Hello to all!! I am new to this site and was hoping to get some feedback from other RX owners.
I have had my RX since the beginning of November, presently have almost 3000 miles on it. Most of my driving is around town with a bit of highway thrown in. I work approx 5 miles from home, so my commute is at around 40mph average. So far I have been very dissapointed in the gas mileage. I am averaging about 14MPG! I am not just checking the on board computer, but I usually note the mileage at each fillup and the amount of gas I take. I've tried a couple tanks of premium 91, but to no avail. My 99 Pathfinder got better mileage, which is a real suprise as I thought that car was a real pig on fuel. The highest mileage so far has been a one hour each way highway cruise where I averaged almost 20MPG. I took the car in at the 1K service and the service dept reset the mileage computer saying maybe that's why it was rwading low. It now reads a few mpg higher, but each time I refill the car, the math still comes out the same - mileage driven divided by gallons taken equals still around 14-15 mpg.
One of the selling points of this car was the gas mileage of 18-22 MPG and I seem to be getting considerably less. But I did get a nice umbrella from the service dept
Any others with similar gas mileages???
thanks!
jeff

 

At my last fill up it took 17.8 gallons for the 348.7 miles travelled which is 19.589 mpg. Trip computer was pretty accurate. Driving was mixed highway and local but with no real stop and go. Avg trip was at least 15 - 25 miles. I have a 2002 with a K&N airfilter and have been driving in the frigid weather here in New Jersey.

 

Jeff:

Yes, it's true.....the actual fuel mileage that you will probably receive is considerably lower than the "estimated" 18 to 22 miles per gallon listed on your window sticker. We have a 2001 RX 300 with approx. 23,000 miles. I've taken the vehicle back to the dealer 3 times to "complain" about the poor gas mileage. The service folks each time have told me that they checked the vehicle's computer system and that it is functioning correctly. They have also told me that I'm getting the mileage that everyone else is getting. One service person had indicated that the actual mileage should be 16 to 24 MPG (I never saw that listed on my window sticker). I've never received anything near 24 MPG....more like 17 MPG and below. They also advised that I use a higher octane fuel (the Plus version not the premium). Well we just completed an experiment. Note: the vehicle's manual indicates to use at least 87 Octane fuel....so regular is O.K. and we were told this by our salesman. Actually, he told us that this was the only Lexus that used regular gas.

Previous to the experiment, using 87 Octane (Regular) fuel since ownership, we averaged 16.9 MPG with an average MPH of 28.4 (suburban & highway driving). We then ran the fuel tank as low as we dared and filled up with 92 Octane (Premium) fuel...we then continued with 89 Octane(Plus) and after 2 tank fulls of Plus we started the test. Well 3,000 miles later, using 89 Octane fuel we are averaging 17.3 MPG with an average MPH of 27.6. Still well below the "20 MPG" average (based on the estimated sticker value) that we had expected. We were told to also expect better performance. We noticed nothing in the way of better pick-up. Maybe they meant better internal engine cleanliness.

To put it politely....I think we both bought "gas guzzlers".

Regards,

Mike

 

Well, I have a '99 and after the first 5000 miles it settled down to about 18.5 MPG. Mostly short drives (3 mile) to and from work with a little bit of 30 mile round-trip shopping!. Give it a couple of thousand more miles. If you're still only getting 13mpg, you might want to have it checked out - that is pretty poor!

 

We've had our 2000 AWD since mid-December, and are averaging 20.6 mpg with mixed driving conditions. We averaged 22.6 on a recent 200 mile trip, including some mountain roads. Can't say what we get for all city driving as we usually drive a good bit of highway miles with each tank, but I do agree that your mileage sounds "suspect", and should probably be checked.

 

I was also worry about the gas mileage of my RX because I paid 30 buck to fill up my RX this weekend. I reset the clock to see how many mpg I could get. I was like a Buick driver with 65 mph and was doing 90% freeway and 10% city. And I’ve got 23 mpg, cool ah! But that was exceptional. I usually have 21.1 mpg with 75~80 mph on freeway. If you are doing 100% or 90% city, 14~15 mph seen ok.





Francis 99' RX FWD 52k miles

 

14-15 mpg - that sounds a bit low.
On the other hand, you probably has a AWD which i am not familiar.

My wife has a 03 RX300 with only FWD (lucky to live in California).
She was averaging 18.9-19.0 mpg (both trip computer and hand calculation) when
she was doing mostly city driving.
She is now doing about 19.5 with mix of city and highway (still
mostly city in term of time but not mileage).
And yes, we put in the cheapest gas that we can find
(meaning Arco or some no name brand with 87 octane rating).

When i first bought the car, i drove about 400 miles on California's I5.
I was averaging around 24.4 mpg (when i do > 80 mph). I was averaging
a little over 25 mpg when i was doing 60-65 mph (nobody drives
that slow on I5 ).

 

Here in Mexico City, 8,000 feet up and bad (I mean bad air), and lots of hills with stop and go driving, I get between 14 and 15. When I have taken the RX to either Acapulco or Veracruz, it goes to between 17 and 19 (sea level). Add to that, that I am always flooring the gas.

 

'03 RX300 with 1800 miles averaging 14.5 mpg mostly in town trips of 1-3 miles. Road trip this weekend at 65 mph avg 22 mpg for 250 miles. Was told should improve at 5000 miles.