dkhighperf

Without getting into hypermiling, what are ideas the members of Club Lexus have tried to increase efficiency?

I drive with an average right foot and usually set the cruise at 5 over (in Wisconsin this means 70mph) and on my first few tanks I'm getting 19+ (not towing!) which I am very pleased with. I need the 4wd and v8 power for towing and not rock crawling. Most gimics are just that. If they worked, Toyota/Lexus would have done it from the start.

Has anyone tried/experienced positive results from:
1) Going to eco passenger touring all season tires? Narrower tires?
2) Lowered their GX?
3) Bigger front air dam for better aero?
4) Trying a different grade of oil in the engine and diffs?

I know my GX in no hydrid and I have no complaints with what I am experiencing. Just curious to see what, if any, folks have experimented with and if they saw improvements.

DK

470reasons

It's a GX470!
Wrong vehicle for eco mods!.

Really? Can't get much better that that.

With the lift and bigger tires (inflated to 55 psi) my calculated average highway mileage is between 14 and 13.5 mpg with the cruise set at 76mph.

RCsGX

There's nothing you can really do to gain any significant MPGs. If you're getting 19MPG highway I'd say you're doing pretty well. Toyota has pretty much squeezed everything out of the 2uz-fe. Only things you can do is keep up w/ the maintenance IE: clean filters, fresh fluids (engine, diffs, transfer), spark plugs, clean the MAF, make sure your air / fuel sensors are good etc.

chiph9

Not much can be done. The fuelly stats show that most people are getting 13-15 mpg. So 19 mpg is amazing.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/lexus/gx470

Chip H.

IanB2

I would also be very happy if I was getting those kinds of figures, I track every tank with www.fuelly.com and my running average is 13.3mpg with a best tank of 18.1 (corrected for larger tires). I've done a full tuneup (chassis greasing, synthetic diff & TC fluids, sparkplugs, air filter), all that's left is the PCV and it's possible that my frozen calipers on the front have been dragging slightly this whole time, but otherwise I'm pretty well left with a truck that gets 13mpg on the regular.

Front brake rebuild will likely go down this Thursday, so I'm crossing my fingers it makes a difference in economy as well as braking performance.

lesz

Like with all vehicles, I think that the main factors that are going to determine gas mileage with the GX are likely to be driving style and the type of driving you are doing.

I've had my 05 GX since it was new. I've done absolutely nothing to modify the vehicle, and my actually calculated mpg (with regular grade fuel) is typically between 20 and 21 mpg during most of the year. During the winter, when temperatures drop to the -20 to 20 degree range, mpg might drop to around 18 mpg. I live out in the country and do very little driving in stop-and-go conditions, and, as I've added years to my age, my driving style has become more conservative than it was a couple of decades ago. I'm confident that where I drive and how I drive are the main reasons why I get better mpg than many GX owners.

stiles_s

Not to darken your day, but have you checked the mileage w/a calculator, or are you going by the trip computer?

Seems the trip computer is about 10% optimistic on mine

dkhighperf

I track every fill up in a notebook and all figures are calculated by hand and not the on-board trip computer. Half the time I use the same gas station so, in theory, the shut off points for the gas pump should be the same. I have noticed that at my other local station, the pump tends to shut off early which obviously can inflate numbers if it fills the tank a 1/2 to 1 gallon short.

I guess my driving style must be very conservative. I also have to admit that part of my daily commute also includes a stretch of local highway where the speed limit is 50 mph for 5-6 miles and plenty of cops so I set the cruise at 52-54 which is inflating my numbers a bit.

Last trip to northern Wisconsin where it is mixed 55 to 65 mph and 95% of my trip was cruise control highway was 19.1

Thanks for all of the feedback.

DK

YoshiMan

As long as it pulls it own weight like it does and gets better MPG than my 89' Landcruiser I used to have, then I am happy with it!

dkhighperf

I track every fill up in a notebook and all figures are calculated by hand and not the on-board trip computer. Half the time I use the same gas station so, in theory, the shut off points for the gas pump should be the same. I have noticed that at my other local station, the pump tends to shut off early which obviously can inflate numbers if it fills the tank a 1/2 to 1 gallon short.

I guess my driving style must be very conservative. I also have to admit that part of my daily commute also includes a stretch of local highway where the speed limit is 50 mph for 5-6 miles and plenty of cops so I set the cruise at 52-54 which is inflating my numbers a bit.

Last trip to northern Wisconsin where it is mixed 55 to 65 mph and 95% of my trip was cruise control highway was 19.1

Thanks for all of the feedback.

DK

YoshiMan

19 MPG for a 55-65 mile an hour trip seems reasonable. I do ALOT of city driving with occasional 75 MPH stints on the freeway, and I always get 14.something..

I was able to pull 20 MPG in my old Cadillac Escalade ESV when I was in Yellowstone for a few days once... I think the max speed in the park is 50 or so, and that combined with trees everywhere blocking the wind returns some pretty impressive fuel consumption!