Hi,

I am looking at buying a '96 LS400SE, but the only thing that is stopping me is the possible fuel consumption. Obviously 4 litres is a big engine, but what sort of fuel consumption are people genuinely getting out of theirs?

Thanks in advance.

I get 23mpg from my 92 LS, and that's driving "swiftly". Push it hard though and you will see the fuel needle drop.
Go on . . . you will be dead for long enough so you might as well own one of the finer pleasures in life!

You're so right about the finer things in life, I just want to make sure that I'm not going to be spending most of my life in a petrol station. 23mpg sounds pretty good though, so thanks for that!

I run a 1998 LS400 and reset my consumption every month. Some months my average is over 26 and the worst is about 23. Round town is the killer. On a run I can get close to 30.

I'd have to agree, I'm a new owner myself, and if you haven't driven or owned one....... do it, best thing I ever spent my money, ah, apart from when I fill her up!!! I filled up from empty cost me about £53 absolute joy, as I previously owned a 7 series BMW and oh my *** £96 I paid to fill her up once. Did about the same mileage on a tank full too. Still won't be doing that again eh!!! LExus.. definitiely the way to go!!!!!!

Think I might also have to join the fold of the LS brigade too!! my GS is GORGEOUS!!

but the LS is just so damn sexy!! it has well..... EVERYTHING!!

LOOKS
PACE
STYLE
COMFORT
LEATHER
ALL THE TOYS
JUST GOTTA GET ONE WITH SAT NAV.

My GS does 22-27 mpg combo mainly motorway but on the weekend charging around it gets down. put it like this 340 to a tank motorway vs 270 weekend farting around!

LS here we come!

Loz

3yrs of conservative city driving. I consistantly get ~16mpg. Highway trips I get upto 20mpg.

A97LS, Where are you from? (and welcome to the club BTW).

Be carefull guys comparing imperial MPG (US) with metric MPG (UK) as they aren't the same!

Does anyone have any experience in using those fuelsavers- Powermax or Fuelsaver device which cramps on the fuel supply line and uses magnetic field to reduce fuel consumption ? Are they of any use and is it easy to install by amateur- where is the fuel line ? I'd appreciate any help please.

I GET ABOUT 110 MILES FOR £20, ABOUT 26 LITRES,AND MOST OF THIS IS CONVEYOR BELT DRIVING[IN TRAFFICK],AND USE ORDINARY UNLEADED,A LOT OF THE TIME.
I USE SHELL OPTIMAX AS WELL,AND ,I RECKON THE POWER A LITTLE BIT MORE RESPONSIVE,ALSO ITS BETTER FOR THE ENGINE.
IF I WERE YOU, I WOULD GO FOR IT.

Hi,
I am a newly regitered Club Member. In response to Gazza's question on fuel consumption, I have a 1991 LS400 and I get 450 miles to a tank ! That's over 20 mpg. I use premium gas and an engine additive for higher mileage cars. I also cruise to /from work at a speed I won't disclose. It is true that when you press hard on the accelerator with the ECT POWER engaged that you will use a good gulp of fuel, but that's the price of a 4.0 L 32 V V8. The neck snap, I think, is well worth it ! Live a little, if you want great mileage, get a HYBRID.

I have a 1996 Lexus LS 400 with 60,000 miles. I drive it hard. I like to blow the doors off kids with Pontiacs (I'm 71)

I get 18 mpg in NJ around town, with AC on, and 23 on the highway.

Not to worry about MPG. Check the cost of insurance. Thar went up for me.

I have a 92 LS with 162k, and it has always given me 15-20 in town, and 25-30 on a long trip.

Where the LS beats Beemers and Mercs is on the motorway where the superior aerodynamics really make it easy on petrol compared to it's rivals.

That ECT Power is just the thing for entering the NJ Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

Hi!

I just bought a '92 LS400, and I've been keeping an eye on fuel consumption to see whether I'll be able to mak a saving on it. turns out I won't be!

When driving fast I'm doing around 16 mpg (UK) and now i'm trying to use the cruise control as much as possible and driving 85 mph I get around 20.7 mpg.
I'm sure I can bring it down even further if I drive 70mph on the motorway, but I dont think I can control my right foot that much!!

A mistake at the gas pumps caused me to take 20 gal. of 87 Oct. instead of the 93. I just checked my mileage on that tank and it was 18 MPG, stop and go NJ traffic driving, A/C on.

Performance did suffer with the 87 octane.

The best mileage I ever got was 23 mpg using the GSP for most of a tank, doing 70 mph, cruise control.

Anyone got any info on an LPG converted LS 400/430??

I wondered about it for my GS. not sure yet. have to see what I'm doing work wise first.. it would be a good investment if I could get a great job donew on it for a grand.

Any thoughts?

Loz

I'm sure there's plenty of companies that'll do it, it's only worth it if you're doing high miles though, I though pimpin' was more about cruising town

have ya tried contacting this company?

After several tests I began using Optimax all of the time in my GS-300. Optimax returns about 10% better fuel consumption, but costs about 7% more than standard unleaded.

Now the best way to improve fuel consumption it to turn off that A/C button. It adds at least 10% to consumption in my car.

I read once in The Daily Torygraph (Honest John's page) that Optimax is the only sulphur free petrol sold in the UK and the only UK fuel that the Mercedes CGI engine can run on. This is why this engine is not sold in the UK (CLK200 CGI in Germany and other European countries, Mercedes answer to the Audi A3 FSI and Mitsubishi (part owned by Daimler-Chrysler) GDI engines). Strangely Shell only claim Optimax to be "Low Sulphur" not even Ultra Low Sulphur, any of you have any more detail on this subject or do I feel an e-mail to Shell coming on?

Zero Sulphur = Good for engine and Cat in my book....!

However... It may be worth trying Texaco Clean system 3, Texaco make some grand claims and were (perhaps still are?) offering a free engine warranty for exclusive use. Again Honest John rates this fuel.

While we are on this subject, what is the general opinion on oils? I have always used Mobil 1, but is there a better alternative that I should try?

Justin.

I am a newly registered owner of a 1993 (L) LS400 and was a little wary about the fuel consumption thing too.
I moved up in the world from a Citroen Xantia 1.9 Turbo Diesel and was expecting to empty my wallet every day.
In reality, to make any sort of progress in a lesser car, you need to drive it with foot to the floor at all times and honestly, I have noticed an increase in spend - but not hugely significant.
I have been driving carefully though - just to see what mileage I can do on a tank.
I was once the owner of a Toyota Celica GT4 import and like the Lexus, I found I drove it more sensibly than the 'ordinary' cars I have owned - I have nothing to prove; I know I CAN go quicker than the hatchback boys so I don't even bother trying.
That racks them off more than beating them off the lights I feel!
So there is not a huge difference (fuel-wise) between a Xantia driven hard and a Lexus driven gently.
When its 6:00pm, freezing outside and everyone around is battling with their neighbour on the M6 in the rush hour to get home, it is really pleasant to relax in heated leather comfort, something soothing on the autochanger, cruise set at 70 (if you're lucky) feeling smug.
Go for it - enjoy!

Didn't know there was such a thing as an LS400SE.

I get about 20mpg out of my MkIV.

I am getting 15MPG at the moment on a 98 S LS400 with 66,000 on it.

I am talking London Traffic though here.

Need to get it on the Motorway to do a good run I think.

Is that too low. If so does that mean something wrong with the car ?

Pls advise.

Thanx

Sal.

hi - i've got a 1990 LS400 and was also thinking about gas. did you get any responses from the others to your enquiry about their experiences? have you gone any further with it? i've filled in a questionaire on a firm's web site for a quotation, but they've not come back to me.

i'd appreciate your thoughts.

My mum drives our 1996 LS400 to and from work. It's only 6 miles and she drives with a very light foot, but she only seems to manage 17-19 mpg (UK mpg, 14-16 US mpg). However, get the car on a long trip like the one I took this weekend, and it'll happily get 30 mpg (25 US mpg) with 4 people in the car and the cruise control set at 80 mph.

By the way, the conversion factor for converting imperial gallons to U.S. gallons is 1.201.

I'm sure it's advisable to use the right fuel, however, realistically like most people, I end up just grabbing whatever unleaded is available. In my book, a good car should cope with anything short of diesel. will the LS 400 ? If not, what can happen?

it copes with anything (except frying oil!) but tests that i've done over 1,000 miles show a better ride, smoother acceleration, and slightly more 'perky' if you use super unleaded. it's dearer, but then so's running a lexus, so just live with it!!

at the moment i run a, rover sterling, had it for last three years and have been running it on lpg for these three years. i have had no problems with the conversion, or the engine and it is running very smoothly for a car thats on 135,000 miles. i would recomend the lpg conversion to anyone as it also keeps the engine clean internally and the engine oil is as clean as the day i had last oil change done, 7months ago.
i am seriously thinking about buying a 1995 ls400 which has come up for sale locally. it has 70,000 miles on the clock and for the last year that i know of, has been converted to lpg. price £7000. does the pricetag seem ok to you guys? this is without the conversion as it has been taken out but i will put new conversion in it.
my car before the rover was an old merc 2.8 SL ? straight 6. i also had the conversion in that. ran ok also even though it was leaded. i have always dreamed about running a lexus, and for some strange reason the wife fell in love with it when she saw it. so no problem there. i would appreciate a coment on the pricetag. thanks.

If it is in excellent condition, has full Lexus history and had the cambelt changed at 60,000 miles then the price isn't too bad although try and get £500 off. Prices for the LS vary quite a bit, you could pay £4000 for a 1995 model or £8000.

Try and drive a few different ones. Any suspension wear affects ride quality however even worn it will feel better than most cars so you need to compare to other LSs

have owned my LS400 for 6 months now and the mpg im getting depends on how it is driven . when i first got it i filled the tank (£65) drove it home , all motorway on cruise at constant 70mph over a distance of approx 130 miles and the next day i filled it up again to check the mpg . i had to check it 3 times because i thought it was wrong because it did so well . 34mpg. unfortunatly i do not drive on the motorway at any other time except when we go on holiday because driving around town where i live the worst mpg is 17 and the best is 22. when we went on holiday we covered approx 1300 miles pulling a large folding camper all over Scotland and the north of England and i was suprised to get on average 23mpg.

are we happy with it? YES. what pleasure it is to drive . who cares what the mpg is . if its something you want then get one .

I reckon I got about 23/24 mpg (Imp.) on my old 91 LS, and I have no reason to suspect that my new 94 LS will be any different.

Driving around town is a killer on the consumption, but i wonder how shocked yer average Fiesta driver would be if they checked their "urban" consumption against what they thought they'd be getting...


djp

Its a small point but one thing to remember about converting to LPG is that if you do it you wont be able to take your car through the Channel Tunnel where LPG vehicles are banned and I think that also applies to any of the Alps tunnels - but will stand corrected. I though about it, but use my car for one return journey of 50 miles a week and a few miles at the weekend and one 6 week trip to Italy a year. I'd be lucky to exceed 7 k a year - on that basis the maths just doesn't justify the cost and the risk that the conversion job might be less than perfect. I think its only worth it if you are a big mileage driver.





quote name='GreyBeard' date='Dec 6 2003, 11:34 AM' post='91294']
[quote=Loz,Jul 17 2003, 05:03 PM] Anyone got any info on an LPG converted LS 400/430??

I wondered about it for my GS. not sure yet. have to see what I'm doing work wise first.. it would be a good investment if I could get a great job donew on it for a grand.

Any thoughts?

Loz [/quote]
hi - i've got a 1990 LS400 and was also thinking about gas. did you get any responses from the others to your enquiry about their experiences? have you gone any further with it? i've filled in a questionaire on a firm's web site for a quotation, but they've not come back to me.

i'd appreciate your thoughts.
[/quote]

Is it a Ser 2 1995 or Ser 3? (If it has separate Fog lights, it's Ser 2)
You can have my Series 3 for £6500 which will give you £500 towards LPG! And it's an even better deal if it IS Ser 2 versus Ser3, as the 3s are distinctly better! pristine, garage stored, etc etc. Would save my having to e-bay it too!

Hi
Just to add my experiance.
I bought the car for specific motorway driving to and from my office, some 80miles each way and am getting at best 32mpg and at worst 26mpg combined with weekend family driving around town.

My car is a 1996Mk3 LS400 with 95,000miles and I have fitted a new K&N air filter which made a decent differance in power and torque.

Murph

Hi, I have a 98 LS400, last September I drove from Bournemouth to Bucharest (Romania), 1,750 Miles and with a average consumption of 32 mpg. Wey Hey

Hi. your so right. my 96 LS400 runs so much better on Super Unleaded!

Hi Folks Im a fairly new ls400 owner 94/95 model and need some advice from long term owner who knows the car better than me.I must admit I cant believe how economical this car is and just a joy to drive. My email is wayneburgess63@yahoo.co.uk any of you guys can give me a bit of tech advice I would be grateful.Thanks Wayne from Bolton Lancashire.

they don't work for one thing petrol has no magnetic properties.

http://www.chris-longhurst.com

Hi LOZ -- I have had my ls400 put on LPG the cost was £2500.--a litre of gas is -49/56ppl compered to the price of petrol, the fuel consumption is the same as when on petrol, if your milege is 10,000 a year you can save over £1400. you must inform you Insurance Company and the D.V.L.A. of the change
I have seen R.Rovers/Jags/Volvos/Mercs/Bmw's/and many more being converted,so your G.S. will be ok

shelldrake

Hi Loz, I recently had LPG put onto my RX, very impressed so far with the economy, and performance so far, I've done some calculations to work out savings you should get from converting to LPG based on 10,000 miles per year.

AVERAGE DRIVING MILEAGE PER YEAR 10,000.00
AVERAGE MPG ON PETROL 26.00
AVERAGE MPG ON LPG 23.00
COST PER LITRE OF PETROL £1.00
COST PER LITRE OF LPG £0.55

PETROL
COST PER GALLON OF PETROL £4.50
PETROL PER YEAR ( GALLONS ) 384.62
PETROL PER YEAR ( LITRES ) 1,730.77
COST PER MILE ( PETROL ) £0.17
ANNUAL COST ( PETROL ) £1,730.77


LPG
COST PER GALLON (LPG ) £2.48
LPG PER YEAR ( GALLONS ) 434.78
LPG PER YEAR ( LITRES ) 1,956.52
COST PER MILE ( LPG ) £0.11
ANNUAL COST ( LPG ) £1,076.09


Monthly saving £54.56
Annual saving £654.68
Three year saving £1,964.05
Five year saving £3,273.41
Saving per mile £0.07

Hope this helps Nev

Hi

SHELLDRAKE and NEV72

I know you are trying to help but you have answered a question that is over 5 years old!!!!!

Pete

My 1993 LS 400 would get me 22mpg city/highway combo and 26 highway. My 1992 get around 19-21 city and 25 highway and the 1999 gets 27 highway respectadly. Thats checking after every fill-up. I have also run BG44k and saw massive improvements after running it through the system.