Anyway Of Fuel Economy Mods

[lex evs]

hi fellow lexers i was wondering if there is any modifications i can do to have better fuel economy, a friend was telling me about remapping my ecu to gain power/economy, if anyone has any ideas if this is possible and how costly this would be i will buy you all a pint if we ever meet. cheers ;-)

[north]

you can get the car tuned if they use a piggy-back ecu otherwise you can't. But be aware the performance won't really make a difference but you'll notice that you'll do more miles to the gallon... the other option is to keep it just below 63 miles an hour on motorway trips( that'll give you some extra miles but isn't that fun)

but if you'd go for the piggy-back ECU tuning keep in mind that it allows you to simply re-map it later on if you decide to get more power (read: supercharger or go turbo)

some people have gone for the f-con and some have choosen a different piggy-back ecu whatever you go for make sure you get one that can be re-mapped and easily removed if you decide to sell the car at a later state.

[noby76]

We never buy a 6 cylinder highis revving engine to get 50mpg. The maximum one can get from any 6 cylinder petrol engine is 35 – 38 mpg on combined cycle when driven sensibly i.e 50 to 65 mph on motorway. If you want a better fuel economy you might as well have the car lpg converted but you might have to work out the initial cost against how many miles you do or how long you looking to keep the vehicle.

You could also improve your mpg by making sure the car is running on good clean engine oil e.g Castrol magnatec, Mobil , Shell 5W 30’s , make sure the air filter is nice and clean if its dirty replace it, get new spark plugs if the ones you currently got our past their best as by giving the engine a good air flow and big spark doesn’t put strain on the engine which results in less fuel being needed to get the car moving, use good fuel. No matter how cheap super market fuels are I personally stay away from them. I use Esso(Mobil) or Shell religiously and run it on higher octane for a full month every now and again to clean the engine, injectors and fuel system.

make sure all four tyres are well balanced and are inflated to the correct psi (33 - 35) as under inflated tyres causes imbalance to the car and can drink fuel.

I achieve around 24mpg in town driving and 33mpg on combined driving in my IS300 which is higher than what the book state of 18mpg in town and 26mpg on combine cycle. But if you really want to achieve any thing in the region of 40 – 50 mpg then a 6 cylinder petrol won’t cut it. You might have to look at diesel or hybrid for that.

[BillNick]

All very good tips there!

WEIGHT REDUCTION

Although the IS is naturally a pretty weighty beast and there isn't much you can strip out without compromising the whole reason for buying one in the first place (luxury) - you can simply make sure your boot isn't full of crap etc etc and if you only use your motor in and around town close to home, take your spare wheel out.

Every little helps ;-)

[lex evs]

thanks for the tips and advise guys only asked that coz about 4 months after buying the lexus found out it would have been more practical to buy a more eco friendly car (just became a dad :D ). but as i love my little girl and the lexus equally they are just going to have to get along .

[fjcfarrar]

thanks for the tips and advise guys only asked that coz about 4 months after buying the lexus found out it would have been more practical to buy a more eco friendly car (just became a dad :D ). but as i love my little girl and the lexus equally they are just going to have to get along .

Just take comfort that the reliability of the IS200 will keep down the rest of the running costs. If this is your first 6-cylinder car, your driving style will probably change as you adapt to its characteristics and give you slightly better mpg. Just try driving so as to less often use the brakes except to stop - slow down by taking your foot off, anticipating when you want to go slower. Do this for a while to see what difference it makes and also using the best gear - the MPG indicator helps a bit with revs versus gear choices. Try to steer as smoothly as possible which also helps with tyre wear. Screeching tyres is a sign of extra fuel consumption as well as extra tyre wear. Also accelerating no more than you need to reach the speed you want can make a big difference. These things can make the drive seem a bit boring (but you don't have to go as far as driving like an elderly chauffeur with the Queen in the back) and make suprisingly little difference to journey-times compared with driving it like it was competing in F1; but will help stretch the cash in your pocket.

[gsdude]

One thing I noticed made a difference for me was the balancing and tracking of my wheels when I had it done last year on my old IS200, much smoother ride on the longer journeys and car coasts along for longer when you take your foot off the gas when approaching roundabouts/junctions not to mention tracking/balancing being beneficial for tyre wear...as they say every little helps :)

[jfatboy]

to be honest if you are concerned that much about mpg, maybe you shouldnt have got an is200 and got a golf gttdi.

[krisby1]

thanks for the tips and advise guys only asked that coz about 4 months after buying the lexus found out it would have been more practical to buy a more eco friendly car (just became a dad :D ). but as i love my little girl and the lexus equally they are just going to have to get along .

. Also accelerating no more than you need to reach the speed you want can make a big difference.

Sorry to say, this part is a false economy, if you need to get to 40mph, then get their quickish, don't take your time, as accelerating, no matter how quick or slow, always uses fuel, so if you take 20 seconds getting to 40mph, that is 20 seconds at say, 10mpg, rather than 5-6 seconds at 8mpg. Plus, you won't annoy the people behind you that would like to do 40mph.

My wifes old car, a Seat toledo 1.8 automatic was especially noticeable at this, as it has a digital dynamic mpg readout, and sure enough, her car would show 8-10mpg under slow acceleration, and 8 mpg under brisk or swift acceleration, then would settle at about 28mpg, which is really where you want it to for the majority of the time.

[fjcfarrar]

thanks for the tips and advise guys only asked that coz about 4 months after buying the lexus found out it would have been more practical to buy a more eco friendly car (just became a dad :D ). but as i love my little girl and the lexus equally they are just going to have to get along .

. Also accelerating no more than you need to reach the speed you want can make a big difference.

Sorry to say, this part is a false economy, if you need to get to 40mph, then get their quickish, don't take your time, as accelerating, no matter how quick or slow, always uses fuel, so if you take 20 seconds getting to 40mph, that is 20 seconds at say, 10mpg, rather than 5-6 seconds at 8mpg. Plus, you won't annoy the people behind you that would like to do 40mph.

My wifes old car, a Seat toledo 1.8 automatic was especially noticeable at this, as it has a digital dynamic mpg readout, and sure enough, her car would show 8-10mpg under slow acceleration, and 8 mpg under brisk or swift acceleration, then would settle at about 28mpg, which is really where you want it to for the majority of the time.

Sorry, should have been clearer about accelerating. Yes brisk accelearation is good; but with all cars there is a point where extra pressure with the right foot doesn't make it accelerate any faster - just gasp and use more fuel. The effect is much less with good fuel injection than it used to be with carburation, but is still there. In the extreme case, ramming your foot to the floor and waiting for the engine to speed up is neither as fuel-efficient nor as effective in accelerating as keeping your right foot as light and gradual as possible for the acceleration you are after - whether lots or a little.