DunWkg

When you say, "...Lexus refused to help...", do you mean the dealership or have you gone further up the food chain? I know it's a pain, but have you called or written customer service? Failing there, have you tried Lexus' Facebook page?

My service advisor goes the extra mile, but one issue he involved the "regional" service manager. He was helpful too and the issue was resolved between the three of us.

DunWkg

I don't think it ever hurts to start a paper trail. If the problem goes away, the last piece of the trail should be a letter thanking all involved for their help and assistance.

Bradan

don't worry your mileage will get better. with my RX450H at first I got like 22-24. Now it up to 29-30.

kkaufman

Thanks for the reply. It is obvious it is a good car and my experiences are with a lemon of sorts. Just wish Lexus would acknowledge or take the car for a full diagnostic. No luck yet.

ecub

What are your road conditions? Are there allot of hills, requiring you to always accelerate uphill? I was worried about my mpg when I first read your post, after getting my new 2011 RX450h, but after putting about 120 miles on it, I getting around 28.2 mpg.

UCSB

kkaufman ... when/if you discover what is wrong with your car, please come back and post. I suspect it is something that would be nice to know for other 450h owners like myself. I would contact Lexus USA directly and see if you can get their help or a possible swap for your car. In addition to the 450h, I also own a Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited. A small number of 2010/2011 Outbacks developed a suspension shake. Initially Subaru was at a loss about the cause. Eventually they made progress on the problem. In the end, Subaru repaired or bought back (or exchanged) all of the defective cars. Mine was not one of them, but it is an example of how difficult to isolate problems can be handled. Subaru sent their own national level tech's to the individual dealerships to perform the repairs.

grt62

I was disappointed with mileage in my 450h when I first had it in 4/11, as it averaged about 21.5 MPG to begin with. As others have stated, the mileage should improve as the car breaks in. At about 1900 miles now, and averaged 26.5 on last tankful. Each tankful after the first two has shown improvement. I'm sure it would be even better, but I live in one of the highest points in my town, with long hills no matter which approach I take. No long trips yet, though I will be driving it to Florida in October, so I don't know what the long trip highway mileage will be. Try to hang in there, your mileage should improve. I use 89 octane gas all the time, and have set it to ECO mode for the last 3 tankfuls.

Evitzee

What really can the dealer do? The car seems to be working correctly (no lights or warning on your dash panel), so it would be reasonable to assume that it is your driving style. Maybe you are trying too hard to squeeze mileage out of a $60k luxury purchase. It just seems odd that people will pay this kind of money for a hybrid and then drive it in hypermileage mode to squeeze a little extra mileage out of a gallon. Boring. If a large portion of your enjoyment of this vehicle is tied up in how much milege you get you'll probably be disappointed and miss out on really enjoying the luxury aspects of your purchase. Relax and enjoy the experience and quit worrying about the mpg for awhile. A watched pot never boils.

trischulte

I have had my new rx450h for 3 days now and under city driving, econo mode, my average mpg went from 22 to 17.5. Odometer is at 125 mi. What's going on? Did I get a lemon? I plan to take it back to the dealer tomorrow!

UCSB

This is what I would do:

Warm your car up. Then pull over and set your information display to AVERAGE. Press the information display toggle on steering wheel down until the AVERAGE resets to 0.0. Then drive around normally, using a light pressure on the gas pedal. You might want to drive in your socks for a light touch. Drive 10 or 15 miles carefully. You should see an average of 24 MPG or better. If not, take the car back to the dealer.

GoHuskers

WAIT!!!!

Did you just fill up your gas? For 3 days and 125 miles your car is TOO new. It will get much better. I have owned both the 350 and 450h and I think the 450h is truly getting it EPA numbers. For the last 4 tanks, each tank I average about 29-29.2 mpg in AWD.

Take your time and enjoy it.

joenew61

Just for another data point - I am on my fourth tank of gas on a new 2012 450H, AWD and the successive MPG has been: 26.5, 27.4, 28,4, and now 29.5 all from the on board computer, and the first three tankfulls were all within .2 based on actual consumption.

I am in ECO mode, do keep an eye on the meter, and on the highway stay between 60 and 65, unless going downhill.

currybob

I think kkaufman has a reasonable complaint if the vehicle he purchased is not living up to the advertised levels.

I don't care if I spend extra money to be economical on a luxury vehicle or not, I would expect, within a reasonable level, it to perform within those parameters. kkaufman reads what many of us are getting and looks at his driving style and his external issues that may affect MPGs and feels his is low because of some issue he may be having with his vehicle and was not satisfied with the responses he got from Lexus.

I think he was just looking to us for ideas and suggestions and many of the post are very useful information and ideas and kkaufman I hope you continue to seek answers from Lexus and let us know if or when you get satisfaction or find a solution.

Bob

Traveler1

kkaufman, did you try to borrow the other RX450h from your dealer? I did it, and I found the dealer's was better MPG and better-accelerated than mine, applying the same "my driving habit".

Second, I feel sorry that the dealer and the call center did not help you.
I've met the same situation after my trial, they couldn't specify the problem. What I did was getting TaSCAN computer (TOYOTA's vehicle testing tool) and check its status. I found the gravity sensor value was incorrect. The HV ECU (Hybrid Vehicle Computer) monitors road slope, to reduce power on downhill and to increase power on uphill, I believe. On the flat yard, it showed "downhill", and I additionally check the bank on a hill from both side, and the absolute values are not the same!. So that I initialized zero point of gravity using TaSCAN. After then, I've been getting 28-35MPG. Now easy to control running without using ICE.

I hope your dealer assists the process for you!!!

Cruiter

I'm not sure what the disposition with kkaufman was. He hasn't posted since last July so I'm giving thought to closing this thread unless he pops in. Any thoughts from the troops ???