Ricklin

I think they claimed 0.21 on the 3rd Gen Prius which like the LS they were quite proud of, rightfully so. I enjoy the way that Japan does their engineering. It's the 'little stuff' that they will do, that other manufacturer's do not do. Things like auto windshield wipers that increase the swipe speed as you are reaching for the lever to speed them up.
The Prius is the greatest example of that engineering prowess. If we do these 14 items combined, efficiency increases by 2.7%, it's like that. Yes I made up those numbers to illustrate the concept.

NetG

triple digits beats radar? who told you that blatant lie!? XD radar can absolutely clock you accurately into the triple digits.

Ricklin

Sorry, perhaps I was not clear. I'm sure the radar can catch me and track my speed. But not if I slow down prior to having officer friendly pointing that pesky thing at me. Lots of instant on radar, and of course the dreaded laser gun. For either of those two speed technologies, your radar detector is just a warning that red and blue lights will soon be appearing in the rear view mirror.
I was speaking of the Waze app on your phone. Waze is the best navigation software going. It also uses Crowdsourcing. Thus if I see officer friendly hiding behind a billboard I punch an icon on my phone and it alerts other Waze users that officer friendly is at work.

In my considerable experience? I don't even have the radar detector in the car currently. I lost the power cord, since I use Waze always, I am not trying to find it.

I will reinstall my detector when i find the cord. Would still be useful on lonely highways. Enjoy it while it lasts. The officer friendlies of the world are complaining now according to what I hear on the news. Waze users in NY state are reporting where officers set up sobriety check points. There are also people complaining of heavy traffic in their neighborhoods. Waze reroutes around traffic and thus lots of folks using back streets to get around traffic.

I was one of the very first guys to install GPS in a car. Way back when I had an external CD Rom player hooked up in my car to plug my laptop in to for Delorme software. Not to mention the inverter to power it all up. The first dedicated car GPS I bought was close to a grand, and that was years later.

Waze is by far the best navigation and driving tool extant. No I'm not a shill, I just use it and like it.

On another note since this is the mileage thread. My average MPG went from 22-23 to 27 MPG after having replaced both front hubs on the LS. My R hub was quite noisy, smooth and quiet now, and a nice little mileage bump.

damienqc

Was driving yesterday near Montreal,QC to Beloeil and back (about 50 miles overall) and averaged 29mpg on the highway at 65mph with some traffic.
29mpg is usually what I get without strong front wind or hill while cruising at that speed.

BigBoomer

2004 with 110k miles on her. Gets 24Mpg (UK) which is 20Mpg(US).
That said I spend 1/3rd of my time in stationary traffic, 1/3rd at 70Mph, and 1/3rd thrashing her through the twisties

Dubbayoo

I averaged just under 27mph on a five hour drive to Charleston this week; abut 10mpg less on local roads; in desperate need of a car wash now. Many a bug sacrificed their lives on my hood.

Bocatrip

For almost 10 years I've been driving 99% City driving averaging 12-13 mpg. Last week I took a few very fairly long trips averaging 25+ mpg. What a difference! That's with a 5 speed trans and with my check engine light on (which has been on for the last 6 months for some evaporative emission nonsense)...Nice to see the higher mileage for a change.

LSDriverx2

Wanted to share an interesting test that isn’t likely to happen often. Picked up an 01 UL, and my wife and I drove it back (along with the 04). We swapped cars back and forth several times, and drove together on mostly highway roads, with speeds between 55 and 75 actual for the most part. Temperatures averaged around 45-50 degrees. Over the course of 355 miles in one day, the 01 returned 25.69 (actual based on gallons filled), and the 04 was 26.82. So, about a 4 percent difference. However, the 04 has old hard Michelin’s, and the 01 had brand new, relatively underinflated generic tires. So, I would expect about half of the difference was due to tires (and the 01 could use an alignment, too). Interesting, given the difference in transmissions and final drive ratios between the two.

BigBoomer

Since almost all fuel consumption is due to aerodynamic drag, that's about what I'd expect given they have identical drag figures. As you say, tyre condition and inflation do make a difference but not as much as say carrying several passengers.

BaconLS430

I'll chip in on my 2005 LS430, now at ~180,000 miles. With mixed city and highway driving (about 40/60) up to 65 mph turns in about 22 mpg.

When I bought it, I set the cruise at 70 and turned in a 27.7 MPG on I40 coming home from Nashville. Never downshifted out of 6th gear in the hills of the Cumberland Plateau, coming down it, or climbing back up on the other side of the TN river. When I kicked it up to 75 for a short while after clearing the river, it dropped to 27 or so. That trip was with an air filter that was completely stopped up, couldn't see any light through it and I imagine replacing it before the ride home would've netted me some extra mileage on the way back.

rktinc

2003 LS 98k miles Avg 22.5 MPG pretty consistently on my 30 mile daily commute.