No chance the price of gas while high wouldn't compare to the cost of a new car. This new RX gets as good or better than the 98 Honda C-RV that I have to haul my dogs around in and it has so much more of everything.
Jeff

 

The MPG I get on my '04 RX330 FWD has pretty much mirrored the sticker on the window at the time of purchase. That running regular unleaded. Florida is flat and I rarely push the car hard nor tow anything. So, at this time I see no need to change or downgrade. Even if I were to downgrade all the way to something like a 2008 Honda Fit (27 city/34 highway) for full time driving I would save at most $750 per year at current gas prices of $3.75 a gallon. I calculate that at no more than eating out four nights a month for an entire year or a couple of new car payments I am not currently needing to make.

In a few years the next generation of more fuel efficient vehicles will start coming on the market to meet the new CAFE regulations. Perhaps by then I will have tired of my RX, it will need some expensive repair, and I will move on.

For now, I will stick with the hand I dealt myself.

 

If you need the room, loadspace, and softroad ability of an SUV, you aren't going to do much better than an RX for fuel economy. At an average real-world 19-24 MPG, my 330 is no gas sipper, but for a vehicle of it's capability, it's not bad. Trading a car to save a few MPG doesn't make financial sense. Your savings are immediately lost in the trade and taxes.

 

I'm getting 26-28 MPG highway out of my RX350. There's not another vehicle that will handle the wide range of missions I have that gets better gas mileage, especially since 95% of my driving is at highway speeds.

 

Hmmm, I posted last night and it never showed up. Wonder where it went.

Anyhow, here is the gist of my post.

I would venture a guess that if you totalled up the cost of your new fuel effiecient car, subtracted out the depreciated value of your trade-in RX and then did some math, that it would make sense. One of the car magazines did an article about this quite a while back and the author did his math. While I don't remember the actual numbers, he would have needed to drive his new car several hundred thousand miles and average better than EPA figures to have it make monetary sense. Oth, there is the "feel good" factor - you get a new car, you get better gas mileage, and you don't worry about people wondering what kind of mileage you get.

Or, you can slow down! Last Friday, my wife drove from Pittsburgh to Buffalo, set the cruise control at 60 mph. She got an indicated 30.X (maybe .3?) and then when she filled up, she got a calculated 28.6 mpg. YEP! That is right. Almost 29 mpg. Now, this is relatively flat and she didn't have to go off of cruise except to stop for coffee and a bathroom break. On the return trip, she got almost 27 mpg, but that was at 65 mpg. At first, I was extremely doubtful but you can't argue with her figures - miles driven, divided by gallons purchased.

Gary

 

Sold my RX350 yesterday night for $34,500 , had it for 16 months(purchase price when brand new for $37500, purchased it in a sales tax free state), loved it.So $3000 is not bad for 16 months .Used to get between 27 to 28 mpg on highways.

Recently I have been driving 90 to 100 miles per day on city roads (possibly for the next 1.5 yrs) and have been getting only 16 to 17.5 mpg and it will not work for me.Will be buying a Prius today which gives 48 to 51 mpg for city driving conditions.

Based on predicitions for oil to go as high as $200/barrel folks expect to pay between $4 & $6/gal.For now you may feel it is a nice suv(no doubt about that) and gives 20 to 25 avg mpg (cit/hwy).But once gas price reaches $5 /gal ,my gas bill would be $150 to $160/week and per month it would be $600 to $640/month. That is crazy. I will save the money and still continue to have my existing lifestyle without making sacrifices for gas to haul 1 person in a 3000+ pound vehicle.


I will wait out for 2 years and most probably by then we will have more choices like nice Hybrid/Hydrogen vehicles.
Recently I have seen GM/BMW hydrogen vehicles being tested on the streets of Los Angeles on a experimental basis and there are at present 18 test Hydrogen filling stations between Southern CA to Washingnton State.

Good Luck folks !!

 

High gas prices has been an issue for many years in Europe. when I was in London last year although London has narrow roads that cater for smaller cars there were tons of big SUVs. Most these were german built and using diesel. Even the smaller engines cars were using diesel (e.g VWs, BMW, Opel, Audi). With China & India's growth in wealth, there is major boom is purchasing cars, given that fuel supply is constant and enough once now there is more comsumption.
Until North America comes out with alternative/cheaper fuel we will need to consider our driving habits or compromise our standard of living. I still enjoy driving my RX and go for long drives .. conclusion, I will still be driving my RX but give long drives and take up biking for hobby.

 

Yes,it`s unfortunate the world had to go and change so much.

 

We bought the RX as a family road trip vehicle that could (hopefully) handle winters in Tahoe. We cross shopped other all wheel drive vehicles that were roomy enough for our purpose, and the Lexus was on top in terms of gas mileage and comfort...so we paid extra for it!

I am hoping to replace my current commuter with a small turbo diesel car in the next few years, provided we actually get the chance to buy one in this country.

 

The problem with Diesel in the US is they charge so much more for it, that it almost makes no difference in cost - where I am it was $4 when gas was $3, right now it is a little more than a dollar more, so it is 33% more. The average diesel VW or coming Benz and BMW's get's between 15 and 30% better economy, so it doesn't really save you any money. VW has some new diesel hybrid stuff coming out which will be in the mid 60's for mpg's, so then we will be talking!

 

The mileage isn't that big of a killer...it is the requirement to use Premium gas, at $0.20 per gallon more than regular. That is about $7 per tank. I know folks that own compact cars that are supposed to get great mileage. However, they tell me that can only achieve those results by driving solo, with no luggage or added weight. If you put 4 people in a Honda Fit, your mileage drops like a rock because the engine is having to turn much higher RPMs to achieve the same speed. My poor Son commutes every day from West Virginia to Washington, DC in a Ford Expedition (V-8). He says he watches the kids' college fund blowing out the tail pipe as he goes down the road.

 

every time I think of that, I look on the side at them 5+ liter trucks hauling nothing, then I am all good to go.
Last time I filled up, it was $56, then I looked at the next pump that some Chevy truck just pulled out, $81! Why do those guys drive empty 1/2 or 3/4 ton trucks around is beyond me.

 

The wife's been getting 340-350 mpg in her RX. That's pretty dang good for an SUV. We'd considered the GX but the fuel economy was the real clincher for the RX.

 

i feel for you. i drive 97percent on stop and go city streets. i almost do no highway driving. Acutally living here in so cal, even being on the freeway many times is like being a city street with heavy traffic on many freeways most of the day and night. i usually average around 12-14 mpg. as such i usually fill up 1.5-2 times a week. each fillup costs around 62-65 dolalrs a full tank. im spending around 90-120 dollars a week in gas. i would have got rid of this car (2005 RX330) a long time ago, but unfortunely it is leased by my company for my use. absolutely garbage MPG for a car that only has 230hp. and before anyone flames me or tries to start something with me, this is my true mpg and my opinion.

 

I wish we would have got that type of mpg -- 340-350 mpg .No need to fillup for months.