kitlz

Not that I'm aware of. There's too many variables IMO to make an accurate assessment like weather, road surface, speed, trip duration, eco mode on/off just to name a few. As far as the complaints, people find that easier to do than taking a look at their own driving habits.

Cruiter

Like Anita said, there are too many variables between drivers and their daily drives to do that. And Lexus (and all manufacturers) list disclaimers to get around that. However my post https://www.clublexus.com/forums/8532288-post598.html shows it can be true under decent conditions and over a vast period of time.

wa3cuj

I had a 2010 for just over 4 years and traded it for a 2013. After having it for about 2 weeks I headed to Florida for a couple of months this winter. When I got back I had put 6000 miles on it so I was a little over due for my 5000 mile service.

I complained about the poor mileage I was getting. I had one tank on my drive North where I barely broke 20 mpg. The dealer put it on the computer and showed me a printout that said there was nothing wrong. I did have them remove the crossbars on the roof rack while I was there.

Well, for having "found nothing" and for having "done nothing" all of the sudden my average mileage went from about 24 mpg to just over 30 mpg (just like the 2010 I traded in). You could literally see it improved on the drive home from the dealer.

For over four years I read this board and quietly thought that many people really did not know how to drive these things. After my experience, I now believe there is more to it. I have no idea what was done to my vehicle but it worked!!!

Aptosuser

Our 2010 RX 450h's on-board computer is reporting 30.2 average mpg since the beginning of March. I just filled up today and the mpg for the latest tank was 27.5, which is what the car computer had predicted. This has been in preponderantly highway driving, with some stop-and-go in the mix. I am using premium gas and I stay to the right at 60-62 mph even in 65 zones. I can get away with that because I'm retired and don't have to go anywhere in a hurry.

billy44bo

I think the biggest factor on how well or not you are doing with your gas mileage is the what Formula of gasoline they are putting out at the oil refineries that goes to your area where you are buy the gas. My last two fill ups were 28.64 and 28.67 both found by math not what the car shows. where last month was 25.1 and 25.72 same driving routes about the same morning temperatures afternoon temp a little warmer but not by that much. True test will be with this tank as the afternoon temps will be in the 90's here.

Aptosuser

I hit a new gas-mileage milestone with my most recent fill-up (or "Fuelup") yesterday: 31 mpg. This was over a distance of 243 miles, mostly on freeways between our house on the coast and destinations in Silicon Valley and the SF East Bay, and thus three miles more per gallon than the 28 mpg estimate/rating for highway mileage. The car's computer was predicting that I'd get 30.6 mpg at fill-up, so I beat that by 4-tenths of a mile, but as the saying goes, "it was close enough for horseshoes." I drove as much as I could safely on cruise control. I used 91 octane gas as prescribed by the owners' manual. I drove on Michelin tires at about 35 psi. I still had half a tank of gas when I filled up.

I used a couple of visual cues to track how I was doing as I drove: the energy display on the NAV screen and the instrument panel read-out on mpg at fill-up. Both give you real-time feedback on how efficiently you're driving but from different viewpoints. The NAV-screen display tells you when you're running on the battery, the ICE or some combination of both. I've found that including this screen in my instrument, etc. scan, helps improve my pulse-and-glide technique. Monitoring the instrument panel read-out lets me know whether I'm maintaining the average mpg or whether it's improving or degrading and under what circumstances.

But the most effective way to improve mileage is to drive slower. I always observe speed limits, in any case, but there's no law that says I have to drive at the speed limit. So following my wife's example I have been staying a couple of mph under the posted limits. I keep to the most right-hand lane except to pass even slower vehicles (not many of those around our area), and then I accelerate to 65 mpg or whatever the speed limit is to get past them and back into the slow lane again. I get better gas mileage this way, saving both money and wear and tear on my nerves. I figure that we don't really lose much time this way over a 90-mile drive. (If I were driving down to L.A., say, that would be a different story.)

cflutist

We just got back from a 2300 mile road trip from the San Francisco Bay Area to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the trip computer said that we averaged 28.9 mpg for the entire trip. This included 65 mph in CA and 75 mph in NV, WY, and ID. 45 mph was the limit in the parks where we got our best mileage. Our poor baby will get a much needed bath tomorrow. We have 4100 on the odometer now since January. 6-month appointment coming up next month.

kitlz

And your mileage will improve even more. That's a nice road trip. Did you take any pictures of your 450h in those beautiful parks?

websailor

Since I drove all those miles, I think I can add a bit more information.

909 miles were on either State Highways or the Interstates, so 79.4% were between 65 mph to 75 mph, with the occasional slow downs for construction zones. I tried to keep it at or just above the speed limit, using cruise control almost all the time. (Note: I think my speedometer reads about 2 mph high from all the times we passed a roadside radar unit that said "Your Speed" vs what I saw when I glanced at our speedometer. Therefore I always tried to set the cruise control 2 mph higher than the stated limit shown on my odometer - that is, 67 mph instead of exactly 65 mph.)

496 miles, or 20.6% were at the National Park speed limits or below. Most of this would be at 45 mph, some at 35 mph, and small bits at 25 mph or less. We noticed a distinct difference between the MPG at 45 mph than at 75 MPH.

Since Cheryl was questioning "Why at we getting such poor MPG at 75 mph?" I deliberately slowed down to 65 MPH for a short stretch to show her the difference. We watched the screen that shows the MPG as bars that changes every minute. As soon as it changed, I slowed to 65 MPH and waited till it changed again. It was quite a bit, proving that going slower is a key factor in getting better MPGs. (Then I went back up to 75 mph, because Cheryl really, really, really does not like long distance travel in a car).

I have a few pictures of our Lexus in Yellowstone and Grand Teton that I'll post in the "Pics of Your RX3 today?" thread.

Aptosuser

Well, at least this car makes a long trip easy on the body, nerves and mind. That sounds like a great trip. I've always wanted to visit those places. We're pretty much done with Europe, so it's about time.

Going a bit slower certainly is the key to better mpg. I had to drive from our house near Santa Cruz to the UCSF Mt. Zion complex in San Francisco today (1 to 17 to 85 to 280 to 101). I've found it's helpful to keep an eye on the predicted-gas-mileage-at-fuel-up display. When I started out, having just filled up a couple of days earlier, it was reading about 20 mpg. When I got home, it was up to 30.2 predicted fuel mileage. I also used cruise control as much as possible and held my speed to a couple miles/hour under the 65 mph limit on 85/280 (the speed limit on 17 is 50 mph and I always observe it).

I seem to get the best mileage on the road. It's not easy to get a lot of "mpg's" driving locally because we take mostly short trips and we have a lot of elevation changes. They're not that much to speak of, but it doesn't take much to cut into fuel efficiency over a short distance. I'd love to find out how much mpg the car would get in an urban area with flat streets, but I'd have to go to Fresno or some place like that to find out.

Cruiter

I've posted many times on the great mileage my RX450h gives. And I drive it at or very close to the speed limit on cruise when I can. However as others have said, when they slow down the mileage gets better. That's true but the shape of the car helps to determine the point where speed really has a detrimental effect (as well as the weight of the car). I've had my new C7 Corvette on two road trips now to Bowling Green KY and Talladega AL where I could really test the mileage. At times the cruise was about 75-80 with occasional sprints to over 100. It must be really slick because traveling with the cruise at about 75 I was getting between 31 and 33.5mpg. Not bad for a car with 460hp. However it only weighs about 3300 lbs and is shaped as close to a needle as possible. Then add about 3 coats of mothers wax and ..... Well it's slick.

However when driving around town I love that LT1 V8 and the rumble then the sound as it goes from idle to full song under full throttle. Not so much good mpg then . Sorry, just had time to ramble a bit.

RXSF

Ive been getting better mpg number this month. Not sure what the cause is...maybe summer blend of gasoline?

Cruiter

Bingo plus warmer temps .

kitlz

Time for an update since the weather has warmed up. The daily commute one way is five miles. I've been averaging 27+ MPG despite the hills that take up half of the drive. Eco mode is on.

oohpapi44

iTrader: (1)

Heading down to Greensboro, NC (from NYC) and back this weekend. Hoping to see some decent numbers. Will try to take it easy on i-85 (hard as it may be).