I am coming up on one month ownership of my 2011 CPO LS and I continue to be all smiles. I am a little disappointed in highway MPG - 23.5 on a Christmas 600 mile road trip, although the car was loaded heavily, but I was driving 70-75 MPH, all interstate.

One really nice thing that I have noticed is that I am getting cabin heat much quicker than in my previous (domestic) cars. It is almost like there is an electric strip heater, although I really doubt that is the case. Perhaps it is an effective thermostat that is diverting heated engine water to the heater core quicker. Anyone have a suggestion? Very nice feature, but I am wondering how Lexus does it.

 

I have only driven Lexus and Toyota vehicles for years. How the vehicles heat up is about the same in all of them. Other car brands I am not familiar with... As far as gas mileage, I get about 23 in mixed driving and over 30 on the open road with "cruise control" set. The cruise control can be a big difference in mileage. My typical driving on the highway is 70-75. But I do not accelerate quickly. I also use the "eco" mode. With winter blend gas the mileage on both of my vehicles drops about 1 to 1.5 mpg.

 

From my experience most Japanese engine designs are geared to a fast warm up cycle. I suspect it's for the emissions of the car rather then providing heat in the cabin as quick as possible.
On the BMW with the electric water pump it takes forever to get any cabin heat and the engine also takes a long time to reach operating temperature.

Toyota's D4-S direct injection technology takes it to another level by changing the injection profile to heat up the engine quickly as well. The more I study the engine tech it really puts these European car makers to shame.

 

Thanks for the info. First, I know for sure that I did not have the car in ECO mode for the road trip - forgot about it. I just got my owner's manual today and have been learning on my own for a month. So, perhaps that accounted for some of the reduced MPG.

Previous car was a Lincoln and it took forever to get heat inside. It makes sense that it is the engine warming up faster on the LS, although I get heat well before the temperature gauge goes upscale. Regardless, it is a welcome feature.

 

I would think soon as the engine is started the coolant temperature is increased quickly and is immediately pumped into the heater core in a closed circuit connected directly to the engine water jacket. Only when the temperature starts to rise the thermostat opens gradually into the bigger pool of coolant in the radiator.

Your Lincoln might get its heat post thermostat opening.

 

I've driven LS for 18+ years, and yes, they do heat throw heat into passenger compartment faster. Having just replaced a thermostat on a LS, I learned that the LS thermostat has a rubber internal seal that fully and completely closes off circulation to the radiator until the engine reaches operating temp. The t-stats that I'm familiar with in older domestic vehicles had a metal-on-metal seal, that allowed for some leakage of coolant from the engine and heater core side into the main radiator before the engine reached operating temp.

 

Glad to know that it was not my imagination.