Jubane

I am in Chicago, city driving only I average 15-16mpg and city highway 18-19mpg, using premium fuel Shell V-power.

acerx300

Hey there just wanted to chime in on this subject, I too was aver. only 15-16 on city driving. So I went ahead and cleaned the MAF sensor w/ electronic cleaner from Radio Shack and now I'm @17-18 mpg. It's worth a try for you since you probably never done it to your vehicle.

salimshah

I sometimes wonder if miles/$ is a better number to pursue instead of miles/gallon.

RX can handle regular.

Salim

Lexwang07

I always use Chevron regular grade every week filled her up! I am getting 18.8 mpg! My RX300 2WD but still poor gas mileage!

Lexmex

I wonder if winter gas might be a culprit out there in CA.

miniround

my awd 2000 RX used to get 16.9/17.5 maybe around town...i mean if i went on the highway, it would say 22, but once you got back into town it went right back down.

lately i've been getting 19...and i havent changed my driving habits. it's weird. i'd say maybe the cold weather affects the gas...but i live in florida so! haha

salimshah

The formulation (additives) for gas are changed in winter time. Summer and winter gas is different.

Other slight difference is number of Oxygen molecules per intake stroke is more and combustion may be different if there was O2 starvation.

Salim

rx300mm

My 1st SUV,

Something to remember when comparing fuel in terms of gallons here, in Canada we formerly use the British imperial gallon = 1.201 US gallons (4.546 litres)

In the US they use "The US gallon" = 3.785 litres

Hope this helps.

My 1st SUV

Thanks all,

I've been getting consistent readings from summer to fall season slightly under 16 mpg. In the last 2 weeks, we had dump of snow and some below freezing evenings. The mpg did drop a little closer to 15 mpg.

I've been converting from L/100 Km to mpg (US) using onlineconversion.com. As I said earlier, I write down the mileage on each gas bill to manually figure it out. The screen shows slightly better mileage reading than actual.

Lexus.com advertises for 2002 RX:Fuel consumption 19/23 mpg (FWD)/18/22 mpg (4WD) city/highway. I have the 4WD version.

I think I will get the MAF sensor checked. I have been using PetroCanada grade 91, but I think I will switch to Chevron 91. Using 91 as a compromise between those who have debated on this board the merits of 87 vs 93/94.

salimshah

The advertised mpg number can be very misleading ... there is a talk about standardizing this number.

For now it is calculated based on a closed loop (flat) surface with constant speed and at a speed which gives the best mpg for the vehicle. So a lot of things must happen to hit that number. Real in-city driving will always be lesser than advertised.


Salim

toy4two

you can throw those old EPA MPG claims out the window. They don't even use gas in the test, and with the variety of boutique blends of gasoline you'll never get an exact number.

I've spent lots of money replacing things, cleaning things, and everything from spark to tire pressure. Don't waste your time/money, I think at best I increased my MPG .5 MPG.

Just drive it and don't let it bother you. The real killer is the new E10 gas mix and there is nothing you can do about that.

Francis

I have learned how to drive to save gas. That blue screen is very helpful. I always look at the information that shows my current MPG (not the average MPG). Sometime I got 12 ~ 15 on reading but if you know how to play with it, you can get 50 even 100 mpg. Just try it and let us know.

Francis 99’ RX, 110k miles, 21.4mpg (90% freeway + 10% city)

mckellyb

Winter gasoline formulation = oxygen added to the fuel

There is acutally less fuel, physically, in winter gasoline. It's like soda which is newly opened and very carbonated versus having been left out for three days and flat as a pancake.

Believe it or not, this is to curb the emissions of carburetted vehicles running on the choke excessively in the winter.

FWIW, the last carburetted auto was sold here in 1991. Ironically, it was the Subaru Justy. Ironic because you'd think it would be an American Land Yacht or a Yugo, or something to that effect.

I've seen winter fuel cost anywhere from 2-7 MPG, depending on the vehicle. My wife had an '83 Continental which got hammered on winter fuel. I can see the change in the '95 Intrepid, but it is not noticable in the '99Suzuki Grand Vitara we also have. I'm not certain about the RX, but I think it robs about 3 MPG on the highway. We just returned from a 1600 mi. RT from Vegas to Denver and managed 21.5 each way. Normally, I'd expect more like 24. I've seen our AWD RX, with the A/C on, get 26 tank after tank, as measured by the computer. The pump numbers jibe with it.

If you look around the gas pump, there should be a label stating the dates when the seasonal fuel formulation change occurs. IIRC, it's around November 1 and the change back is in late-March, though it might vary from place-to-place, as that would make logical sense.

Hold on, logic.... It doesn't vary based on location, that would be smart.

salimshah

Heard this on NPR today.
2008 models will have new milage stickers, which will be based on newer standard of measuring mpg .... expect to see lower mpg

Salim