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i've had my 08 is350 for about 2 months now around 2100 miles. i drive around 98 percent street stop light to stop light. i average around 16 mpg. the highest ive gotten is 17.0 mpg with some freeway.
My roughly 80% city drive has returned 24.3mpg lifetime. If I interpolate the data using only city, I run about 23.2mpg
Mind you, I am a pretty laid back driver most of the time and drive rather casually, not on the gas. I also know how to maximize certain points of my city commute to return better than average aFE.
I get around 18 - 23 mpg tank to tank and all I do is city driving. In the summer it was usually 21 - 23 but now that winter has come 18 - 20 is more the norm since the car sits and idles a lot more and driving habits have changed.
In real heavy bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go traffic, snow mode is SO worth it -- not because of fuel savings so much as that it makes it much easier to drive the car smoothly.
The snow mode just makes the throttle less sensitive. so you dont accel so hard all the time.. correct me if im wrong guys./
The throttle is not sensitive in snow mode, the transmission also seems smoother on first gear like Bichon stated. It is noticable easier to drive in heavy traffic.