's just call it a slip of the fingers. AHAHAHA

vlad_a

LOL. It's close enough that I didn't change it right away, as I was looking through the manual. Now, when will it cut the fuel on us? That's something I've been worrying about while I owned the Prius, especially running on the last gallon of gas.

Droid13

The Camry Hybrid also has a 17.1g gas tank (as per specs). A few people have run it dry, it takes 17.8g to fill when completely empty . Needless to say you can drive a Camry Hybrid quite a long way on "E". Not sure if there is any intended design correlation to the RX450h, maybe it's simply about tank shape.

billy44bo

But why would you want to drive one all the way to empty? the fuel pump is in the tank and it uses gas to keep the pump cool. I would not want the bearing in the pump going bad because it over heated because I was to lazy to put gas in the tank before the light came on or just after the low level light cam on. It is something you are going to have to put in there anyway. You can always use gas buddy to find a low price that is near you if it is a dollar thing. The average amount for my last 6 fill ups has been 13.76 gallons / fill up.

vlad_a

I ran out of gas in the 2nd gen Prius because I skipped stopping for gas at a rest area, which would have woken-up the little one, figuring we had enough to go to the next one. I made a judgement call based on the tank size and avg MPG we were getting.
After pushing the car uphill to the gas station, I was a little mad to only fill ~10.5 gallons in an 11.9 gallon tank.

When your life is hectic, sometimes getting gas has to wait until the next opportunity... just like getting groceries... or doing both in the same trip.

I also tried XM fuel prices recently to find another gas station, when I pulled into a Shell gas station and it wouldn't accept any credit cards.

FamilyRX

I almost had the same thing happen to me in the wife's '07 Prius on a trip to St. Louis. We were down to one bar on the fuel gauge on I64 in Indiana when I got off on the first exit. According the to nav system there were no gas stations anywhere near us (plenty of farms, though). I got back on the interstate when the fuel gauge started flashing. Thirty miles later I found an exit with a gas station. The car says it has an 11.9 gallon tank, but I was only able to get 10.1 into it. That being said, the '07 Pruis has the soft bladder tank. I don't think the '10 - '13 RXh has that type of tank.

vlad_a

LOL, it was the same year Prius I was borrowing. After that experience, I never had the 2010 I owned run down that low. I did have it to the point where it was flashing, but not beeping as it did when I ran out.