I flew into Chicago and picked up my new to me 97 LX450 and drove it home 2300 miles with not a problem. Interesting thing, fuel mileage was 13.56 on first tank cruising at 65, next tank went to 14.5 cruising at 70, followed by another at almost 15.5 with the last couple tanks at 16-16.5 cruising at 75 across Washington. Looks like the "girl" likes the west coast air. Gotta say, she is sure comfortable and in nice shape at 7,949miles and getting home at 10, 222miles on her now. Just can't figure out why the fuel mileage was so low back east. The wife loves it and now she wants to sell her Volvo S60T and take over the "my" truck. Looks like I may be stuck driving the 4Runner even longer. Such is life.

Hey congrats!

Finally another road-trip purchaser. I have bought my last 5 vehicles online: flew out and drove back. Love it!

Sorry to hear about the short lived possesion of the LX...maybe the wife will let you drive it on 3rd fridays of every month!

10k miles? Am I reading this correctly? Congrats on the purchase! That is a really rare find with that many miles. You beat me on my recent CRV purchase which is a 2000 with 25k miles.

Congratulations! Remarkable find!
Could the change in mileage consumption be due to ethanol in the fuel? I had a similar experience driving north from Miami (10% ethanol for sure) up where the fuel seemed ethanol-free and mileage/gallon increased.

The exact mileage upon purchase was 7,949 miles and upon arrival home was 10,222. This mileage, when I purchased, was verified by the Lexus dealer where it was serviced and by the emission testing compliance requirements of Illinois as well as a Car Fax and an eBay history check. Upon driving it home I now believe the fuel mileage increase was twofold. One was, as you said, the change to ethanol-free fuel and two being a more complete break-in of the engine and drivetrain.

Congratulations Bill! We love pictures ya know

Pictures are here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...9&viewitem=

so, you bought that one...

congrats!