Oh I totally agree. The only thing I would like to see is an improvement in range. One of my favourite SUVs is the G-Wagon, that gets 12 cty, 14 hwy, but what difference does it make.

 

You'd be surprised. Its not a concern as in "I can't afford to pay for the fuel", but people do care about economy at all size points and price points.

 

But stopping at fuel pumps too often is a concern.

Hell, I complain at my 7's 18 combined. XD

 

Yes and No.. I've never concern with paying for gas. I only drive V8's so for last 20 years I've been paying Premium gas on all of my V8 cars.. I had a V8 4Runner that I use to get 19 mpg Tank avg.. It wasn't bad but when you go cross country, visiting gas stations can be annoying.. lol

I would love to cruise cross country in the new LX.. I'm not too worry over 2mpg.. I'm sure it'll be fine..

 

When comparing vehicles though to purchase, if you saw two vehicles, both had the power and powertrain you wanted, but one had technology that returned better economy...thats a consideration.

 

and the premium fuel is recommended but you can use 87 because...posts.

 

Right lol, just look at all the people trying to run regular in $80,000+ cars!

 

Yep, which is why I find the Cadillac Escalade attractive. 420hp/460ftlbs vs the LX570's 383hp/403ftlbs, yet returns an impressive 15city/21hwy for the 4WD model.

 

Escalade is a part-time 4WD vs LX full-time 4WD. While the utility of full-time 4WD will depend on where you live and how you use your vehicle, personally I found full-time 4WD to be worth it to sacrifice couple MPGs.

 

The Escadle looks good on paper but real world it is not likely going to be much better than 15-16 MPG combined. The hwy MPG are kind of artificial.

 

That would be a shocking enough departure from the EPA to merit an investigation. I doubt the difference will be that great

 

EPA is 17 for the Escalade. The Hwy MPG needs absolute perfect conditions.

 

lx fuel tank is 24.6 gallons. at 17 hwy that's 418mi. not too shabby.

i'm not lasting more than 400miles without stopping.

as far as what people do and don't get excited about, yeah, wealthier people buying fancy cars often dwell on fuel consumption just like they dwell on the weather or other things they can't really do anything about.

 

Then why do carmakers bother to make advancements in fuel economy for expensive vehicles, or to advertise those advancements? Why does every large luxury car (including soon the LS) now come with standard 6 cyl power?

Plenty of people care.

 

Actually the move to smaller engines on high-end cars has a lot more to do with competing in markets that tax heavily on vehicles with large displacements and/or high CO2 emissions and to accommodate people who don't care about power at all and would rather pay a smaller price for the same level of luxury.