Cross Country Trip Report

[nick07]

I just returned from a month long cross country trip through the central and southwestern US in my 2007 IS250. I was very pleased with the comfort and gas mileage. Overall for the round trip I got 33mpg. This was in an average of 97 deg weather and the air conditioning on all the time not to mention the 114 deg in Las Vegas. Some of the states I was in used 10% ethanol in the gas and I did notice a slight decrease in mpg. The fuel rails were fixed a couple of years ago on a TSB for ethanol. At times the engine could have used a little more horsepower but overall the 206hp was adequate. The highways in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles were as straight as an arrow with 75 miles per hour speed limits where everyone was averaging 85. The car just hummed along for hours on end at that speed in the hot conditions. The navigation worked fine throughout the trip with no problems even when I missed a turn. The nav would reroute me back around to my destination. I bought my 250 new with this trip in mind and was not disappointed.

[LEX-SV]

Nice road trip. What was your typical cruising speed on the highway?

[nick07]

The route we took around the US was I80 east where once we left California the speed limit was 70mph to 75mph depending on the state. On the way back home we took Route 66 where the limit was 65 in places, slower in others. Highway I40 across the southwest was either 70 or 75 depending on the state. The traffic flow was always 5 to 10 mph above the posted limit. One thing is that California has the noisiest roads. The road noise was horrible. Most roads outside of Calif. were almost whisper quiet. If you ever get the chance to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway do it. We took the grounds tour which included a lap around the track in a small bus and you get out at start/finish where you can "kiss the bricks". One of the highlights of our trip.

[LEX-SV]

Thanks for the trip report, MPG was excellent.

Not surprised about road noise on all-weather highway like I80 over Sierras. Much of that is durable concrete pavement over high altitude (snow country) mountains carrying a lot of truck traffic. In contrast some of highway 5 is newer asphalt and is quiet. But I agree that many of the California freeways are rough and noisy especially when driving a sports sedan (versus a SUV with high profile tires).