skhatri

I have 2003 UL i am only getting around 15 mpg. some city and some highway. It only has 34k miles on it. Can someone tell me what should i do get the mpg up. Thanks.

lnguyenh

Easy on your gas and brakes. Don't put too much stuff on your car ... and another way to save 25% on your gas is

skhatri

Thanks. Should I have it check out by Lexus. Someone told me about changing air filter does improve it. Is that true.

CG lover

would certainly recommend checking the air filter if you do not know what the condition is or when it was last replaced,, easy to do,,

I usually run right at 27 mpg on the highway and around town in the high teens,,

when taking off I never go above the 2K line on the tack and when I see red lights coming I always coast to them,, these cars certainly do coast well if the tires are inflated to the recommended 33 lbs,,

never have tried the 3/4 tank of gas,, doubt that 30 lbs would mean much over-all in the figures,,

skhatri

that is really good mpg 27. one question. I was at chevron and i put he fuel supliment (sorry dont know the exact name of it) thing in the tank before i filled up the gas does that help improve mpg.

lexusthai

Do you usually get a rather low average speed?

If yes, what that's hurting your MPG is the low average speed. I get even worse than you, 11MPG in the city of New York, averaging about 9-12 miles per hour (for the whole tank). Then I posted this issue a while back in this forum and the concensus was the low average speed. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ight=Lexusthai

So I drove to Washington DC and Boston, both a 4 hour trip from Manhattan. And the mileage was perfectly normal 22-30 MPG depending on the frequency of my braking and accelerating.

It is probably normal, it's the stop-and-go traffic that hurts the MPG. Nevertheless, have your car checked anyway. I haven't had mine checked yet.

racinstyle

I get an avg of 19-20mpg, I think thats normal ..

Dr. Jekyll

iTrader: (1)

Like evryone said, sounds normal but it really depends on your style of driving. have the computer display the current MPG and you'll really see how low the mileage can get while on the gas and how high you can get coasting. Like CG lover said, these cars can coast for miles so take advantage of letting her roll around and baby the gas, you'd be surprised how far you can get on a level road without hitting the gas or brakes.

OBXTucker

I'm averaging 22.5 mpg per tank on my '01 w/ 44k miles. Oil and Filter changes every 5k and proper air pressure on the tires. I'm pretty easy on the car around town and average about 50/50 city/hwy driving.

daryll40

Here in the hills of Pittsburgh I get about 17 MPG...slightly less in the winter when I let the car warm up first. So your mileage at 15 is probably not too far off from norm. For reference my wife's Ford Explorer gets 13MPG with the same type of driving (and 87 octane versus the 90 octane I use in the LS430)

Roc3b

Yeah...definately check the tire pressure. Check the air filter, make sure your at least putting 89 octane in the tank if you cannot do 91 at every fill up. Run a cleaner through the injection system and make sure the fuel filter was changed at the first major maint point. You might be running lean and the motor could be starving a bit and sending more fuel to maintain the power band. Also just have the plugs pulled and inspected as well. That will tell you sure enough if your running fat or lean and thus affecting your fuel usage. I am assuming that your running stock wheels right?

skhatri

Hey everyone! I found out what the problem was. I bought this car when it had about 33k miles on it. I took it to lexus and they said looks like 30k service was never done. They did a free 28 point inspection. Since I bought it at vw dealership they didn't do a full service. But I was wondering $730 for 30k service is that too much?

daryll40

What makes you think that by merely doing the 30K service (basically "checks" and fluid changes) that your mileage is going to improve and that you've solved a "problem"?

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

Not unless your's is severely clogged (very unlikely unless the car has been driven in unusually dusty conditons a lot).

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

If you use a concentrated fuel system cleaner (such as adding a bottle of Chevron's Techron) you should change the engine oil soon after burning out fuel that has the high concentration of Techron. Some of the components in the more 'effective' fuel system cleaners will dramatically increase the viscosity of engine oil as they find their way into the oil via blow by and being 'washed' from the cylinder walls by engine oil. You're probably wondering if this is just internet myth, or what, so.... this info comes from a friend who is a renowned fuel additives expert (P.hD., 30+ years in the business of designing octane enhancers, fuel additive packages, etc.) who actually makes his living selling these types of packages, so he's not trying to bash them, just stating some of the 'side effects' of injector/fuel system cleaners that one really should accomodate.