I just returned from my first trip in my 2005 RX 330, which gave me an opportunity to more accurately assess my fuel consumption. I have 1,000 miles on the car, so you might conclude I'm still in the break-in period, if there is such a thing with today's advanced engines. I've attempted to summarize my calculations below. Note: The highway trips were about 3 1/2 hours in duration and were made with the A/C on. In addition, the car was fully loaded on the outbound and return trips, probably adding a couple of hundred pounds to the mix. Another observation is that the computer calculated MPG was slightly (0.7 mpg and 0.5 mpg) higher than the numbers below, which were hand calculated for greater accuracy.

Highway Driving to Bethany Beach
Miles: 149
MPG: 21.4

Local Driving in Bethany Beach
Miles: 72
MPG: 18.2

Highway Driving from Bethany Beach
Miles: 141
MPG: 23.7

Steve

 

We just completed a 600 (approximately) trip covering 3 mountain passes all over 4k feet in altitude. Overall trip average was 24.1 MPG. I've got just over 3k miles on the RX thus far. Average speed (as shown on the trip computer) was an indicated 56.8 MPH. Filled up with regular gas (87 octane). We went from Bellingham (Washington State) South to Everett (Freeway) over Stevens Pass (Hwy 2 – two lane) to Wenatchee, from there North on 97, and West over the North Cascades (two mountain passes) Most of the driving was two lane roads.

Couldn't be more pleased with the comfort, performance and the mileage.

 

Hey Steve,

looks like you didn't do half bad. th 330 is the better of the SUVs in gas (besides the other reasons why its good).

remember at least you don't have to fill premium!!

 

I bought my RX330 AWD in April, here are my fuel related observations with 8k miles on the vehicle...All mileages with 91 octane, 87 octane reduces mileage by 10%.
Hard stop and go city driving...14mpg
Easy stop and go city driving...17mpg
80mph highway driving...20mpg
70mph highway driving...24mpg
60mph highway driving...29mpg (hand calculated on a 240 mile drive where I did everything I could think of to maximize mileage...never exceeded 61mph, never exceeded 2000rpm when accelerating, no a/c, etc.) I was very impressed with what's possible, I just couldn't drive that way.
On my first refuel, my indicated remaining mileage was 220 miles, that has slowly increased with time to 360 miles. Agree with others, about 3 gallons remain when remaining mileage indicates zero.

 

Stealthman,

I appreciate your detailed mileage analysis. The 29 mpg is very suprising, although I admit I could never drive this car for 240 miles and not go over 61 mph ... the car rides so smoothly that I do 60 just pulling out of my garage. :-) Only kidding, but it cruises at 75 without any effort or road noise.

I feel a lot better seeing your hard stop and go driving numbers because that's what I'm seeing, too. All in all, I'm very pleased with the car and have not had any problems necessitating a trip back to the dealer. My only hesitation from giving this car a "perfect" rating is the third tier navigation and bluetooth implementations, which are discussed in another thread.

Thanks for your comments.

Steve

 

.... this is all most interesting.

Over the first 700 miles or so in my RX400h I have averaged around 32mpg with a mix of London (slow!) driving and motorways.

Probably about 50:50 urban : motorway on average .

That's quite an improvement on what most you guys seem to be getting

I usually use 'Optimax' - Shell's premium unleaded petrol.

All the best,

Martin

 

Is that mpg European gallons or American gallons?

 

Ah. Good question. That's UK (imperial) gallons.

That makes my improved MPG less impressive, right?

Martin

 

Seems that everyone get better gas mileage than me?!?!?!!

I drive mostly city and when I fill up the tank, the computer reads (the highest I have seen) 272 miles until empty.... This is using 89 octane fuel.

 

I just saw on the news that the RX400h has been getting terrible mileage, almost exactly the same as the 330.

 

Yes, that's correct. It's been a while, but if my math is correct, take 80% of your mileage to convert.

Steve

 

Can't believe this, but I've gotten in my last 100 miles, getting 30.2 MPG in LA driving, about 75% freeway driving!

Crazy. This is in a RX400h. Pretty happy with this, when I first bought the car I was getting 23mpg, then it went to 26mpg.

After changing the wheels (saving 10 pounds per wheel over the stock 26 pound wheels) and lowering the car, it's been going up for the last few tanks to the current 30.2 MPG.

If I can average 30+ MPG I'll be very happy. Have about 3000 miles on the car now. Love the RX400!

 

My wifes 330 sucks in town. Only 16mpg! and maybe 19-20mpg on the highway. I wonder if the o2 sensor is bad or something is wrong.

 

Our gas hog 2000 Yukon XL (like a Chevy Suburban) with 5.3 liter V8 gets 22 mpg with the cruise control set to 65 mph. If the RX330 only gets low 30's at a few mph faster, Toyota ought to be ashamed of themselves. RX ought to get at least 25-27 mpg at 70 mph.

 

That should have been "If the RX330 only gets low 20's at a few mph faster, Toyota ought to be ashamed of themselves. RX ought to get at least 25-27 mpg at 70 mph."

In fact, our 2004 RX330 gets 14.5 mpg in suburban/city driving (not stop and go mid-city type driving) and 24.5 mpg with the cruise set to 69 mph. I call that pretty mediocre. That's all with the transmission selector in the over-drive position.

I recently noticed that the city mileage MAY be slightly better with the transmission in the "4" position (locking out over-drive). If you leave it in the OD position the transmission does use it even at low speeds and that may lug the engine causing worse mileage.