Extreme Poor Fuel Efficiency On My 2010 Rx 450H

[Leatherneck2010]

Hi All,

I have had this car for about two and a half months. So far, I put 880 miles on it. Both the caluclated and digital display indicate 21.7-21.9 MPG combined. The purported MPG is 30-32 MPG. I understand some people may have 25.5 MPG combined, but my less-than-22 MPG is not anywhere near the 30-32 MPG claim. FYI, I drive in the city 90% of time. The round trip from home and work is about 12-13 miles. I paid $6-7K more, hoping to get better fuel efficiency than RX 350. Is there anything I can do to improve the fuel economy? FYI, I am not heavy on the gas pedal. Who shall I contact in Lexus Corporation for this complaint?

Thanks for any suggestions in advance,

Leatherck (Richard)

Update from 10/23/2010:

I brought the car to dealer for service today. I told them the average MPG is only 21.3. The guy asked me what's the mileage on it? I told him it was about 950. He said it was too early to tell, as we should wait around 5000 miles for the car to "break in", so I cancelled the service today... will break it back in a few months when it reaches 5000k. He said a few years back a guy with 2006 RX??? brought back the car with the same complaint. After 5000k, he was happy about the fuel efficiency. I hope it will make a difference then. I don't expect it will ever achieve average 28-29 MPG as most people mentioned on edmunds.com. If it reaches 26 MPG, I would be very happy, given the fact that I live in San Francisco, with 12 miles round trip to work, and lots of traffic jams.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Leatherneck2010

[cduluk]

That's reality unfortunately... Some people can reach 25 or more if they REALLY, REALLY try... but day to day driving doesn't allow for it.

I don't pay a bit of attention to the way i drive, and i'm getting about 21MPG in my Rx400h...

[BlueSurf]

The engine needs to get more miles on it. It will not get high miles out of the factory. My mileage improved at 5200 miles. Now I'm getting 32 city/ 28-30 highway. Give it a chance to break in and enjoy it.

[Leatherneck2010]

Thanks. Hope it gets better as time goes. Anyway, I am bringing in the car to service this Saturday to see if something is wrong with it. The very reason we sold our 2001 330CI is that that car gave us 14 MPG. It could just be our bad luck. I read some folks on fuelefficiency.org say they are getting 29 MPG on RX450H. Well, it depends on your luck, as every car is built differently.

Richard

The engine needs to get more miles on it. It will not get high miles out of the factory. My mileage improved at 5200 miles. Now I'm getting 32 city/ 28-30 highway. Give it a chance to break in and enjoy it.

[skipugh]

Out of the box my Lexus RX 450h is getting better than 28 mpg. I have a little over 1,000 miles on it now. I have a short, hilly commute where it drops to around 25 mpg.

[TX1911fan]

What's the point of getting a hybrid if it doesn't give you any better fuel economy?

[danfox]

As a general rule, you will find that hybrids in SUVs are not designed for fuel mileage so much as performance. Although it is the same hybrid technology as the cars, it is applied to these heavier vehicles with difference strategy to punch-up acceleration performance. The engine comes on sooner. This is true of most brands, not just Toyota/Lexus. Check the published rating of a car w/ w/o hybrid vs SUV w/ w/o hybrid.

[Newlee]

Thanks. Hope it gets better as time goes. Anyway, I am bringing in the car to service this Saturday to see if something is wrong with it. The very reason we sold our 2001 330CI is that that car gave us 14 MPG. It could just be our bad luck. I read some folks on fuelefficiency.org say they are getting 29 MPG on RX450H. Well, it depends on your luck, as every car is built differently.

Richard

The engine needs to get more miles on it. It will not get high miles out of the factory. My mileage improved at 5200 miles. Now I'm getting 32 city/ 28-30 highway. Give it a chance to break in and enjoy it.

I just went in for my 5,000 mile check up. I have been getting the same as above, 3/city/ 28-30 highway. I love my SUV !

[bwinton]

Hi all. New to this site and new to Lexus. Just got an RX 400h. Love it. I drove a Ford Escape hybrid for three years and definitely noticed an increase in fuel economy over about the first 6,000-8,000 miles. I averaged about 30 mpg in mostly city driving. Lay off the gas pedal as much as you are comfortable with and you will notice better gas mileage. Only had my RX for a short time but already getting 26-27 around town. Happy hybrids!! :)

[jr92591]

Mine has 2000 miles on it and I get an average of 29-30 MPG in a mixture of city and 2 lane hiway driving. The mileage did get better after 100 miles though. good luck.

[pj8708]

Mine has 2000 miles on it and I get an average of 29-30 MPG in a mixture of city and 2 lane hiway driving. The mileage did get better after 100 miles though. good luck.

Seems to be consistant with other post on the site. The more miles, the better the MPG. Hang in there.

[DC Lexus]

Hello Leatherneck,

I am new here but I drive these vehicles all day, just joined lexusownersclub.com to hear what real Lexus owners are talking about. I get the same response from clients that are first time hybrid owners. Most RX450h owners were able increase MPG numbers by driving in ECO mode and driving with the ECO light on during throttle application. I had two owners tell me that thier kids get higher MPG figures than the parents. As others have mentioned if you coast to lights and wait for the engine to break in your numbers can only go up. If you only got 14mpg in a BMW 3 series maybe you won't get the figures on the window sticker but I don't see why you wouldn't get better than 22mpg. We got 14mpg in a CT200h during a training session with every driver flooring it every light and 23mph in a IS-F driving from DC to NJ doing 70-85mph. If you see another RX450 owner during fill up or Starbucks maybe you can ask them about their MPG and driving style. You have a great vehicle just enjoy it and good luck!!!

Richard.

[scubamike]

First let me qualify this post by saying that I just returned from Jump Starting my wife's RX400h.

Now - who was the genius who designed a car that has megavolts stored in the drive batteries - but will not start if the 12v is partially discharged? What was he thinking? This was not the first time it has had to be jump started - and I assume it will not be the last. The "girls" went shopping today in Dallas - about 50 mile round trip. About 10:30 tonight they wanted to go to Sonic for a snack - and that is where i found them - car so dead they couldn't even get the power windows to work more than a few inches. It sure looks like they could figure out a way to power the computer up with the drive batteries.

The price that you pay for the RX "H" series is a ripoff - especially considering the fuel economy you get. We get 24 mpg around town with "easy driving" Our record is 27.5 on a 3.5 mile grocery store run. Funny thing is that my BMW M5 with 400hp can get up to 23 around town and a little better than 26mpg on the highway if I keep my foot out of it and under 75. I had to pay $800+ gas gussler tax on this car when new - and it can eat the 400h's lunch on gas mileage. Maybe "eat it's lunch" is not quite accurate - but it can BEAT it. As to the post with the BMW330ci @ 14mpg - and when I drive the M5 for "fun" if you know what I mean I have never dropped below 16-17mpg

Now for the guy in the posts that said in reponse to someone worrying about the cost of replacing the hybrid drive battery - and I paraphrase - "don't worry about the used 400h batteries as there have never been any Prius battery replacements - and they are older". Well - why don't I give you my Mom's phone number? Her 2001 Prius battery was replaced a couple of years ago and the dealer told her she was lucky that she bought the extended warranty - as the dealership had replaced another set a few weeks before for around $5,000. I am not a Toyota-Lexus hater, but it amazes me the folks who are drinking the Toyota kool-aid and deciminating such stupid advice.

Almost done - rented a Dodge Charger a few weeks ago in North Carolina. Driving from Charlotte to Wintson-Salem I was surprised that once I reset the computer - I was getting 30 mpg on the highway at 70 - 80 mph. Around town got about 21 - 23. On the way back to Charlotte a few days later I thought that I would see how many MPG I could get - I still kept it around 70 - 75, not dropping below 65 and got up to 35.6 mpg before having to exit for the airport. Turned it in with 34.9 mpg on the computer.

I will not be replacing the 400h with another rip-off Lexus Hybrid - probably go for the Hybrid Porsche Cayenne, better gas mileage than the RX-H series and a lot more fun.

[Rollodus]

I bought my 2006RX 400H at 77000 miles last year. It was november last year and the best MPG was 26 highway and aroudn 25 MPG city, have to mention that around city have to drive as a grandma to get 24 -25MPG, NO MORE THEN 5 MILES OVER THE SPEED LEIMITS, eventually 5 miles less.

I did the ISC reset by myself and it seems to help a bit. Now it's usmmer time and in Atlanta you ned the AC on at all time, the MPG is terrible; 16-17 mpg city and around 23 highway. I took the car to the dealership and OF COURSE it was "in great" shape. After finding the ISC Lexus oficial procedure, took the car in again, and after a day and a half I got my car back allong with few pages of data showing that the car it's fine and the ISC/learning is complete.On short, nothing wrong.

Anyone some advices?? I think I have a "lemon car"

Is there any test for battery capacity?I suspect the battery.

Thank you in advance.

[lenore]

I bought my 2006RX 400H at 77000 miles last year. It was november last year and the best MPG was 26 highway and aroudn 25 MPG city, have to mention that around city have to drive as a grandma to get 24 -25MPG, NO MORE THEN 5 MILES OVER THE SPEED LEIMITS, eventually 5 miles less.

I did the ISC reset by myself and it seems to help a bit. Now it's usmmer time and in Atlanta you ned the AC on at all time, the MPG is terrible; 16-17 mpg city and around 23 highway. I took the car to the dealership and OF COURSE it was "in great" shape. After finding the ISC Lexus oficial procedure, took the car in again, and after a day and a half I got my car back allong with few pages of data showing that the car it's fine and the ISC/learning is complete.On short, nothing wrong.

Anyone some advices?? I think I have a "lemon car"

Is there any test for battery capacity?I suspect the battery.

Thank you in advance.

Sometimes summer blend in the Fuel is the culprit, here in California the fuel sucks....bad all of the time...fill up in Nevada and my mileage jumps 2 to 3 miles per gallon more...go figure.