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Hybrid TechnologyUnique topics related to the 2016 up RX450h model hybrid drivetrain and other features/options found only on the RX450h. Please use the main forum for discussion about shared components with other fourth generation RX models.
@gadgetman1 I can't possibly know your driving habits or conditions and I don't doubt there are people who can't get close to the EPA rating, but because you can't get the advertised MPG you accuse others who do a hogwash. I've owned 4 Lexus hybrids, still have 2 (the other being a CT). I routinely get 10% or more over the EPA estimate. I will say that if I constantly drive aggressively, yeah MPG will tank. Funny you mention Tesla. I also have one, a dual motor. In spring and summer time I average 220Whr per mile, which beat the 310 mile rating which is based on 240Whr/mile. In the winter time it takes a huge hit because of the resistive heating system, going to 300 or more watt hour per mile.
CT200h:
I’m not saying you haven’t achieved your said mpg. What I am saying is you portray this as the norm & it’s far from it. There is another guy claiming 40+ mpg on here & I flat out don’t believe that. No one else has chimed in stating they have matched that ridiculous mileage. The Fuelly data proves this. The Fuelly data is lower than what the EPA claimed mileage. My mpg falls right in the median of all the 450h models listed. I’m not an aggressive driver. I set the cruise & go down the road. Texas is the largest land mass state in the lower 48 states. Speed limits are higher. I’m happy you are able to achieve such a great number, but most of us never will.
I’m not saying you haven’t achieved your said mpg. What I am saying is you portray this as the norm & it’s far from it. There is another guy claiming 40+ mpg on here & I flat out don’t believe that. No one else has chimed in stating they have matched that ridiculous mileage. The Fuelly data proves this. The Fuelly data is lower than what the EPA claimed mileage. My mpg falls right in the median of all the 450h models listed. I’m not an aggressive driver. I set the cruise & go down the road. Texas is the largest land mass state in the lower 48 states. Speed limits are higher. I’m happy you are able to achieve such a great number, but most of us never will.
Mobob's already admitted more than a few times his 40+ mpg runs are not from normal commutes. It's to show what the RXh is capable of if you really do hypermile.
You keep mentioning that 30+ mpg is not the norm, yet in this thread alone, there's already more than a few people who are easily beating the EPA estimates. One of them's from TX too. Granted, most people who post on here would be more of an enthusiast compared to the average person; but it's still a good indication of real world mileage when we are aware of the capabilities of the hybrid and take advantage of it.
First post here. PriusV owner looking to purchase RXH. Just want to point out tires are an important part of gas mileage. I went 70,000 miles on my original tires averaging 50 miles city driving. Since changing out my worn tires mileage has dropped 10 percent. Point being, make sure you research what tires you are riding on.
There were approximately 7 miles uphill in that 19.1 miles. I was aiming for the best MPG to date. I did the same course in July and the best I got was 44 MPG for the same 19.1 miles. Tires were 33 PSI front/rear. On the July 4th weekend, I drove the from LA to Vegas and got 27.8 MPG going 85-90 MPH for 284 Miles! To add, I had a quarter tank left.
So I had a very strange instance last night that I can’t explain & I’d really like an explanation. My 450h was in the shop (again) to check various things that magically couldn’t be duplicated, such as the following:
1) XM Radio cuts out constantly when near a cell tower - won’t do it in Dallas, Austin or San Antonio, but it’s constant when away from those cities.
2) Exhaust buzzing from the rear when the weather is cooler & traveling at below 30 mph - temps were in the high 90s & it wouldn’t buzz.
3) MPG is consistently lower than what some of you are reporting. The best MPG seems to come from Top Tier regular unleaded, NOT premium. No explanation, no codes, no knock registry - it’s a mystery.
4) Rear cupholder is STILL broken (last dealer supposedly fixed it). I was told that Lexus will not repair the cupholder (under warranty & no one sits back there!!)
5) iPhone XR stops communicating with car when using Google Maps - Software glitch in Apple software, but you can’t charge your phone & use Bluetooth at the same time - car gets confused...GEEZ!
So, NOTHING got fixed according to the service advisor, except testing & the car was cleaned up. They said they could replace the cupholder for $250!!��.
Here comes the weird part; I left the dealer & filled up with Valero 87 unleaded & reset my trip computers as always. On the way home, my dash readout exceeded 30 mpg at 70 & 75 mph! WTH?! Once I hit the hills & turns of the Hill Country, the mpg rolled back to about 28, but that’s still the best EVER! What happened? The dealer claimed they didn’t do anything, but why did my mpg suddenly spike? I’m not complaining, but none of this makes any scientific sense. I can’t get Valero fuel anywhere near me, but I have been using Shell & Chevron (only Top Tier fuel available). I didn’t do anything different with my driving; if anything, I may have been a bit more aggressive with North Austin traffic than I would be when driving at home. Answers anybody?
Do you think it might be possible that they may have run a diagnostic on your cars computer and even though "they" didn't do anything, some setting may have been adjusted? It has always seemed curious that your mileage was lower than average just because you appear to pay attention to your driving, which should optimize results. The only other possibility, and this seems silly, that there is some kind of gas additive in your local area. But everyone else around you would be suffering lower mileage if that were the case.
That’s kind of what I was thinking, but scientifically speaking, doesn’t answer the questions. Austin elevation can vary by 500 feet or more, but my elevation is about 500 feet more than them. That shouldn’t make that much of a difference, as we don’t have any mountains in this part of Texas, just lots of flat with some hills thrown in to make it interesting. Perhaps the Lexus computer is so bad that they “cleared” the memory out & that allowed it to use new data? Just a guess...
That’s kind of what I was thinking, but scientifically speaking, doesn’t answer the questions. Austin elevation can vary by 500 feet or more, but my elevation is about 500 feet more than them. That shouldn’t make that much of a difference, as we don’t have any mountains in this part of Texas, just lots of flat with some hills thrown in to make it interesting. Perhaps the Lexus computer is so bad that they “cleared” the memory out & that allowed it to use new data? Just a guess...
Are you the original owner? I just ask because mine was a CPO and the habits of the previous driver lingered in the system - at least in some of the historical data.
Maybe something got cleared out or reset that has to do with engine performance? Will likley be impossible to know for sure....hope whatever it is stays around!
Are you the original owner? I just ask because mine was a CPO and the habits of the previous driver lingered in the system - at least in some of the historical data.
Maybe something got cleared out or reset that has to do with engine performance? Will likley be impossible to know for sure....hope whatever it is stays around!
Yes, but it was a dealer demo with 4,000 miles when I bought it. I now have 27,000 miles.
Mobob's already admitted more than a few times his 40+ mpg runs are not from normal commutes. It's to show what the RXh is capable of if you really do hypermile.
You keep mentioning that 30+ mpg is not the norm, yet in this thread alone, there's already more than a few people who are easily beating the EPA estimates. One of them's from TX too. Granted, most people who post on here would be more of an enthusiast compared to the average person; but it's still a good indication of real world mileage when we are aware of the capabilities of the hybrid and take advantage of it.
This is my monthly average from May-October. RX450h does have the capability to reach high MPG. It all depends on weather, traffic conditions driving styles etc. I claim that RX450h is definitely capable to reach high MPG, it doesn’t mean everyone can do it. I don’t expect everyone to believe it either. The purpose of this forum is to share information among members.
all of my past records are 20mpg , towing a aluminum motorcycle trailer doing 8 over per gps speed. (usually 78 mph) averaged under 19 mpg for 1300+ miles to arkansas and back. 60's mph in construction zones gets me to mid 20's per the minute by minute display. adaptive CC set, i have tried normal and eco, not sure if i see much difference, the last trip was eco. the last time the car went more than 30 miles was back from north carolina, close to 1200 miles in 1 day, that was a few weeks ago. last tank on that run showed 17s for mpg.
all my other trips are around town, but guessing the mileage would be very good if unloaded, and got rid of the hitchhikers, lol
average around town "since last fill up" is mid to upper 20s
my past records are 20mpg , towing a aluminum motorcycle trailer doing 8 over per gps speed. (usually 78 mph)
all of my past records are 20mpg , towing a aluminum motorcycle trailer doing 8 over per gps speed. (usually 78 mph) averaged under 19 mpg for 1300+ miles to arkansas and back. 60's mph in construction zones gets me to mid 20's per the minute by minute display. adaptive CC set, i have tried normal and eco, not sure if i see much difference, the last trip was eco. the last time the car went more than 30 miles was back from north carolina, close to 1200 miles in 1 day, that was a few weeks ago. last tank on that run showed 17s for mpg.
all my other trips are around town, but guessing the mileage would be very good if unloaded, and got rid of the hitchhikers, lol
average around town "since last fill up" is mid to upper 20s
my past records are 20mpg , towing a aluminum motorcycle trailer doing 8 over per gps speed. (usually 78 mph)
How much does your motorcycle trailer weigh when loaded like your picture shows? Your trailer looks really light, but I have no idea how much your bikes weigh. My trailer is enclosed & pulls the mpg down to low teens. This is definitely not a good towing vehicle. I looked at the new 2020 Explorer Platinum & ST. Holy cow that thing is fast!! It gets decent mpg also. Ford has their drivelines figured out, but the Explorer is nowhere near the quality of the Lexus inside the cabin. The Explorer had lots of hard plastic everywhere & cost $60k!! I’ll keep the 450h for now, but I certainly won’t be towing to Sturgis with it.
I agree! Disappointed in mileage and don't know what to do to improve it. Had our 2018 RX450hL for just over 1 year now and don't even get close to rated city mileage. Best we've ever gotten is around 24 MPG with combined city and freeway. If mostly city driving it drops even lower to around 22 MPG. Did a 400 mile mostly freeway trip once and got over 30 MPG so that was good. Can't complain about 22 MPG since our previous Acura MDX only got around 18 MPG but it drives me crazy to see all these posts about getting over 30 MPG city driving. I've tried ECO mode which is a joke. You end up just pushing harder on the gas to get out of people's way. If I really try to baby this car, keep the needle out of the "power zone" as much as possible I can see a little improvement but end up getting honked at and run over by other drivers....not fun. Also, some folks have said the mileage will improve with time....haven't seen that, not my experience yet.
KodaRX450h, how many miles do you have on your 450h? I had a Toyota Tundra 4.7 V-8 brand new & it got between 13-15 mpg driving it off the lot to two long trips. I took it back to the dealer complaining about the mpg. They told me not to worry, as soon as I got a lot more miles on it, mpg would go up. They were right. After about 5,000 miles, the mpg jumped to 15-16 mpg & after 10,000 miles it jumped to 18-21 mpg. That’s a hellova difference! I presently have almost 28,000 on my 450h. It has increased slightly in the last 4,000 miles.
Anyone can say their vehicle can get 30-40 mpg. There are stories of Corvettes getting 40 mpg, but that’s NOT typical or normal. The fact that so many on this forum are getting such a varied difference in mpg, means it’s not consistent with the EPA estimates that are totally unreliable. I would love to see class action lawsuits, going after manufacturers who claim unrealistic fuel mileage. It’s not that difficult to find the national averages & advertise those numbers, because they are consistently repeatable. The guy on here that clams 40+ mpg might be able to replicate his mpg in his car, but put him in a different car of the same model & I doubt he could duplicate his mileage. Duplication is what seals a scientific study with accuracy. The majority of folks on here are getting mid twenties with their 450h. There are a few higher & a few lower, but the larger population is in the middle.
KodaRX450h, how many miles do you have on your 450h? I had a Toyota Tundra 4.7 V-8 brand new & it got between 13-15 mpg driving it off the lot to two long trips. I took it back to the dealer complaining about the mpg. They told me not to worry, as soon as I got a lot more miles on it, mpg would go up. They were right. After about 5,000 miles, the mpg jumped to 15-16 mpg & after 10,000 miles it jumped to 18-21 mpg. That’s a hellova difference! I presently have almost 28,000 on my 450h. It has increased slightly in the last 4,000 miles.
Anyone can say their vehicle can get 30-40 mpg. There are stories of Corvettes getting 40 mpg, but that’s NOT typical or normal. The fact that so many on this forum are getting such a varied difference in mpg, means it’s not consistent with the EPA estimates that are totally unreliable. I would love to see class action lawsuits, going after manufacturers who claim unrealistic fuel mileage. It’s not that difficult to find the national averages & advertise those numbers, because they are consistently repeatable. The guy on here that clams 40+ mpg might be able to replicate his mpg in his car, but put him in a different car of the same model & I doubt he could duplicate his mileage. Duplication is what seals a scientific study with accuracy. The majority of folks on here are getting mid twenties with their 450h. There are a few higher & a few lower, but the larger population is in the middle.
Thanks gadgetman1 for your insight and comments. Regarding miles...I currently have a little over 12,000 miles on my 2018 450h. I hope I see some improvement with more miles but not counting on it. I do believe that, as you put it, the EPA estimates for this vehicle (2018 RX450hL) are totally unreliable. What really "erks me" is that the EPA estimated mileage for this vehicle was a big reason why I choose it over others. Now I'm having buyers remorse. The Lexus dealer even told me (when I complained about the mileage) that the window sticker numbers were EPA estimates, Lexus has no control over it, try ECO mode...BS!! I also own a 2016 Honda CR-V and mileage numbers I consistently get with it are dead on the numbers on the window sticker for that vehicle.
09-28-19, 07:54 PM
, towing a aluminum motorcycle trailer doing 8 over per gps speed. (usually 78 mph) averaged under 19 mpg for 1300+ miles to arkansas and back. 60's mph in construction zones gets me to mid 20's per the minute by minute display. adaptive CC set, i have tried normal and eco, not sure if i see much difference, the last trip was eco. the last time the car went more than 30 miles was back from north carolina, close to 1200 miles in 1 day, that was a few weeks ago. last tank on that run showed 17s for mpg. 
