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Gas Milage

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Old 12-19-06, 05:39 PM
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yummyutoo
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Exclamation Gas Milage

Reading some of your threads on gas milage, my RX 400H, 2007 gets approx. 22-24 mpg. That is no where near the 26-27 mpg. By no means do I baby it. But I don't alway's drive aggresively. Anyone have any comments?
Old 12-20-06, 04:34 AM
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larrytrk
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That's about what I get. Want less mileage use regular gas!!
Old 12-20-06, 07:54 AM
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Spinnaker
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Don't know the specifics of your situation, but short trips in cold weather (I see you are from Mass.) are mileage killers. Also, MPG is significantly enhanced when you are in traffic and moving at less than 20mph (on electric power principally) or if you are driving faster, you are able to accellerate to speed and then just feather the gas to maintain speed. Speeds over 65 also require much more gas to overcome wind resistance. If you are doing all of this already, there may some other issue.
Old 12-20-06, 02:50 PM
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davidsong
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Originally Posted by yummyutoo
Reading some of your threads on gas milage, my RX 400H, 2007 gets approx. 22-24 mpg. That is no where near the 26-27 mpg. By no means do I baby it. But I don't alway's drive aggresively. Anyone have any comments?
WOW!!!! You get 22-24mpg?? My 400 hybrid only gives me 16-18mpg. Wow, i gotta seriously change the way i drive now.
Old 12-20-06, 06:44 PM
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I get between 22-24 mpg and I don't drive the way you're supposed to to get good mileage. Most of my trips are 7 miles or less and almost never below 40. I tried premium but there was no improvement over regular.
One factor might affect gas mileage now besides the cold, is the "winter" gas. They have a different formula in NJ and probably in MA, too.
Old 12-20-06, 11:20 PM
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DennisL
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I've only driver about 1300 miles, but I've been getting ~ 26mpg, and a little more when I'm trying for mileage. A lead foot really lowers the mileage.

Dennis
Old 12-21-06, 02:15 PM
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oldcajun
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Originally Posted by yummyutoo
Reading some of your threads on gas milage, my RX 400H, 2007 gets approx. 22-24 mpg. That is no where near the 26-27 mpg. By no means do I baby it. But I don't alway's drive aggresively. Anyone have any comments?
Even some "agressive" driving will cut your mileage. Put up the power system display and watch what happens to your mileage when you accelerate hard. It helps to use this screen to learn what driving style helps mileage. The RX like most SUV's has a fairly high wind resistance, so higher speeds really cut into gas mileage. Slow down 5 mph and see how much fuel you can save. One thing that has helped my highway mileage is to drive ahead a bit. If I see some slow traffic ahead like a truck passing a truck, I begin to slow down early and coast a bit rather than drive right up to the slowdown and brake. The hybrid system can help some even on the freeway, but you need to help it by finding times that the car can operate on the battery. You did not say how many miles are on your RX, but mileage does improve a little as the vehicle gets more miles on the odometer.
Old 12-21-06, 07:26 PM
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herbvdh
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We had a RX400h as a loaner driving home I got 29 MPG then I decided what power do I have. I did a fast sporty turn and flew down the road my MPG sarted to decrease.The next day I had a 180 mile round trip doing 70MPH and sometimes 80 MPH I turned it in I got overall 27.5 MPG. Fast acceleration will kill your MPG.
Old 12-24-06, 12:17 AM
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yummyutoo
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I have approx 3600 miles so far on my 2007, 400H. I get about 300-330 miles between each fill up!
Old 12-24-06, 06:20 PM
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pulse & glide. That will get you the maximum mileage.

Of course P&G can't be done everywhere. Do NOT attempt P&G when there's moderate to heavy traffic cause that'll just **** people off.

P&G requires quite a bit of patience but honestly, if there was a car in front of you, you'll realise that you aren't that far behind (assuming that car is cruising at the pace you would've normally done). You're not "slow". In fact, on two occasions, because of the traffic light, I kept pace with him. He had to wait at the light while I glide towards it.
Old 12-26-06, 03:59 AM
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eleman73
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Default I get about 30MPG

Hello guys, I started to put 93 Octane gas, added Duralube engine tratment, and increase the tire pressure to 37PSI for my 2006 400H, and started to get 30 MPG avarage for both city and highway ( On Highway actually I get better about 31, 31.5) Of course I am trying to get best milage as I can. If I dont care it is about 28 or 29. I cant believe it, even in nice weathers I couldnt get those milages.
I dont know which one affected the MPG..
Thanks
Old 12-26-06, 01:51 PM
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jobber99
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we have 1300 miles on our RX, currently at 26.8 mpg
but we're in socal, where it's 75 degrees outside, and thus, no need to use the heater so much
we'll talk again when it's august and it's 103 degrees outside.
Old 12-28-06, 09:48 AM
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MadloR
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Default my 0.02 cents worth.

Originally Posted by eleman73
Hello guys, I started to put 93 Octane gas, added Duralube engine tratment, and increase the tire pressure to 37PSI for my 2006 400H, and started to get 30 MPG avarage for both city and highway ( On Highway actually I get better about 31, 31.5) Of course I am trying to get best milage as I can. If I dont care it is about 28 or 29. I cant believe it, even in nice weathers I couldnt get those milages.
I dont know which one affected the MPG..
Thanks
My personal opinion... I think the Duralube is doing nothing for you. I cannot believe that your engine is fighting that much friction to start with, that no "magic" oil or additive is doing anything more than draining your wallet.

I do believe increasing the tire pressure is reducing rolling resistance, and hence adding to better fuel economy (probably combined with the fact your being more cautious as well). I am not sure about the fuel octane, in terms of giving greater fuel efficiency. If anything, higher octane is slightly less volatile than lower octane. If anything, the higher octane may give better performance (aka more power), but not help in giving better efficiency in terms of requiring less fuel. The fuel difference would come into play when you mash the throttle.

My only concern with raising tire pressures is to not exceed the maximum tire inflation rating. Hence, make sure if you tires are rated at 44psi max, that you don't inflate the cold tire pressure to 44psi. Leave enough of a window for expansion. Better yet, find a garage that has Nitrogen, since nitrogen is less prone to increasing pressure due to heat aka expansion.

Cheers,

MadloR
Old 12-29-06, 10:32 AM
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We tried the premium route per Lexus' website recommendations and did experience an efficiency increase. I haven't done the math to figure out if the gas price is worth the mileage savings. As I recall it was about a 2 MPG increase over the same 120 mile route. It was 91 octane at a $.20 additional cost.
Old 12-30-06, 09:15 AM
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Originally Posted by MadloR
I am not sure about the fuel octane, in terms of giving greater fuel efficiency. If anything, higher octane is slightly less volatile than lower octane. If anything, the higher octane may give better performance (aka more power), but not help in giving better efficiency in terms of requiring less fuel. The fuel difference would come into play when you mash the throttle.

MadloR

The engine has a sensor to detect pre-ignition. If it is detected, the engine control retards the timing to prevent damage. If in using lower octane fuel, the engine control retards the timing, the power and mileage will be reduced. If no pre-ignition is detected, the engine performance will not be effected by the fuel octane rating. So far, on my RX400h, I have not seen any effect of octane rating. There is likely a variation from car to car on compression ratio and/or timing, so results may vary.
Steve


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