ES300h MPG going down and down...
01-28-14, 01:28 PM
#61
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I just drove a bunch of highway miles and got 36mpg, so I'm feeling better about it. I also test-drove another 300h equipped just like mine at the dealership and it only got 28mpg on a short trip, so at least I don't feel like there's something wrong with my car. Curious to see how it performs this summer.
01-30-14, 07:58 AM
#62
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Had my ES300h for over a year now, so I have been through break-in, all different temps and gas formulas, etc. Other than one long highway trip, I have never achieved more than 34 mpg on a tank. Most tanks have been 31-32. Dead of winter now, last tank was only 26. I understand the drop during cold weather, but overall very disappointing. Most of my driving is stop and go, which is supposed to be a good thing for hybrids. In previous cars, I have usually averaged about 1 mpg less than the posted city mpg for that car. That would be 40 mpg for this car. I was expecting to be somewhere close to that, not consistently 20% worse, even in ideal weather. Just had 10k service with first oil change yesterday, hope that helps.
01-30-14, 10:42 AM
#63
I believe the Consumer Reports reviewer of the 2013 ES 300h only averaged 36 mpg as did other reviewers. My mileage has gone down a lot during the winter. Hoping this reverses with spring and summer. Still beats the mileage of my previous car though.
02-16-14, 08:35 AM
#64
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Update on ES300h mileage
I posted a while ago that mileage for my ES300h was going down with cold weather, wondering if others experienced the same. Since then I have left the cold of MN to spend some of the winter in AZ, stopping in Texas first. My mileage stayed low on the trip down (36 - 37 mpg), first because it was very cold driving all the way to Texas, and then because (I assume) no car is going to get its best mileage driving nearly 80 mph on the long straight stretches of west Texas freeways. However, since I have gotten to AZ and am driving a mix of freeway and around town type driving my mileage has gone back up. My last tank is averaging just over 42 mpg, so I am guessing my MN mileage will go back up when I return after winter is over.
02-20-14, 10:42 AM
#65
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I just bought mine and still in my first gas tank. Every commute trip of around 50 miles I have been getting 40 mpg 50:50 city:hwy. I have been driving normally but avoiding hard acceleration, braking. My commute does not allow me to beyond 65. When really babied it meaning keep it around 55 and go really slow on the gas barely venturing into power I got 42.5! So really happy with the car and hope it stays this way. BTW the mpg really starts climbing when stuck in traffic or crawling guess gas engine not working.
02-20-14, 11:25 AM
#67
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I just bought mine and still in my first gas tank. Every commute trip of around 50 miles I have been getting 40 mpg 50:50 city:hwy. I have been driving normally but avoiding hard acceleration, braking. My commute does not allow me to beyond 65. When really babied it meaning keep it around 55 and go really slow on the gas barely venturing into power I got 42.5! So really happy with the car and hope it stays this way. BTW the mpg really starts climbing when stuck in traffic or crawling guess gas engine not working.
02-20-14, 12:40 PM
#68
Monitoring your gas mileage per tank after refilling would be the more precise way to do it.
Just my opinion.
02-21-14, 06:04 AM
#70
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BTW turning the AC off (it is always on even in winter when in auto mode due to the defrost I guess) seems to help a lot. Today I got 42.5 mpg over my 25 mile commute with moderate driving. Since this is my first tank don't know if the dealer used non-ethanol fuel which would be helping. I will fill up with the usual ethanol blends and calculate manually and see if the 40 mpg holds up.
03-01-14, 10:01 PM
#71
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I noticed the trip computer overestimates the MPG by about 2-3 MPG. I consistently read about 36-37 mgp since last refuel on the display, but when I use Gas Buddy to calculate the mpg at each fill up, it consistently calculate 33-34 mpg. Anyone else getting this kind of discrepancy?
03-02-14, 01:48 AM
#72
Instructor
I see what you are saying, and, if that is the case, hybrid mpg would be affected more than would non-hybrid mpg. With my ES350, if I watch the fuel economy monitor while driving at a steady speed and turn the heater on and off, doing so has absolutely no effect at all on mpg.
While I would concede that use of the heater could affect mpg with a hybrid, I'm still confident that the major cause of lower mpg with any vehicle, hybrid or non-hybrid, in cold weather is the increased amount of time that it takes the engine to warm up to normal operating temperature. With my ES350 and very little of my driving being done in stop-and-go conditions, my typical mpg during the summer was around 34 mpg. As temperatures here have dropped into the 20 degree range, my mpg has dropped to about 31 mpg. However, if I'm driving 30-40 mile trips, I will still get close to the same mpg as I was getting during the summer. The bigger drop in mpg happens when I'm doing lots of 5 mile drives (or less), and the engine has to warm up repeatedly after each shutdown.
While I would concede that use of the heater could affect mpg with a hybrid, I'm still confident that the major cause of lower mpg with any vehicle, hybrid or non-hybrid, in cold weather is the increased amount of time that it takes the engine to warm up to normal operating temperature. With my ES350 and very little of my driving being done in stop-and-go conditions, my typical mpg during the summer was around 34 mpg. As temperatures here have dropped into the 20 degree range, my mpg has dropped to about 31 mpg. However, if I'm driving 30-40 mile trips, I will still get close to the same mpg as I was getting during the summer. The bigger drop in mpg happens when I'm doing lots of 5 mile drives (or less), and the engine has to warm up repeatedly after each shutdown.
03-03-14, 02:00 PM
#73
Lexus Champion
Yeah, I'd say.... 34 mpg in a non hybrid... I'd take that anyday.... I've only got about 1600 miles on my ES and the best I've gotten so far was on a 2 hour road trip driving the speed limit of 75 mph... I was avg. 27 to 28 according to the computer.. now when I slowed down to 60 to 65 it jumped up to 30 to 31 mpg.....
03-03-14, 02:16 PM
#74
Lexus Champion
I noticed the trip computer overestimates the MPG by about 2-3 MPG. I consistently read about 36-37 mgp since last refuel on the display, but when I use Gas Buddy to calculate the mpg at each fill up, it consistently calculate 33-34 mpg. Anyone else getting this kind of discrepancy?
03-19-14, 08:58 PM
#75
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I recently cleared 2k miles, and all of a sudden I'm getting 36-37mpg. Pretty weird, but I'll gladly take it! I haven't changed anything else - driving same amount, using same gas. I suppose it's also gotten a bit warmer, too, which doesn't hurt.