cstu

You can't really compare these two vehicles. The F350 is made for serious hauling while the 470 is a luxury SUV, two very different uses. With 400k people won't really care about anything other than whether the F350 still hauls, while 400k on the 470 will seem completely worn out to most people.

cstu

That's funny because I've been to Africa several times and have never seen one while I've seen a few 470's and a lot of LC's. The people there in one of the roughest places for vehicles must be stupid for not buying F350's.

Tevi

Big deal I have been to Europe a few times and never saw a LX but saw F350's.If you read my post I say its not a $20 to $30k better vehicle

DDLexus

I'm researching the LX, and genuinely wanted to learn what gas mileage people are getting in their LX. But, for some insane reason, people are here talking about a Ford F-series truck. Come one guys, start a new thread to do personal comparisons. This is pretty immature to say the least.

SC4Hundred

I get 13.5 MPG on average approximately 280-300 miles per fill up of 20-22 gallons.

intdiamond

iTrader: (2)

I've never gotten better than 15mpg. This includes plenty of highway road-trips. The majority of our '06 LX's miles (60K and counting) are logged in downtown Chicago, where I average 7-8mpg. For the first couple years I was convinced something was wrong, but by now have realized that this is typical for this behemoth. MPG aside, it's a wonderful vehicle as far as fit and finish, though I wish it had dual climate control, headlight washers and 50 more HP

zippinbye

15/19 is possible in a GX, but not everybody gets that. I make that statement at the beginning of a long-winded response to directly answer the original question in this thread. Now on to my rant ...

Well, I fell into the off-topic fray as you might see in my earlier post. But it was from the perspective of owning both Toy/Lex SUVs and Ford HD trucks. The thread hijacker (trevi) suggested a diesel Excursion gets almost twice the MPG as the GX 470. Based on my GX experience, that would mean an Excursion can get about 40 MPG in the best of freeway conditions at a slower cruise speed (65ish MPH). Or perhaps 30 MPG in town. If that were the case. I would be driving an Expedition. That info is bogus b.s. Since I have only had my 2005 GX 470 since September, I am quite interested in MPG and have tracked closely. Your initial post did not specify a year when you mentioned an expected MPG. Those numbers are low relative to the window sticker MPG from 2005 models. Those numbers are 15 city/19 highway. I believe those exact numbers stood solid for a few years, from the VVTi engine in 05 to perhaps until the GX 460 was introduced. They are real-world attainable. Freeway numbers are easier to compare between users, but city varies so much based on conditions that some qualification is necessary. I live in an area of Las Vegas that forces a mix of city/highway. We have freeways that basically run north/south and to an extent east and west. There is also a circular "beltway" that surrounds about 2/3 of the valley. I also drive on semi-rural surface streets that have stop signs, forcing stop-and-go driving regardless of traffic. And then there are the larger city streets with stoplights that vary in MPG impact based on traffic flow and luck. My driving is a mix of all these things, so my gut suggests my "city" driving profile is better than many, since I get some cruising on limited access roads. I go into this lengthy explanation to put my version of "city" into context. But here's what really matters; the average MPH, as indicated on the readout that most Lexus vehicles have. I get a consistent hand-calculated 16.2 MPG (unlike others on the forum, I find that number more less matches the on-board readout), and the typical average MPH on the readout is 23. That number is a big eye-opener. Even with what feels like a fair amount of time cruising at 65 MPH, all those stops, idles, and slower driving situations really drag down the average. So to get less than the listed spec of 15 MPG, I'm think your average MPH would have to dip below 20. I can get 19 MPG cruising at 65 on relatively flat ground. Bump it up to 75 MPH and throw in some hills (say a Vegas to So-Cal run) and 17 or so is the reality. So is this rig a gas hog? My V-6 Explorer got about the same MPG. V-6 Pathfinder, a bit better. V-8 Expedition was 13 city most of the time and 17 on the freeway on its best day ever, more like 15-16. The point being, a 6000 lb. luxury V-8 4x4 that gets 15/19 or something close to that depending on use is pretty decent in my view. The reality is that down-sizing to smaller 4x4 luxury SUVs might net a one or two mpg improvement; anything better is a cross-over or uni-body SUV that really does not bear comparison. As for the mystical high-MPG diesel Excursion, errr, I mean the real-world version, yes it can spank a GX and many truck-like vehicles that are powered by gas engines. But it's only a 10-15% spanking. That's about how much more diesel costs at the pump now, so do the math. Two arguments against the Excursion versus the GX; 1) if your in the market for one, you have different needs than a GX 470 could suit, and vice versa; 2) A diesel Prado would shame the big Ford by several MPG - again, realistic comparisons yield results that deflate some of the silly arguments made here earlier.

So again, 15/19 is totally possible. I rarely do better on the freeway. I routinely do better in my version of city driving. I have never done worse than the official 15 city rating. I believe others who have different results. Know your operating profile and try to forecast how you would do in GX compared to what existing owners report.

bwhitaker

The GX sounds nice, but is not what this thread is about. We did buy a beautiful 2007 LX470 about 2 weeks ago and it gave us 19 mpg on a 200 mile trip back from the dealership. That will probably not repeat itself, but it was nice to see. We have not had it long it enough to know about the in town mileage, but so far we love this thing. We previously had a 1998 Landcruiser and kept it for 10 years. All we ever did to it was put tires on it. Our 2002 SC430 has never been to the shop for anything but a battery. Lexus is a great vehicle and I know you guys on this forum agree.

cstu

Very impressive. I've only driven once on the highway for a long trip and that was when I bought it (Palm Springs to LA) but didn't think about checking the mileage. The best I've got driving in LA is 12 mpg, but that's with a fair amount of sitting in traffic. It's not great, but my previous car was a Jag that only got 14 mpg in town so I'm used to it.

RedGreen

I haven't calculated my city/town figures yet, but do have a data point for highway. This past Monday, I filled up the truck, more or less got on the highway and did a roughly 230 mile round trip. (Trip odometer read 204 at the beginning, 439 at the end). Filled her up again afterwards. The second fill-up required 13.49 gallons. That came out to about 17 mpg on a fairly hilly, curvy highway drive. (Even if you did a sensitivity analysis for errors with either the volume of gas or the mileage, it still comes up somewhere in the 17 mpg range.)


Considering its a '99 and Lexus claims 18 mpg (And the car makers claims are based on a very controlled testing environment), I can't say I'm disappointed. Most of my driving is highway anyhow, so I'm hoping that I won't have as much of the more harsh in-town mpg.

Hope this is somewhat helpful.

Nello3

Have you guys considered fuelly.com? It will give you true MPG based on miles driven and gallons needed to fill the tank.

The on-board computer in my old LX gauged the highway miles fairly accurately, but it was off with the city driving by a few MPG.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

I just got back from driving from new jersey, and through pennsylvania and our 2001 averaged 17.2 going a solid 75-80 the whole way, no cruise control. Keep in mind this is only the 4 speed, not the 5 speed, so i am not sure how much that affects mileage

TheCat1

I have getting as high as 13 mpg in city driving but sometimes get lower mpg in typical city traffic, on the highway I've gotten as high as 17 mpg and that's fully loaded with luggage and four passengers so you can expect about 15 to 16 mpg in normal highway driving as that is what I typically get in my 2007 LX470 with 34,500 miles on it using 91 octane.

V8_Fan

It depends on the terrain (flat or uphill), how much stop & go there is, the outside temperature, the gas, and how heavy your foot is. My all-time high was 20.5 mpg over a 1000 mile summertime road trip. I get the best fuel economy in AZ/NM in the summer when temps are in the 90's or higher. I guess some of it is the mixture is leaner, some is the fluids and engine don't really need to warm up. When it's cold, driving 100% city gives me around 14-14.5 mpg. When driving on the highways (hilly, 6000-7000 ft), I get around 17mpg keeping the speed down below 70mph. On the flats at 70mph, I can get around 18-18.5. This is running Chevron 91. If I run shell v-power, it drops by 2 mpg. The more ethanol your local gas contains, the worse the fuel economy. I used to drive from AZ to So. CA. Carrying exactly the same load on the same day, I consistently got 2 mpg worse on CA gas than AZ gas despite the sign on the AZ pump saying it contained "up to 10% ethanol." With CA gas, I *suspect* they are using ethanol to boost the octane from 87 to 91. Again, all gas was Chevron 91.

drewdogg80

I averaged around 13-13.5 mpg with 50/50 city/highway. Highest on road trip was around 15.5 mpg. I only use premium. Seems to fall in line with the rated 12/15mpg.