jklodner

I have almost 4000 miles on my 300H average mileage is 29.8 I cannot get "tank" average over 31 no matter how carefull I drive or monitor performance.

I took it in today to check it out. Purposely took at CT (2012) loaner with 8800 miles. I reset everything, drove normal (not paying close attention to anything), highway and city. 42.4MPG!

the Service adviser seemed to not understand the MPG claims made by Lexus. Not sure what to do. Seems like my Battery does not hold up for a long lower speed drive either..

jklodner

That is almost better than I am getting in Dallas with my 300h! not happy

rcsail

If still any interest, just completed a 2600 mile road trip to Fla, SC and home in wife's new '13 ES (non H). We left home, Northern Illinois, with 970 mile on the odo. Interstate mph was 27-30 with (most tanks close to or at 30mpg) and with cruise of 70-75 mph. Played with the ECO-Normal drive selections and did not notice any significant variation for the hwy. mph. One continuing interest,
which I first noticed on my '08 GS, is driving with the HID lights on knocks down your mpg by about 2 mpg. So take a look and factor in your day/night driving when considering your fuel eco. Only downside to this new ES is the road noise seems to be more pronounced than in my 08 GS and prior ES's. Otherwise most happy with this ES. Plus, While in the pass seat I was able to entertain myself with the NAV, menus and joystick which drove her crazy.

Arty101

It makes sense that HID lights can reduce FE. Use of the heater, ac and heated seats probably will reduce mpg too.

amphipri0n

I can see the AC/Heater reducing mpg as the accessory belts impose additional drag when these devices are on. However, I really don't think HIDs lamps would cause a noticeable reduction in fuel efficiency. Typically, HIDs consume less power once started up than halogen bulbs. (http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/YatManTsui.shtml) And the power they do consumer is pretty minimal, something on the order of 35W

I think a more likely cause is that when you're running HIDs, at night, (up there in Illinois no less) the heater is set to Toasty

txes

I doubt you'd notice the difference running HID's.

You'd see more of a difference, increase, if you ran synthetic oil.

However your ROI might negate the small increase.

John

Mike728

They come with synthetic. He would see no difference.

I agree on the HID's not impacting mpg's, though.

Mike728

I finally got around to calculating my fuel economy. At 2,000 miles, I'm averaging just slightly over 26 MPG. I'm actually surprised how accurate the computer is. Through 6 fill-ups, it's been off at most .6 and at least .08, all on the optimistic side. I don't drive with saving fuel in mind, so I'm very happy with my results so far.

coach1

The 26mpg does seem to be the standard for combined town and highway for me as well. I played with the fuel app on the car. I saw a "clear all" and a "update" selection. Selected both to see what would happen. Did this while on the highway. Update added a vertical bar on the graph with a date. I'm guessing this is what you are to do at fill-ups. I could obtain 33-34 on the highway on an average. Watching the numbers go up and down depending on the grade of the road. To get better is too much work. I'm just happy I can use 87 octane and our gas is $3.10.

Has anyone tried middle grade gas? I also question the ethanol % in the different areas of the country, or if ethanol free would improve mileage. The few stations that offer it here in SC...cost over rides mileage.

Mike728

I haven't seen $3.10 gas, for it seems, in years. My local stations just went up to $4.19/gal. I've run low and high grade only, no mid. There is no difference in my fuel economy using either. Both are 10% ethanol blends, which is all we seem to be able to get around here.

amphipri0n

At 4k miles, mixed city/highway.. Pretty happy with the mileage, the less $$$ that goes to the Middle East for oil, the better Am able to get about 30-34 if all highway.

amphipri0n

4,000 miles later...

lesz

I've had my ES 350 for about 5 months now. I live out in the country, and most of my driving has been on country roads. At each fill up, I do an actual calculation of mpg by dividing miles driven since the previous fill up by gallons. During the summer and while using the air conditioning, my typical mpg was between 32 and 33 mpg. When the temperatures went down into the 50-70 degree range and the air conditioning condenser was not often needed, my mpg went up a bit to between 33 and 34 mpg. More recently, when temperatures have dropped into the 30-50 degree range, my mpg has been back in the 32-33 mpg range.

As others have said, I have have been surprised that the car's computer has been pretty accurate. I have not re-set it since buying the car in June. It shows 32.6 for my average mpg, and I think that is pretty close to what it has actually been.

I have found that, if I use the ECO mode, my mpg will be 1-2 mpg higher than it will be in Normal mode.

I don't think that using the heater should have much, if any, effect on mpg. The heater is just using heat that is produced anyway by the engine to heat the air that is directed into the passenger compartment. While the heated seats likely have a small effect on mpg, the largest factor in cold weather driving that reduces mpg is the longer time it takes for the engine to warm up on cold days. That is why, if you drive lots of shorter trips between which the car sits long enough for the engine to cool down, winter mpg will go way down. If your driving trips are longer, once the engine does heat up, the impact on mpg from the colder weather will be much smaller.

Mike728

Sounds like you have a block under your gas pedal, or you have a mis-badged 300h.

lesz

Besides the fact that I do very little stop-and-go driving, I also drive much more conservatively than I would have, say, 25 years ago. As soon as I anticipate the need to stop, I take my foot off of the accelerator, instead of keeping my foot on the accelerator longer and braking harder. I no longer feel the need for getting the thrill of accelerating quickly. By far, the key to maximizing gas mileage (other than to avoid idling situations) is to drive in a way that gets the transmission into its highest gear as soon as possible and that avoids having the transmission downshift any more than is necessary. It is the holding of a lower gear longer than needed and downshifting more than necessary that will cause mpg to take a dive more than anything else.

I think I could actually do even a bit better with mpg if I lived in an area where the terrain was flatter. As it is, I live in an area filled with hills, and you lose a lot more mpg going up those hills than you gain going down them because, when you are going down the hills, you are wasting gas with both braking and engine braking. On the few occasions where I've taken trips into flatter areas, my fuel consumption has been around 36 mpg.