cdew002

For the record, I use premium - it only costs an extra $200/year. The potential benefits outweigh the cost for me. Plus, I can feel the difference in my 04.

Ancient

I second what cdew002 said about cruise control. Dead flat land, OK. Up and down hills, I turn if off. I let the car run a little faster down hill and end up going over the top of the next hill a little slower. With cruise on, it forces the throtle down as you aproach the grade, trying to maintain the same speed.

Sweet spot. Usually, when you drive the car a lot, your foot and the car work out a comfortable area. The car seems to like that rpm. 2000 t0 2200 rpm for me. Most freeways are at least 70. So most people go 75. The aerodynamics of the truck (like a big brick) kicks in around there. However, driving at 60 to 65, best mileage, takes you forever to get somewhere.

volman3

2005 GX470. Love it but as some others have said not economical to drive. We are getting about 13-14 around town and consistently around 18-19 on the hwy. Have gotten as high as 22 but long straight trips. Such as down i-95 in florida. Now, this depends on how heavy footed you are. I try to stay around 70-75 with the rpms about 2000-2500

brycejaq

Agreed. My dash usually reads around 16.8 or 16.9 mixed city/hwy driving, but we usually only squeeze about 330 miles on a nearly dry tank (I put 21.5 gals back in it, and the gas light had been on w/ the dash reading a solid "0" to go for a good 10 miles already)...so that brings my average down by a tad over 1mpg.

That said, on 95% hwy trips my average pushes the 20mpg mark quite frequently.

The gas mileage trade-off is a no-brained compared with the size, quality, reliabilty, safety, etc, etc, etc. that this amazing "truck" offers me...piece of mind, really.

GX470Fan

I recently purchased a 2007 GX470. I have had the opportunity to do three fairly long road trips in it already. Most of my driving, though, is done around town where the speed limit is 40mph. I only put premium unleaded in my truck because that's what is "recommended" and I don't mind the extra cost. I get about 14-15mpg around town and have never gotten more than 18mpg on the highway. I live in a small mountain town in Colorado, so there are lots of hills (mountain roads) and altitude to contend with, although I'm pretty sure the V8 in my "Silver Bullet" automatically adjusts for the altitude. I owned a Toyota 4Runner Limited (with the V8 in it) before I purchased the GX. Although the city mpg's were better in the 4Runner, the highway mpg's are about the same. That being said, the Lexus GX 470 is a vastly superior truck in my opinion. It is as capable (or more so) than the 4Runner off-road (and I do a LOT of off-roading, mostly in Moab, UT) and MUCH more luxurious to drive around town. The luxury of the GX, coupled with it's legendary reliability, make it the best car or truck I have ever owned. That includes a slew of BMW's and a smattering of Mercedes. I don't think I will ever drive another brand, period. Just as a side note, in typical Lexus Dealership fashion, they replaced the timing belt, water pump, all filters and put brand new tires on it before I purchased it. I do not anticipate having to do any major (or minor) repairs on it any time soon (other than routine maintenance, of course). I do not have a Lexus Dealership anywhere near where I live, but I do have a Toyota Dealership right here in town and they have a Lexus-Cerified Tech on staff, so I lucked out there. Anyway, I absolutely love my GX470 and plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, or I reach 400,000 miles, whichever comes first, : ). I'm new to the Forum and have already found tons of useful info! Glad to be a Member!

amccaulx

Here is the thing about premium vs regular in the GX. Our GX470 has the exact same engine (2uz-fe) as Tundras, Sequoia, and V8 4runners have. If you look at the owner manuals of those vehicles, they recommend regular. Toyota recommends Regular, and Lexus recommends Premium, because they are "Fancy" and Fancy auto manufactures think you should run Fancy gas in their fancy vehicles. I think it is more of an image thing, then a real requirement. I would be interested to find out if ANY Lexus, regardless of their engine, recommends anything but premium. High Compression and Forced Induction engines are really what need the higher octane premium fuels so they don't detonate.

That being said, I have heard that VVTI engines that run premium fuel will slowly start adapting their cam settings to take advantage of the premium fuel, and over the course of several months of running premium fuel will start becoming more efficient, because they can push the envelope a little farther.

Also, here is a good place to see real world MPG data:

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