skippy911

Hi all,

I consider myself to be a fairly slow driver but I still only get 18.2mpg (confirmed this on the little blue info screen). Any ideas what to check, change, etc to improve this? Ive heard of people having 20+mpg and would love to have that too. Only thing I have ever done on my rx300 is change the air filter and have the oil changed. I bought it used with 73k miles and now have 87k miles so I am sure there are somethings to check on. TIA

Tammy

Premium fuel ?

Your ninety thousand mile service will soon be due.

Refer to your owners manual and the supplement.

skippy911

I use regular unleaded. Does it really change the mpg that much if I use premium fuel?

Carver

So many variables, I use premium and get 17.3.

Lexmex

Fuel injector cleaner, like Techron.

HarrierAWD

In my experience, mid-grade gas gives me better gas mileage (22-23 vs. 24-25.) Premium gas didn't give me more gas mileage, but according to the manual, you can expect slightly better performance.

In stop-n-go traffic, there isn't much you can do other than try to drive as smoothly as possible. I used to get around 17 mph back in New York City.

skippy911

Forgive my ignorance but is techron something you put in with the fuel or do I have to actually remove the said parts to clean them. I am an IT guy and know little to nothing about the internals of a car

Lexmex

Into the gas. The concentrated stuff sold at like auto stores and WalMart is more powerful than when you pour in Chevron gas. I used this stuff regularly down here, though my gas is still a tad bit worse than the U.S. stuff.

Carver

Now were being forced to burn corn here in Texas, new law is 10% Ethanol which I'm sure pleases the ag lobby but it cost me almost 1 MPG on my last car after the law went into effect.

toy4two

I wish I could get that high. There is nothing wrong with that if you have AWD.

I saw my MPG drop about 2 MPG since we switched to the new Ethonol fuel here in California E10.

skippy911

I think I have 2wd. mine is a 2000 rx300. how can I tell??

herbvdh

Skippy911

If you get down on the ground in the rear you will have a roundish object dead center of the vehicle even with the wheels this will be about 30 or so inched in from the back bumper. This will be the vehicles rear end if you have front wheel drive this will not be there. If the roof line is about 6 foot off the ground chances are it is AWD. I sold the RX300 that I had to my son who sold it to my boss and got himself a GS300 AWD. Will add that he got about 18.5 on a gallon.

Lexmex

Strange thing. Usually I get by with 1/2 a tank of Premium per week to and from the office, and it has only gone half way between 1/2 and 1/4 tank. The only thing that has changed of course is the modification, so I will have to take a long-term examination, at least 1 MPG better for now.

HarrierAWD

You pour it into the gas tank, preferably before you fuel up so it can mix well with the gasoline.

Though Techron is just a "feel good" product in my experience. Among all the gas additives that I've tried on my last car, only the Chemtool B-12 worked as advertised.

No additive to my Lexus, ever. It runs just fine.

My 1st SUV

We have a 2002 RX 300 with 4WD in Vancouver Canada. We bought it at 50,000 miles this summer and it was in excellent condition with new Michellin tires. We have used 91 fuel only (from national fuel companies only) and the tire pressue is at 30 psi. We have taken off the roof rack, and don't keep any cargo in the back. My wife does about half highway and half city. Manual says mpg is suppose to be 18 City and 22 Highway.

The only disappointment so far is the mileage we are getting. We are getting less than 16 mpg. I am measuring using actual gas pumped and odometer readings. The screen in the console is not that accurate as it says we should be getting 16.6 mpg.

Any ideas or suggestions as to what else I should do before I bring it back to Lexus to check it out?