Phred

I don't think you have to remote the headlight to replace the bulb though - I admit I haven't tried it on the 400h yet (luckily!) but in my wife's Sienna we were able to replace the Xenon bulb relatively easily from under the hood.

It's not just the winter gas, but also the colder weather. ICE has to run more to keep the coolant hot to keep the cabin warm, and also to keep the cats up to operating temp. I also find in the colder weather, just a little tap on the gas pedal will cause the ICE to kick in. Still, I have to agree with you that the hybrid is fun to drive.

Interesting idea to correlate average daily temperature to gas mileage! I'll see if I can do that (I have a weather station so I have the temp data too - just in a different database.)

Well I picked these up from Rajuthan (his 400h was written off by his insurance company - Thanks by the way Rajuthan). I gotta say, I'm impressed with these babies. Looks like they'd hold a few litres of water before overflowing - perfect for snow. They fit very well, and the rear mat even has a section that is 'sunken' for lack of a better word, that allows the center console between the front seats to still slide backward if needed. Very cool, highly recommended.

http://www.weathertech.ca/store/mvproduct....7&Year=2006

I've been using these in my 2008 for the last 3 years. They work great, but after 3 winters the sides of the mats aren't as crisp as they used to be. The are folding over into the mat and aren't looking very good imo. They do a great job keeping snow/salt/sand out of the carpet though. I was trying to decide if I wanted to get a new set or switch to the softer model.

Here is a graph showing the actual mileage from my 2008 rh400x over the last 18 months. I keep receipts from each gas purchase and write down the reported mileage between fillups. I think this is as accurate as I can get in recording mileage. For demographic data, I live in central Massachusetts in an area with plenty of hills, I have a commute of about 5 miles each way to work which is what I primarily drive. I drive about 8.5k miles per year (pretty light, I know.) I have currently been using only 93 (or better) octane gas since Lexus calls for it. But I'm very tempted to switch to regular and see what actual impact that has.

I think you can see quite clearly when the changeover to winter gas happens.

I also have data on on (in)accurate the computer is at calculating gas mileage. It overall inflates actual mileage by and average of 5.4%, but ranges from 2-10% (but I'm not sure what influences that.)

At current gas prices ($2.65/g in my area) it will take me owning the car for 9.75 years before I save more in gas costs than I paid in a premium over the 2008 rx350. So, it wasn't worth it economically but I have to say the hybrid is more fun :).