'94 Ls Gas Mileage

[Ross W.]

Hey everybody.

Overall my '94 has been a delight. No major problems with it at all, and it runs good, although it's been unhappy recently, but my mechanic found a few issues which should resolve them: partially stuck thermostat, caps and rotors need replacing, and a dirty throttle body. But overall in the three years I've owned it, I've been surprised and delighted with the gas mileage! You'd think with a high output V-8 and close to two tons it'd be worse. Daily driving, mostly around town, I average about 23 - 25 mpg. On long trips, even better than that. Last August, for example, I drove to Seattle to visit my brother. When I got back I looked at fuel used and miles driven; 26.4 mpg average. Most of that trip was spent at speeds between 80 and 100 mph where I could get away with it. My record average was a trip to Lancaster for my sister's college graduation. That was about a 400 mile round trip, which I took it easy on, and the average was 32. After I got back I had enough fuel for getting to work for a week.

Has anybody else with a gen-1 had similar experiences? Seems like I'm getting almost 4-cyl gas mileage with a V-8!

[Threadcutter]

Ross:

Daily driving, mostly around town, I average about 23 - 25 mpg. On long trips, even better than that. Last August, for example, I drove to Seattle to visit my brother. When I got back I looked at fuel used and miles driven; 26.4 mpg average. Most of that trip was spent at speeds between 80 and 100 mph where I could get away with it.

Perfectly normal...........my '95 does 24 to 26 around town (which actually is mostly freeway). Good feeling, isn't it?

[Ross W.]

Ross:

Perfectly normal...........my '95 does 24 to 26 around town (which actually is mostly freeway). Good feeling, isn't it?

You bet it's a good feeling! In fact it's stopping me from getting a new car. Anything I can afford short of a Chevy Aveo ( ) the gas mileage would be the same or worse, for any '06 that's anywhere near as nice as my LS. I figure my 12 year old LS is at least as good as a stripped midsize '06. One day I was caught in a radar revenue trap last year and the officer wrote my car up as a 2003! I suppose I could've fought it on that technicality, but I took traffic school. Most people don't realize how old my car is!

[93LSOwner]

Hey everybody.

Overall my '94 the average was 32.

WHAT?!

How many miles does your car have on it? Or had it during that time?

[Ross W.]

Hey everybody.

Overall my '94 the average was 32.

WHAT?!

How many miles does your car have on it? Or had it during that time?

At the time it had 115K on it. Something like 595 miles on that tankful. On my trip to Seattle I should have traveled closer to the speed limit. I know I would have duplicated that record average. However 26.4 mpg over 2500 miles of very hard driving I think is pretty darn good! Bear in mind that's my record average to date, not my normal average.

[monarch]

Ross, what is your normal average? I think there are thousands of '90-'94 owners who would say the '90-'94 LS400 can only get 22-24 MPG highway. And that's with a perfectly tuned up new or near new engine that has a sparkling clean throttle body, new caps and rotors and everything else. And possible only if the car is driven no faster than 65- 70 MPH on level ground or going downhill.

[j.barleycorn]

Ross, 32 MPG sounds like an awful lot! I have tracked all MPG since I bought my '92. Mostly commuting miles (mixed, mostly rural 2-lane highway/60MPH). Best was interstate long trips: 26.5 MPG at 75-85 MPH. Overall has been 24.9 MPG for me.

Date Odometer Miles Gallons MPG Price

16-Nov-05 94101 452 17.05 26.5 $2.390

23-Nov-05 94482 381 16.26 23.4 $2.569

10-Dec-05 94939 457 17.89 25.5 $2.569

18-Dec-05 95189 250 11.05 22.6 $2.559

23-Dec-05 95576 387 16.01 24.2 $2.599

8-Jan-06 95971 395 16.49 24.0 $2.699

13-Jan-06 96426 455 17.5 26.0 $2.799

19-Jan-06 96888 462 18.32 25.2 $2.799

29-Jan-06 97310 422 17.41 24.2 $2.739

4-Feb-06 97795 485 18.86 25.7 $2.739

98218 423 17.09 24.8

19-Feb-06 98589 371 15.12 24.5 $2.679

21-Feb-06 99038 449 18.2 24.7 $2.659

7-Mar-06 99470 432 17.53 24.6 $2.699

12-Mar-06 99871 408 16.84 24.2 $2.649

26-Mar-06 100306 435 17.77 24.5 $2.719

31-Mar-06 100772 466 18.7 24.9 $2.859

4-Apr-06 101252 480 18.14 26.5 $2.959

11-Apr-06 101669 417 16.65 25.0 $2.999

[92ls forhundo]

my 92 gets anywhere from 16-20 mpg stop and start in city driving however on the highway i can average about 24-26mpg....im not complaining all things considered.

Congrats on your mileage if figure out why, please let us know....

[blake918]

No offense, but are you sure that your figures are correct on that 32mpg? The best I've ever gotten in my '95 was just over 27.5mpg with the wind at my back and going only 55-60 mph. Normal interstate cruising going a few notches past 80 always returns 26mpg and some change while short 5-10 minute city trips yield a meager 15+/- mpg.

[Ross W.]

No offense, but are you sure that your figures are correct on that 32mpg? The best I've ever gotten in my '95 was just over 27.5mpg with the wind at my back and going only 55-60 mph. Normal interstate cruising going a few notches past 80 always returns 26mpg and some change while short 5-10 minute city trips yield a meager 15+/- mpg.

I can't entirely figure that out either, but on that trip and later driving to work I did very nearly 600 miles on an almost full tank. Most of my trip was off the freeway, on roads with a 55 mph speed limit. I filled the car on the morning of the trip with the reserve light on. It took about 18 gallons as I recall, and I drove the car until the reserve light was on again. Most of my driving was with the cruise control on, and I've noticed the gas mileage goes up a lot when I use it. I haven't repeated that record figure since, but I'm going to try again after I finish the tuneup. But mostly on the daily commute I get low to mid 20's typically. In really heavy urban traffic I get 16 - 18 average. 55-65 seems to be where the car is most efficient.

I might add that after a few more fill-ups, I figured out I used a little more than 18 gallons of fuel on that trip, and a few days of driving to work. When I bought the car, it had just come off a slightly late 95k service while in the care of the original owner.

[FreddT]

I get around 24 on the highway with my thundering 94LS with 110,000 mi. What amazes me is that I get only 27 on my other car, a 2004 Miata turbo with 7,000 mi. Amazing because the little car is almost half the weight, has a stick shift, and is almost four feet shorter, and 10 years newer. Toyota sure can engineer cars. Maybe part of the mpg problem is that Mazda is 30% owned by Ford?

[branshew]

My '93 averages @ 22 MPG in mixed driving. I probably get @ 25-27 on the hwy if I can maintain a constant speed (under 70 mph). Once I push past 70 mph I notice a decrease in MPG. I would have a hard time believing 32 mpg even if most of your driving was downhill.

(now if you had a diesel V8 that would be a different story.)

[Ross W.]

My '93 averages @ 22 MPG in mixed driving. I probably get @ 25-27 on the hwy if I can maintain a constant speed (under 70 mph). Once I push past 70 mph I notice a decrease in MPG. I would have a hard time believing 32 mpg even if most of your driving was downhill.

(now if you had a diesel V8 that would be a different story.)

As I've written before, that was exceptional. I checked and re checked the numbers a few times, and I kept coming up with the same numbers. Best I can figure was my average speed was around 50-55 mph, and 90% of the time, the cruise control was used. I've noticed the gas mileage is a lot better with the cruise control on and the trans in normal mode. But overall my averages are typically in about the same range as yours, which I think is very good considering weight and power of the car. I'd bet a BMW 740i or even a 540i wouldn't be that good!

After I finish the tune-up I'll duplicate the journey as best I can and see what I come up with. My sister lives just around the corner from the college she went to so the miles driven will be identical.

[92ls forhundo]

ive noticed in pretty much every car ive ever driven, and i ve driven ALOT on the california highways, that regardless of speed, if you can use cruise control it always makes pretty significant difference in consumption, id say there is definately something to be said for c.c. For example coming back home from camp pendleton(brother is a marine) to where i live in upland, on an open 5 freeway, with c.c. on i used about 4 gallons or so to go about 110-115 miles.

[maxed_out]

my 91 has seen above 30 but usually its in the high 28's. Fully loaded, wife,2 teenagers, all that sfuff still gets good mileage.

[akewlguy]

Damn I better slow down.. I am an 75-80 guy getting about 22-23.

I also think there is more hills up here in New England. Maybe the cold also has something to do with mileage.

Now I have to try 55 just to see...

[93LSOwner]

Damn I better slow down.. I am an 75-80 guy getting about 22-23.

I also think there is more hills up here in New England. Maybe the cold also has something to do with mileage.

Now I have to try 55 just to see...

I'm the same way Kewlguy. I don't think going from 75-80 to 55-65 is going to be easy, and see all those cars pass you.........wishing they get pulled over.

[Ross W.]

Damn I better slow down.. I am an 75-80 guy getting about 22-23.

I also think there is more hills up here in New England. Maybe the cold also has something to do with mileage.

Now I have to try 55 just to see...

I'm the same way Kewlguy. I don't think going from 75-80 to 55-65 is going to be easy, and see all those cars pass you.........wishing they get pulled over.

My average driving speed is going down in direct proportion to the increased cost of premium!

The best "owned" that ever happened to me was on the 101 freeway coming home from a long weekend. I was in the fast lane cooking along pretty good, overtaking a turtle in the #2 lane. Right after I cleared the slow car I spotted a CHP getting on the freeway. The slow car went down to 55-- amazing people do that still! There was a guy right on my tail so close I couldn't see his wiper blades, as I slowed down and prepared to go into the #2 lane. After I moved over, the guy behind me (in a Porsche 928) floored it. He shot past me, BWAAAAHHHH!!! and got up to about 95 mph before he saw the CHP unit. The officer in the CHP unit watched the whole thing with bug-eyed surprise, turned his lights on, then caught up to him and pulled him over. Going past the guy, more than a little *BLEEP*ed off getting pulled over for doing something so

dumb, I yelled out a HA HA HA!!! which I'm sure didn't help him feel better, and made the CHP officer laugh. I wish I could've videotaped the whole thing. Priceless!

But, yeah, I'm keeping it down to 65-70 these days. Let the other drivers waste fuel and get tickets!

[waf102]

I thought I forgot how to multipy and divide...but I have been getting 28-30 MPG (200 mile trip - no start and stop) on a non-crowded highway doing 45-50 mph. I don't mind cars passing me...after all, why should I be in a hurry when I have such a comfy ride!

-Bill

[CanadaCraig]

Hi Guys!! :(

Oh no. Poor me.

MY 1993 LS averages only 16.8 miles per U.S. gallon.

And at over $75.00 CDN to fill - that hurts.

Craig!! :)