2012 ES City Mileage
 

I've had my 2012 ES 350 for 2 months now and I was expecting a little better gas mileage than I seem to be getting. I leave it on the "average" screen and so far it's not going much higher than 16 mpg. It's supposed to get 19 in the city. Is this normal or does it indicate a problem?

P.S. Mine is more "suburb" driving, so technically it should be a little better than strict "city" driving. I drive like a grandma in terms of acceleration.

My 2011 is averaging 16 mpg in suburbia too.

Have you tried using the Tank Average creen as a reference? The Average is an ongoing record and doesn't change until you reset it, so it can cover a wide variety of driving conditions over a long period. The tank average resets at each fill up and gives a snapshot of the mpg's with the current tank for gas. Just a thought.

My 2007 averages between 21 and 22 city driving. You should be getting better mileage. A lot of things can affect your mileage; tire pressure, driving habits, etc... but you should be getting at least 20 mpg. I've never gotten worse than 20 mpg since I bought my car new in November 2006.

I hadn't looked at mine for quite a while and just checked it. Currently the Average is 29.6 mpg and the Tank Average is 27.6 mpg. That's a mix of suburban and expressway driving.

But, as mentioned, so much goes into each persons mpg's it's really hard to compare. Especially driving style and traffic conditions. I agree though, it should be over 20 mpg's in suburban driving.

Aw, the flatlands. Here in Northeast PA, we have hills, upgrades and mountains all over the place.

Yeah, the flatlands do have some benefits. Plus most of my driving in the Lexus is during non-rush hour periods so the traffic flow is usually pretty good.

Do you use premium or regular grade of gas?

I've been using regular since the car was new 01/10.

My 16 mpg is actually a tank average. I forgot that I had a dedicated tank average measure, so I've been resetting the odometer manually each time I gas up. Now, if I take one trip on a highway my mpg will improve drastically, but I get 16 mpg with straight suburb driving (average speed probably around 35 mph and fairly flat - northern VA).

16 Mpg feels really bad to me - like I'm driving a Hummer bad. I use regular gas. Because I have tried to see what the absolute best mileage is I can get, I have purposefully been driving around with very conservative acceleration and deceleration.

If the consensus is that I'm getting abnormally low gas mileage, what should I do? Should I bring it into the dealer? Thanks.

Regular gas will give you worse fuel economy compared to premium gas. These engines are configured (e.g. timing) to run on 91 octane fuel. Using regular fuel will not damage your engine becasue timing is adjusted by the computer, but the change in timing will reduce engine efficiency as a result. Plus, the advertised fule ecomny values established by the manufacturer are with gas that does not contain ethanol. Most states require 10% ethanol in gas which also decreases fuel econmy.

2011 and 2012 ES350s are configured to run on 87 octane gas.

Proof: http://pressroom.lexus.com/article_d...rticle_id=2027

Personally for me - I drive in a very mixed suburbia style driving everyday (Relatively hilly, not flat but not pure stop and go city driving, more ~50-60mph sprints with stops at red lights) in my 2011 ES350 (I only use 87 octane gas) and I regularly get 22mpg city, which I personally thought was bad compared to my previous car where I was regularly getting 24mpg (2003 TL Type S) - but I guess weight and engine size are playing a factor.

I actually tried driving one time feathering the gas the entire time and also coasted with my foot off the gas more and tried one time just driving "normal" (normal for me is generally speaking shifting around 3000rpms for the first 3 or 4 gears). Even though the car told me I had gotten 25mpg on my "feather" drive and about 22mpg on my "normal" drive - when I calculated the gas mileage, I actually averaged around 22mpg in both cases! I think the ES over-estimates your mpg when your foot is off of the gas pedal. So - it is normal driving for me :)

It could come down simply to different driving situations, but 16mpg seems a little low. I would check on tire pressure first and then also perhaps try a different gas station in case you're getting bad fuel at the gas station you're regularly using. You can try 91 or 93 octane, but like I said - the 2011 and 2012 ES350s are designed to use 87 octane.

The EPA ratings for the 2010 on premium and 2011 on regular are the same at 19/27/22.

The 2012 on regular is rated at 19/28/22.

I haven't checked on my current car, but on my 2007 ES350 the car's computer was about 1 mpg or so higher than manual checks.

I use premium and mostly Shell 93.
I feel the ES runs at it's optimum level using premium like recommended in the past.The Camry and other Toyota's had the same engine and the Lexus was premium and the Toyota regular.The only difference was 4 HP and a bit of torque.
I don't do the average miles per so the extra cost isn't a big deal.

I'm getting about 20 mpg even here in Houston where it's bumper to bumper traffic

On trips back-and-forth to town (12 miles away) to shop, we average 25-27 mpg. On a recent 2000 mile trip to Southern Kalifornia, we averaged 29-31 mpg UNTIL we got to LA, when we drove lots of surface streets with lots of lights and freeway speeds were almost always 75-80 mph unless traffic was stopped. Anyway, our mileage dropped to 21-22 while in LA. I've never seen it so low. On the way home, it jumped back up to 29-31 mpg.

IMHO, 10% ethanol = 10% worse mileage.

BTW- We use regular gas consistently.

Wow! I would not accept 16 mpg under any circumstances. That needs to be checked as something is amiss.

I have averaged 24+ mpg in town over the last 6 years on mid grade fuel. That's computer read out that is typically 1 to 1.5 inflated. I do always coast as much as I can and especially like the previous comment about Lexus overestimating mpg while coasting. :)

BTW- I just noticed the OP, Macklin and myself are all from VA. I'm normally driving in the Sterling / Herndon / Reston area (Lots of Algonkian Parkway and Fairfax County Parkway) if you're from the area - it may give you an indication of my daily commute.

If you're in that same area - 16mpg is probably really off - and I'd definitely check out tire pressure and try gas from somewhere else - and if all else fails, try to go to the dealership. Which dealership do you use?

RyanC, I'm in Tysons but I work in Falls Church City. My commute, and pretty much what I'm basing the 16 mpg on, is a 10 minute ride on a small two-lane road that gets backed up, as it is a main access road to our nearest metro stop. When I'm not on this road commuting, I'm doing small roads in and around Tysons and McLean. So I guess a lot of my driving is crawling and bumper-to-bumper, except that I'm not on a highway. I talked to the dealer (Pohanka) and the service guy said the 16 mpg doesn't sound too unreasonable. I'm going to have them check out the car at my first maintenance in October.

Remember than when you're stopped, your MPG is 0. So when the computer is working an average, its computing that time at 0 into the overall average which hurts the number.

There's city driving, and then theres Northern VA driving. People who don't live here don't get it lol, its not suburban driving traffic light to traffic light. Its driving when you are literally stopped 70% of the time on surface streets.

Makes sense - part of the issue too maybe that most of your driving is when the car hasn't fully warmed up on such a short commute and with that - you may not be getting the optimal mpg rating.

If you have very low mileage on your 2012, it is also possible that the car will get better gas mileage as the engine breaks in. In some cars, the car will continue to get better gas mileage over the first 10k miles.

I would still check your tire pressure though. In the ES350, unfortunately the car does not tell you the air pressure, it only shows the Low Pressure Warning light to tell you when the air pressure is low (I don't know the exact number but typically it is going to be around a 5-8psi drop). On average, even just a 3psi drop in tire pressure can impact your gas mileage.

Yes, yes, & yes. If you're not running 35 lbs. of tire pressure already, do so ASAP. It will actually help your mileage. I run 35 consistently on all our cars.

The two dealerships that I use for service both inflate tires to 35 psi even though Lexus recommends less. I run 34-35 psi too.

At 35lb,you lose smooth ride quality,though.I go 31 a pound over the door tag reading and still average 23 combo driving.Over 30 on the highway at 75 MPH.

Yeah I think the car rides poorly on 35 PSI. I bought the car for the ride.

I run 31 and I get 23 comb/city, 30 hwy.

OH my how true! Been there done that and know exactly what you mean. I hate having to drive to NorVA. I'm in VA Beach and even hop up onto the freeway for local trips as often as I can.

I take back what I said about the 16 being way off. Still sounds low though.

Same here!:thumbup::)

Thanks for the comments, guys. I'll check my tire pressure this evening and let you know if adding more makes a substantial difference.

I lived in Arlington back in the 80s, and I remember gridlock on the secondaries in and around Springfield Saturday mornings!

16 mpg sounds like a reasonable average for the horror that is local NoVA traffic.

Yes, the more I think about my driving experiences here, the more confident I feel that 16 mpg is normal. If I'm not sitting in traffic, I'm sitting at a red light, stop sign or in a fast food drive-thru line.

I just checked my average mileage from the last tank of gas on the 2011 with 5800 miles: 20.4 mpg in hilly, suburbia. My 2011 Impala LTZ gets 16 mpg while my past 2007 Impala SS V-8 averaged 12 mpg (but 24 - 25 mpg on the interstate).

And its SO much worse today!

OK! Sounds like your mpg is ummm bout right...sorry to say. :)

IHAVE SIMILIAR experience. have a short 6 mile bumper to bumper traffic commute and i get 17 mpg.. 2007 ES.. always thought something is wrong.. just put on new tires - earlier was gett 19-20.
i think it is normal for short bumper to bumper commutes.