Is200..... Thirsty?

[Drummerboy]

I only have my IS 9 days and love it but.................. is it just my driving style or are these cars thirsty !! I tend to get the throttle jammed between my foot and the floor ;) whenever I can cause the car just begs to be driven but I barely got 300 miles from the first 2 tanks of petrol................ that's about 23mpg I reckon?

What's everyone else getting?

DB

[aido]

I tend to get that but don't do much motorway driving (and my right foot is extremely heavy!!)

[ifraz]

23mpg sounds about right for non-motorway driving :o

[Gus Woodcock]

Typical of a small capacity six cylinder engine I'm afraid. You have to give it some welly to make progress, and you pay the price at the pumps. Same as my mates 2.0 litre Jag X Type. In standard form, the car runs rich, but I found using Shell Optimax improved response and actually improved MPG, therefore offsetting the increased pump price. That is assuming you have a local Shell garage!

[Lexus Jim]

agreed, get on the optimax bus. You pay a little more at the pump but you get better milage and performance

[doobs]

Even though its a straight six and I do nearly all town type driving and the performance is only mediocre, the economy on the IS200 is probably it worst point. I am lucky to get any more than 22-23 mpg .

[cyclist]

Yep - sounds familiar. I've had mine 3 weeks, and in a 50/50 mix of town + motorway I got 25mpg out of the first tankful. A recent long motorway trip looked like it might push a bit over 30 if used purely for "motorway cruising".

PS - this was also based on 2 different drivers, me + wife. Can't really comment on who's more lead footed...

[mooranger]

Had mine about 2 months now - first tank gave 365 miles (careful driving). Now get about 320 at most as I probably drive it a bit harder. To top it off, now costs 50 quid to fill it up from empty. That's 16p a mile just for fuel, but heh, everyone looks around at it and I love it.

PS - Going in for new calipers and disks tomorrow under guarantee so getting money's worth from Lexus!

[Kremmen]

I'm now up to 33mpg :)

Mostly motorways and dual carriageways though.

They do start off thirsty though, my first calculation returned 28mpg but is slowly rising month by month.

[maneesh]

Interesting discussion.

I had a IS200 Auto a while back when my J reg LS400 was being serviced. I really had to have a heavy right foot in order to get the best out of the car. I struggled to get more than about 22-23 driving around London. Shocking!

What's surprising is that with my 170,000 mile 4 litre V8 I'm still managing 18-20 in town, and around 30 on the motorway. However, if you drive one of the new LS430s then it's so efficient it probably drinks just the same as an IS200 Auto. With this brand sorta defeats argument which many people have about driving a smaller car versus a bigger car plainly on fuel costs.

[michaelH]

There have been many discussions on this before. On the motorway or open road my IS seems to have no problem in returning mpg figures of around 33, even when cruising at highish speeds. At the last refill I found that I used just under 63 litres to cover 448 miles, but that included some town driving on slow, congested roads. Short jouneys and town driving eats into this, but I try to avoid such use by taking the bus (or my wife's Yaris) instead. I use optimax, but don't know if it really makes much difference.

[marcus]

i have to say i never think about what "mpg" i get. i just fill it up when it needs it, B) 18,20,22,24 mpg if it did 16 mpg i would still use it, just do what i do dont sit there thinking about running cost's & mpg, just sit there and think about what you are driveing "ie" one of the best cars in its class :P LEXUS :P then that big :D comes back B)

[whitie]

I've always driven 2Litre or above cars... The IS isn't the worse, by far

[Stu]

Fuel consumption is an issue with the IS, and to help reduce the petrol bills, i basically have two driving styles, one is where i don't rev the engine above 4k (before the valves open right up) when accelerating through the gears, which seems to make a difference, as i can get up to 26-28 mpg.

The other style i'm pretty sure you can guess, which involves top end revs, hard driving, and a heavy foot! Average mpg when driving like that is never higher than 22-23.

But if you want to drive the car, you gotta put the fuel in it!

Stu

[Wosket]

i have to say i never think about what "mpg" i get. i just fill it up when it needs it, B) 18,20,22,24 mpg if it did 16 mpg i would still use it, just do what i do dont sit there thinking about running cost's & mpg, just sit there and think about what you are driveing "ie" one of the best cars in its class :P LEXUS :P then that big :D comes back B)

snap! i just fill it up when its near empty. i did try optimax but couldnt be bothered to always fill up at a shell garage. it did make the car a tad more responsive but nothing to write home about. it did increase mpg on motorwaqy driving but all i do is whizz around manchester to which it made no difference. i do have a very heavy right foot. the worst ive had is 260 miles from a full tank :o most ive had is 320 and 360 using optimax when i clocked up about 1000 miles in a week, nearly all motorway.

[Shane T]

Thats generally the milleage you'll get with normal fuel but ive found using the 'super unleaded' fuels give you more mileage and better performance.

Being in the petrol trade myself i can also tell you that it is genuinally better for your engine.

I've tried Shell Optimax and also the Esso alternative but ive now found that the best one is the new BP ULTIMATE FUEL, for both mileage and performance.

I've recommended it to some friends and they all seem to agree. Give it a try and im sure you'll see the difference to and would appreciate if you could post back whether you think it does or not.

Shane