mrBillFL

1+ check the loose nut behind the wheel!



I am consistently in the 36-38 mpg range.

if I am doing short trips in traffic on surface streets it could be 34-35. but if I do more 70mph highway trips with low traffic, I could be in the 39-40 range. ( and have been up to 42.5 mpg on the way home after fillup)

I drive about 2 miles to I-95 during the week. I loose about a half mile per gallon in those 2 miles, and make it up on the highway (14 miles each way).... if not too much traffic and not going over 75mph.

light peddle pressure is the key. I try to go no higher than 2 bars above the middle setting on the hwy..


I find short trips are the worst. EV mode will not engage for a 1st few minutes.. (warm up).

LexBob2

Driving style plays such a BIG part of gas mileage achieved it's really hard to compare MPG's from one driver to another. Best thing you can do is try to be in the ballpark of others as well as the EPA estimates.

GES

I had the car a little over 8 months. I just passed the 10000 miles on the odometer. Tomorrow is my 10000 miles service. I averaged between 40 and 42 mpg most of my tanks of gas. my first 6000- 7000mile were mostly in eco mode, and the last 3000 miles in normal mode. I don't see much difference in fuel efficiency between the two. your driving style is what matter most.
At this point I drive only in the normal mode. After experimenting with these two modes, I find the eco mode annoying.
My experience is that short trips is the worst for fuel efficiency.
I am not an aggressive driver. My driving is about 60% highway 40% city.
I am very pleased with the car. I have enough power when I need it, I am getting great mpg, and the car is very smooth and comfortable.

IS350atWOT

iTrader: (1)

Do you drive in ECO mode? In my driving habits, I have noticed ECO to provide around +2 mpg compared to normal.

jklodner

My experience is the same. I have had the my car in for service 4 times specifically for the mileage issue. The first time, the Service Coordinator seemed to be unaware of the 39/40Mpg sticker statement. Our first 7000 miles ( purchased November 2012) have been mostly around the area, shorter trips flat landscape, stop and go. If my wife drives 29Mpg TOPS. If I drive, 34Mpg TOPS. I had a loaner 250h and I was able to achieve OVER 40Mpg without effort so I think I understand how to drive for mileage. The Service tech showed me he was able to average 40 for 150 miles around town but I don't know how he actually did it other than he said he coasts a lot. He put Nitrogen in the tires and increased the PSI. I agree with you and all this is good EXCEPT,. above 34Mpg has not been achievable for me. If LEXUS is going to market 39/40 MPG it should should not be the extreme driver (exception) that is able to attain it. When I think of AVERAGE, I think many will get OVER that 39/40 and many will get UNDER 39//40. What I am seeing is FEW are able to achieve OVER, MOST are UNDER and a lucky few are "AVERAGE". I think Lexus owes us an explanation and may need to rethink its marketing. To me this is as close to false advertising as I think you can get. Even FUELECONOMY.GOV shows the average to be 37.6 out of 17 vehicles, the low was 31, the high was 43. I too would be happier with that average driving under typical conditions.

ElliotB

Jklodner, the explanation is that typically hybrids do not get their best fuel efficiency with shorter trips, short highway trips and and at high speeds on the highway. For shorter trips, low 30s sounds about right. The fuel economy figures you yourself quote from FUELECONOMY.GOV show that even with an extremely small sampling, Lexus' FE numbers are pretty much correct.

video272

Gassed up Saturday and traveled 50 highway miles on the Saw Mill River Parkway in NY and got 51mpg! Lots of coasting and using hills to my advantage.

djrobsd

That's NOT an accurate way to test. Wait until you've gone through an entire tank of gas. I can easily get 50-60mpg on downhill routes but turn back around and go the other way and you will average about 35 or so.

I'm averaging 34-35 in mine. I baby it, drive in Eco mode and accelerate to speed on the freeway like a grandma and i can't seem to push this past 35. Very disappointed that Lexus claims such high figures. I never would have changed out my ct200h for this if I knew it wasn't going to get stated has mileage.

I think Lexus needs to address this, or maybe some high profile attorney will force them to via class action.

Mike728

I have a 350, so all I can go by is what I read on this forum. From the comments here, you seem to be in the minority. I've also read that getting up to speed quicker will improve your overall MPG's.

LexBob2

In Consumer Reports Road Test of the 300h they got 36 mpg overall (28/44 city/highway).

chewbach

With a little over 10,000 miles, I'm consistently averaging 37-38 per tank. My highest was 40. My lowest was 35. I'm definitely not babying it, but I'm a little more contentious of sub-40 MPH driving (with a goal to keep it in EV mode).

Considering the size and weight, I am very pleased with fuel economy.

jollick

Same here 37 to 38 mpg per tank during the warm months. 14 mile trips, hilly roads, 35 to 50 mph, some stop and go. All hybrids will see a decrease in mpg during the cold months. I drive in normal mode. I agree, for a car this size to get 35 plus mpg is very good.

LexBob2

Considering that driving styles vary widely, your mileage doesn't sound too bad. Certainly not worthy of a class action suit.

oneor11

I don't have any scientific proof, but I agree. My MPG improved dramatically when I just started driving my 350 normally. Before I was using that silly ECO gauge to stay within the range when accelerating and all of that. I gritted my teeth when cars would dart ahead of me because I was lolly-gagging around leaving the red light doing "eco-friendly" acceleration. But I realized that if I just accelerate normally or even fast and get to cruising speed in 75% less time, my MPG is vastly improved. I was doing this super conservative driving (using aforementioned silly ECO gauge combined with using Eco drive mode) during the break-in period and was getting 19 or so mpg in severe Houston stop and go traffic (28 miles, stop and go, average 21 mph, min 0 mph, max 90 mph). Now I gun it and drive normal and have a little fun and I'm around 24 mpg in the same stop and go traffic. When cruising I am 30+, but idling in traffic really kills the mpg. Idling seems to be the worst.

lesz

That sure is not what I see.

While there is no question that idling while the vehicle is stopped is the biggest drag on mpg, the next biggest drag on mpg is staying in lower gears for longer distances than necessary. And, when you accelerate harder, doing so makes the transmission hold in a lower gear longer. Similarly, if you punch the accelerator when ascending a steep hill, that forces the transmission into a lower gear. In both cases, mpg will go down. You can prove this to yourself by watching the mpg "after refueling" display, and you will see that, if you do a faster acceleration or if you force the transmission into a lower gear when accelerating, the display will show an immediate drop in mpg and one that is much greater in magnitude than what you will see with more conservative acceleration and what you will see if you are letting the transmission move to the highest gear as soon as possible.

If you started out driving conservatively and if your mpg has improved while you are now driving less conservatively, that could just be because, after the first couple of thousand miles, the engine might well be doing better after a "break in" period. With my ES350, for the first 1000 miles or so, I was getting between 31 and 32 mpg in my normal driving, which is mostly on country roads and with a conservative driving style. After the first 1000 miles or so, my mpg went up to between 32 and 33 mpg driving on the same roads and with the same conservative driving style. More recently, with cooler temperatures and with less need to use the AC compressor, my mpg has gone up to over 34 mpg. In any of these situations, when I have experimented with more aggressive acceleration, my mpg has dropped by about 2 mpg.

While it may be more fun to punch the accelerator and to accelerate more quickly, the price for doing so is lower mpg. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't accelerate more aggressively, but you are fooling yourself if you think you are not paying a price for doing so.

On the other hand, I have heard people with the ES300h say that getting up to speed more quickly improves the mpg, but that is because of how the hybrid technology works.