kwbuggy

Just made the 1260.8 mile trip from the home of Canadian built RXs to Florida in our 2011 RX350. We came down I 79/I 77/I 26 and I 95 after crossing into the USA through Buffalo. Weather was good the first day, monsoon rains the second and really hot and cloudy for the last stretch. We kept up with traffic, just slightly over the speed limits and averaged 110kph (70 mph).
The following are the four fill ups:
1. to Portersville, PA 305.7 miles, 13.19 gallons 23.2mpg
2. to Hico, WV 253.8 miles, 12.04 gallons 21.1mpg quite hilly
3. to Swansea, SC 342.6 miles, 14.86 gallons 23.1mpg hilly first half of drive
4. to Port Orange, FL 358.7 miles, 15.74 gallons 22.8mpg ran at 75mph and above

The first two tanks were 91 octane and the last two were 93 octane. Octane didn't seem to make a difference in mileage. There were 14500 miles on the car when we set out. I was happy to see such low gas prices compared to home. 93 octane is currently only $4.09 here compared to over $5.25 for 91 octane in Kitchener.

I'll report on the uphill trip back around April 2nd.

happy1977

****, that's a lot of driving. How many travels days did this take?

kwbuggy

Not too bad really, two eight hour days (7am to 3pm) and one five hour drive (10am to 3pm). We do a 1,300km run to New Brunswick once or twice a year in one day. That is about fifteen hours in the car but the RX is great for long highway runs like this. It wasn't much fun in the late '60s in our VW Beetle.

happy1977

Well, that's still a lot, if I had to drive that much, wherever I'm going, I'm staying a full week to make it worth while. But if I'm just staying for 2-3 days, not worth in my book. +$200 of gas, I'm better off flying.

2011RX350

I am running 87 octane in mine and getting about that same mileage. I may give up a few HP but am saving maybe $3-$4 per tank.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

i get about the same on my 2jz.. but the RX is a much larger vehicle

UCSB

Comparing gas mileage stories, I had an interesting experience this weekend. I was out driving with my daughter today. She was driving my brother's 2010 slightly tweaked Prius. She was evaluating buying the car from him when his Prius Plug-in arrives in a few weeks. We liked the car and she will be picking it up. The interesting thing is that the tank of gas we where consuming had about 347 miles on it and we were averaging 62.3 MPG. Pretty amazing.

kwbuggy

I must have been unclear in my post, we are down here for a month, until the end of March. That's why we brought the RX. Otherwise you are right, it only costs about $200 to fly to Orlando from Niagara Falls or Buffalo so for only a week or so its cheaper to fly and rent a car. Apparently Toyota even rents Prius here in Florida so that would save even more.

Sfcyclist

Great details.. we're taking our on first trip this weekend... hope to do better than 23.. but from the looks your result.. no go.. we've been averaging 19 which is mixed but mostly city driving.

zmanou812

I travel from here in CT. to West Palm Fla. alot, it's 1314 miles.
I have a passenger everytime and If I drive straight threw it's 20 - 21 hrs of driving.
I leave my house at 6 at night, 16 hrs to the welcome to Fla. sign and another 4 - 5
down to west palm.
I hate sleeping at hotel or motels so I just drive straight threw except for 1 tank fill
or about 340 mi's, I take a little nap and let the other drive.
That way I have my car while I'm down there and when I want to leave I leave and when
I want to head back I head back.

kwbuggy

Just got back last night and we got 22.24 mpg over the entire round trip to NSB and back. We got basically the same mileage coming uphill as we did going down. I used 89 octane a couple of times while in Florida and noticed mileage dropped off a little (1mpg) but since gas is still pretty cheap in the USA I went back to using 93 octane.
The RX is a great highway car, really quiet and stable at speed. However gas mileage really drops off over 60mph with the A/C on. We drove on rural highways at 55-60 through the Carolinas on our second day coming up and got 24mpg even with a little stop and go. This was our best mileage on the whole trip. You can check out details of each fillup on my fuelly.com page RX350.

Cruiter

That was a good report. Next time down, consider a Costco membership. Contrary to what some have speculated, it is good gas and has more detergents than most brands. It starts cheaper and most places there's only about a .22 cent difference between 87 and 93 octane. Then you get 3% back after the end of the year. I've never had a problem with the gas and have used it for years.

InRBigness

Your canadian costco card works in the states. I use mine in Minneapolis all the time.

kwbuggy

Good advice, I'll just have to check out the Costco gas locations and plan my route accordingly next winter.