High Gas Consumption

[Razvan]

Hello,

I recently bought a Lexus RX300 and I absolutely love it. It is a 1999 with 120000 miles on it. However, I am a bit concerned with the gas mileage which is just a bit lower than expected. In the city I get about 16MPG and on the highway 20-21MPG. I am thinking that this might have something to do with the age of the car and maybe the compression in the cylinders. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do to improve the gas mileage?

[lenore]

sounds about right, that is what mine has gotten for 11years and 164k miles.... and that is on crappy California gas. It does better out of state. by the way mine is AWD

[jmcohen23]

your mileage will be slightly lower on AWD as opposed to FWD, which do you have?

[Jeffstpetebeach]

Yep thats right I have a 1999 rx 300 also and I love it. I bought it about a year ago with 132,000 now I have 141,000. She runs great. Gas mileage in city 16.5 hwy 20. I live in florida no mountains, my tallest hill is the skyway bridge. New they got 19 city and 24 hwy.

[Razvan]

your mileage will be slightly lower on AWD as opposed to FWD, which do you have?

My Lexus is AWD.

[Gibbie]

I also get higher mileage per gallon when running premium gas (2005 RX330).

[Razvan]

I also get higher mileage per gallon when running premium gas (2005 RX330).

I only run on premium gas. I am used to it because I have a BMW 328i that also requires premium. The MPG I reported above is on premium gas.

[jmcohen23]

premium gas does NOT improve MPG, just performance (and only slightly).

I've had my '99 RX300 for 7 years (70k miles), and have used only 87 with no problems.

your MPG will mostly vary based upon your driving habits. for example, when I drive the car in the city, I get about 18 MPG. conversely, my wife gets about 16 in the city. the difference is how well you manage your driving style (i.e. coasting to stop lights, not flooring it after the light turns green, lane-changing, etc.)

[Gibbie]

premium gas does NOT improve MPG, just performance (and only slightly).

In my comparisons I get 1-2 MPG improvement using premium. I would agree that driving style can impact MPG but for me the improvement was enough to offset the slight increase in cost.

[jmcohen23]

this sounds like an assignment for mythbusters....

[Jeffstpetebeach]

If I am doing the math right its about equal. Your paying .20 more per gallon, and getting 1-2 miles more. The only thing I see is using higher grade of gas.

[Gibbie]

If I am doing the math right its about equal. Your paying .20 more per gallon, and getting 1-2 miles more. The only thing I see is using higher grade of gas.

And a slight increase in performance.

[Jeffstpetebeach]

yes that might be true, but what do you mean but performance???? goes faster, more miles per gallon what is performance? I still see it equal.

[jmcohen23]

by performance improving, I'm referring to acceleration and pick-up.....

[SW03ES]

Your mileage sounds pretty spot on to me. If 16MPG is too low...I would buy something other than a high profile SUV.

[tmastres]

I've done tis experiment and I noticed no difference in mileage or performance with higher octane gas. Reasons being are, there are too many variations (traffic, stop lights other drivers) even if you drive the same route and the same distance every day you'll see 1-2 mpg variation even with the exact same gas. As for performance, unless you can rev your RX up to 4000 RPM+ you'll never see the slight performance gain you can sometimes see with higher octane gas. With the auto slush-boxes set to shift at lower rpm its a waste. Now that gas is up above $3 again you're just tossing $$$ out the window.

[lexus114]

premium gas does NOT improve MPG, just performance (and only slightly).

In my comparisons I get 1-2 MPG improvement using premium. I would agree that driving style can impact MPG but for me the improvement was enough to offset the slight increase in cost.

I actually noticed a slight Improvement of around 2mpg`s on regular fuel. But the performance decrease on the highway is noticeable.

[lexus114]

this sounds like an assignment for mythbusters....

Hahaha!! :D

[SeaLady]

I have an RX300 2000 and I get about 19 - 20 MPG driving in the city, but only get up to 21 - 22 on the highway, sometimes lower depending on my speed...........

I used to get 23 - 25 MPG, but here in Fl 10-% ethanol is mandated, there are only 2 stations left that sell the "old" 100% gas stuff - they say it increases your mileage by 3 - 5 miles per gallon - the ethenal is also really bad for our engines etc - but this just means they can sell us cars more often - I think it is a big scam with the ethenol - costs more to make, doesn't seem to be saving us anything and makes you fill up sooner............so where is the savings??

I also was running leaner when my knock sensor needed to be replaced and was enjoying 25 - 26 MPG!!! I even asked if there was an ajustment to run leaner, they said no. I think my drop in gas mileage is EXACTLY due to ethenol.

Hello,

I recently bought a Lexus RX300 and I absolutely love it. It is a 1999 with 120000 miles on it. However, I am a bit concerned with the gas mileage which is just a bit lower than expected. In the city I get about 16MPG and on the highway 20-21MPG. I am thinking that this might have something to do with the age of the car and maybe the compression in the cylinders. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do to improve the gas mileage?

[ivan1]

i own a 2000 rx300 and am about to break 100,000 miles in a few weeks. i put the highest grade gas in and i'll be the first to say i drive the *BLEEP* out of my car. on my worst days it goes to about 11.5 but usually just driving and then moderately overtaking people i get around 14-16 mpg in the city. but i never stomp on it off the line it is usually when i'm already at speed. it mostly depends on your driving habits really since somedays i can drive normally and baby it and get around 18MPG , and mine is AWD so it eats up a bit more than the FWD. the gas attendant once put in regular instead of super and i felt a pretty drastic difference in my car, idk about others but mine didn't pull at all. also on the highway i noticed that compared to my friends cars when we are in 5th doing anything over 65 we are above 3,000RPM so that also kills on gas. plus throw in the A/c and what not and it all adds up, but i can't complain, i love the car.