whats your mpg on RX450h?
 

We just got the hybrid-first fill-up we only got 24.5 mpg-in mostly city driving-
What other mileage numbers are people getting and does mileage improve?

Any tips for driving a hybrid to improve mileage? Does mileage get better as car gets "worn in?"

mileage usually gets better as the engine breaks in.

in the mean time, try staying the green zone of the tach as long as possible. Coast as long as possible, and only push down on the pedal a little so that the car only uses the electric motors instead of activating the gas engine. and of course, no jack rabbit starts

As stated as the engine wears in, MPG will improve. What kills Lexus hybrids is constant stop and goes. Why? It takes a lot to move the 4100 lbs GS, the 4500 lbs RX and 5000 lbs LS hybrids. I hate having to stop at red lights.:D

Is this your first hybrid? It really takes time to learn how to drive it and get the most out of it. Its fun to me!

Over time, you will get better.:)

Thanks-yes this is our first hybrid-we had driven the RX400H as a loaner when our GS300 was getting serviced. Though that was great-we feel this model is vastly improved

My tips....
you should learn how to space yourself out between cars where you don't tap the brake or the accelerator. This is the art of coasting! I've noticed Lexus hybrids coast better than anything short of a 2000 lbs car!
Clearly punching the gas hurts MPG so do it at am minimum.
I've noticed my h really does well when the engine has warmed up. It doesn't get its best MPG cold.
Driving with the windows down on the highway (I would say over 45mph) hurts MPG b/c of drag.
Try to keep complete stops to a minimum.
Keep track of what gas you use (only premium). I have noticed differences in MPG depending on gas (I use Shell).

I never thought I'd have "fun" driving efficiently but that's what I've learned. The forum Priuschat is pretty cool to read as well.

Mike

I'm getting about 25mpg but that is driving mainly on the turnpike at 90 to 100moh and includes a few jack rabbit starts. If I drove to conserve fuel I could probably get 28mpg.

After three weeks
 

Loving these wordings!!! :thumbup:



* I learned how to drive Toyota/Lexus Hybrid from your previous posts... although I still don't like them, I have to agree these vehicles are goooood... :D

There is nothing more annoying than some jerk practicing "the art of coasting" in front of you in a traffic formation, especially when he (or she) is coasting into a "stale" green light and you know that you're the sap who is going to end up being in the pole position at the subsequent red light.

I observed a fleet of drivers doing teh similar things, including Hybrid and regular vehicles. This is quite irksome to me. It is very spiteful of anyone to do that. But I can understand everyone has their own ways of driving.

Lex, I think your GS is a bit different than the RX. I found that our RX (the 400h) does really well in city driving. Usually doing anywhere from 26 (if its cold) to 30 MPG, where Hwy can be from 25 to 29 MPG. I drove all city the other day and I estimated that my consumption for the trip was about 35 MPG.

To the OP, yes as the engine breaks in your mileage will improve. It did for us anyway.

Thanks! Funny going back into non hybrid cars, it really shows the difference.
No worse than the jerk in the non-hybrid texting, on the phone, eating and doing everything else BUT driving. ;)
True. The RX gets better City MPG. The GS hates the City:p

Trying to slowly convince the G/F if we need a SUV, then a 400h is in order.:D 450h is nicer but pricier.

you know you want it! :D how often can you say, "i have two 450h" :p

What octane level does the manual recommend? I have no problem paying a little extra to get the better mileage.

Thanks. 93 would be overkill. Who uses that stuff anyway :uh:

When I think about all the cars, pricey and not, that require premium and get about half the mileage of the 450h, now that hurts :egads: I didn't buy the 450h to quibble over an extra dollar or two at the pump. I bought it because I drive mostly on city roads at low speeds, making the hybrid ideal for me. My gas consumption should drop a bit. Less gas = less cost. I haven't looked at the maintenance schedule recently but I recall it costs less to maintain too. Bonus!

depending where you are--you do get different octanes available. Upper midwest has 87/89 and 93 for example.

AZ has 87/89 and either 91 or 92

I used to have a union 76 station near me that offered racing gasoline (why, I have no idea) with 107 octane

Where I live, we have 87, 89 (10% ethanol), and 91. We had been using the premium 91 octane on our RX450H until the last fill-up. We are trying out the 89 octane with 10% ethanol to see if it makes much difference. I can tell you this much. On my LS460L, I have been filling up with the 89 octane (10% ethanol) for at least one and one half years now. I have tried both the 91 and the 89 and I observed very little difference in gas mileage and no difference in performance. So, my philosophy is, why pay 30 cents per gallon (yes that's the difference between the 89 octane with ethanol and the 91 octane with no ethanol) more for the premium when the 89 octane seems to be just as good.

It will be interesting to see if there is much difference with the two grades of gas on the RX450h.

I normally see a 20 cent difference between "regular" and "premium" (whether 91 or 93).

I wonder if I have 93 and 89--can I alternate fill ups and average out to 91? Does the gas all mix in anyway.

Jim, on the political firestorm- :-) -discussing here will do nothing more than get it off our chests. Politicians individually have their own multi-facited agenda.

But all we have to do to evaluate success of our leadership long term is:

a) look at financial condition of our country
b) look at the loss of esteem
c) the power or influence to lead

it should be like running a business-metrics of success and clean house if things not going well.

The controversies arise cause govt sticks its nose into too many places where there are too many opinions-none particularly wrong except "its not my idea".

But this all gets back to ethanol and even this cash for clunkers thing which is now up to 3 Billion in cost--who pays for that? and since our cars (generally) cost more than 45k we are not eligible. effectively what used to be rebates from GM and Chrysler are now rebates from the taxpayer. If this continues I would think Lexus would be shipping rx's with a certain content to be priced at 44,950. Tail wags the dog and everything becomes less efficient.

And the cash for clunkers merely accelerates sales into this quarter at the cost for sales later this year, much like the post 9/11 deals did.

So, ask this question--if the govt could not figure out the cash for clunkers thing, how the heck are they gonna run GM and Chrysler? Or based on social security mess and medicare and medicaid mess--how is national health care gonna work.

Jimmy, ya got to have venues to blow the steam off.

One reason I am upset is we cannot get money on our RX purchases cause the limit is 45000, and thru the now 3 billion made available in the clunker program, taxpayers in general are footing the bill. My trade in is a clunker -a 99 explorer that is on its last legs. My ford dealer cannot fix the car since the part is not made anymore (yeah-10 year old explorer) and he does not want to try to fix it as he thinks it will stop working if he takes a crack at it (rusted out and broken motor mount) . In addition explorers could be cannibalized but under the clunker system they are wrecked in total--no canibalization. FUBAR

Do we all qualify as "rich" merely because we are buying a 45k car?

I think we are "smart" and finding a way to stretch our money by buying a hybrid made that should last a while (not to mention safety features even if the paint is soft). And on the 350, judging by the past experiences on the RX people have been very very happy.

So I will hold my nose since I have no way of changing the system other than voting the SOB's out of office.

But every once in a while ya have to piss and moan. Since this is a 450h Hybrid forum, I feel we can P&M specifically about buying smart and getting short changed. With our tax money.

here is an article about cash for clunkers from an investment blog based on an Edmunds article--I apologize for placing it in this tread but it does affect most of the RX lineup which is a rather popular line for Lexus. In any event, it appears that this is another govt waste of money except we can't get any of it--and I wonder how many rx sales were lost by folks switching to something less expensive. I have stuck with my decision but 4500 is a lot of money.

The article:

The "Cash for Clunkers" program has been a "great success", at least according to the government, and the auto industry. Within days of its kickoff, all $1 billion allocated to the program has been used up by Americans who have eagerly lined up to trade their clunkers for new vehicles.

Some refreshingly honest reporting has come from Edmunds.com, a car buying site that is telling the truth, in spite of benefiting from an increase in business and site traffic, due to the program. According to Edmunds, about 200,000 old low mileage cars would normally be traded in, every 3 months, in exchange for more efficient higher mileage cars, without this program.

The highest rebate is $4,500, and the lowest is $3,500. If everyone qualified for $4,500 per vehicle, about 222,000 vehicles would have just taken advantage of the government's money. At $3,500, 286,000 vehicles will have been sold.

I assume that, given all the raving, the government will eventually get around to assigning more money. It will take at least 2 or 3 months for the legislation to work its way through Congress. Meanwhile, if all buyers have qualified for the higher $4,500 rebate, the "cash for clunkers" program will mean a marginal increase in car sales of 22,000 this quarter. $1 billion divided by 22,000 means a net cost to the government of $45,354 per car.

If all buyers only qualify for the $3,500 rebate, it means a marginal increase in sales of about 86,000, or a net cost to the taxpayers of $11,628 per vehicle. In all likelihood, however, there will probably be a mix of vehicles qualifying for various rebates between $3,500 and $4,500. Based upon that assumption, Edmunds.com estimates that the average cost to the taxpayer will be about $20,000 per vehicle.

Even most of the marginally extra sales really represent people who were going to buy a new car eventually anyway. They are just buying a bit sooner than they expected. Old clunkers don't last forever, and they are almost all eventually replaced. The government is shifting tomorrow's demand to today, stealing from tomorrow to pay for today, but at great cost to the taxpayer.

The "cash for clunkers" program is yet another boondoogle - an expensive waste of precious taxpayer dollars. Government spending should be reined in, in light of the multi-trillion dollar unsustainable deficits that this nation now faces. However, if we must increase government spending, the money would be better spent on infrastructure and education improvements that might help bring jobs back to America, and encourage long term growth, rather than cosmetic improvements to the short term earnings of makers of high mileage automobiles, many of which are foreign companies.

This government is, unfortunately, a reflection of the current state of economic immaturity that prevails in America. The vast majority of people, including most people in Congress, do not understand the forces that drive the real economy, and see only the short term view. That is how they get manipulated into allowing the Federal Reserve to behave like a slush fund for big banks, passing programs like TARP into law, and enacting programs like "cash for clunkers" which all abuse the taxpayers.

Yes, it's a bummer I can't take advantage of the incentive programs. But fortunately for me, my dealer always gives me a great discount and a fair amount to trade in my old RX. That I can count on. Buying an American car, or any other car for that matter, is out of the question. I turned in a 1997 Ford Explorer Sport LEMON (yes, official - I went to court -lawyer, expert witness and all) and into my 99 RX almost 11 years ago. I have no regrets.

I'd rather buy a car from a company that believes in innovation and not the same ol', same ol'. Lexus continually gets better and better. Yes, American cars have gotten a bit better too but they had to have the government bail them out. Excuse my French but WTF? It doesn't look good based on all of your comments. Sorry, I avoid reading about all of these things in depth because it's so annoying, IMHO.

Lexus quality and reputation is unbelievable - hence the quote in my signature...

Nuff said!

I'll "fess" up:

in 99 when we bought out 99 Explorer, I first tried to direct my wife to the RX.


She did not like it then.


Now we should be getting our 450h within a week or two.

:-)


( I suppose if we had bought the 99 RX we would not be in so much of a hurry to get a new car)

Thank you Jim. I admit my experience with Ford was extreme. There are plenty of family and friends that drive non-Lexus vehicles and are happy. Great for them! What I can't accept is the car companies' complacency to do nothing to move forward technologywise. Lexus has always been ahead of the curve. The funny thing is I thought the first RX was butt ugly. But all it took was one drive and I was smitten. My current 04 RX is absolutely beautiful - love, love, love it. The new RX, well, I admit it was not love at first sight. But I have to think back on the original RX, again ahead of its time. The hybrid part makes it pretty exciting too. I'll tell you when I break 30MPG :D

Don't worry about the extra drives. Isn't that why we buy the cars we do ;) The only difference is we can do it much more efficiently. I'll find soon. My baby arrives in the port next Friday.

The way the US rates gasoline is just different from the rest of the world. We still use octane ratings, (here in CA, its 87, 89, and 91), but other countries use the RON rating, in which 95 is equivilent to 91.

Anywhoo...The higher octane you are using, the better your gas mileage and power output should be.

and you do not buy a hybrid to save money, you buy it to be environmentally concious and to extend that lexus like ride even further through better sound isolation and quieter powertrain

I see your thread. :cool::thumbup:

:woot::woot::thumbup:

Update:

Mileage-our last fill showed a respectable 27.9 miles per gallon combined and subsequently we have been averaging 31.9 mph-so our mileage has increased pretty dramatically as a result of 1) car "breaking in" and 2) we are driving sensibly and are not concerned about others in our crazy Southern California neighborhood who pressure us to accelerate just so we can stop at the next red light. How much of our increased mileage is based on driving habits compared to the car wearing in is anybody's guess. However, my sister did accuse me of driving like an old lady yesterday(I do not mean to offend old ladies, just sharing her sentiment) because of the way I drove.

So we get to our destination 5 minutes later-big deal

whats your mpg on RX450h?
 

I just got through my 2nd tank of gas & to my surprise I've averaged 30mpg for both tanks (calculated). I do about 50% city 50% highway daily & occasional spirited driving~

Just wanted to know whats everyone averaging in their 450h. I feel theres a potential to go above 30mpg if I really watch my speed & acceleration etc.

glad to hear it. Everytime I have told somebody I am looking at the 450 (service advisors and lexus employees included), they sayd "its just powerful, you dont save a lot of gas"...

kind of bothers me because I am not looking to save money or gas, but its still a bonus.

I have almost 5,000 miles on my 450h and we have averaged 30 mpg (50/50 city and highway driving). Our old RX300 average 19-20 mpg.

haha, i got similar reaction when i asked about 450h~

thats great to know, i have always wondered if mpg# would be higher after a break-in period~

I've still got less than 1000 miles on mine, but have gone as high as 33 mph lots of country roads, hilly, with some 65 mph on highways. The warming temperatures have helped a lot, before I rarely broke 30, but that was also in the snow (where it did great).

Wow, what great mileage you guys are getting! I'm getting an average of 25 mpg and I have over 1000 miles. Maybe time to rethink my driving habits!

My wife and I just got back from a round trip from central IA to the Detroit area and back. The total distance was about 1,300 miles. The average mpg for the total trip was right at 28 mpg. At times I was going as fast as 75-76 mph but most of the time the speed was around 67-70 mph.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that THE two biggest factors for gas mileage are temperatures and wind (direction and speed). Pretty much everyone now knows that very cold and or very hot temperatures greatly affect gas mileage. However, I don't think everyone realizes the importance of the wind speed and direction. A very strong cross wind (say around 20-30 mph) really diminishes gas mileage. I have first hand experience with this effect today on our drive back. I stopped near Joliet, IL to fill up with gas. I noticed that my gas mileage after refill was steadily climbing and reached a peak of 31 mph driving at about 70 mph heading west on I-80. The wind during this time was straight out of the east at 15-20 mph. After we reached far western IL, the wind shifted to strong northerly at 20-30 mph with stronger gusts. The gas mileage since refill then instantly started to drop. By the time we got home in central IA, the gas mileage since refill dipped all the way down to 27.6 mpg. The wind was strong from the north (cross wind) all the way from far western IL until we got home. That was distance of about 200 miles. As stated above, the average for the entire round trip was about 28 mpg. BTW, we also had very strong cross winds for about half of the trip on the way to Detroit 8 days ago. The only difference was that those strong winds were from the south. Temperatures were not much of a factor for the trip. Most of the time, temperatures were in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. There was no need for air conditioning.

I am pointing this out since it was an outstanding example of what wind can to to gas mileage.

It's both. Your choice. Depends on how you drive it.
Terry