Tips On Eco-driving

[wegiel]

I've driven my IS 200 for about a month and I can not believe the fuel consumption is so high - manual transmission

Don't know if this is the case of the gear-box ratio which is horrible in my opinion - how could somebody make a 6-straight engine drive 90km/h using 6-th gear with RPM higher than 2500 and consuming about 12l/100km?

This is very strange to me as I remember driving Audi A6 2.7 V6 bi-turbo automatic transmission fully loaded (5 people and luggage) 120km/h consuming less than 8,5l/100km.

Can you point some tips how to drive it with reasonable fuel consumption? Maybe the moment of changing gears is the key - let's say at 2500RPM, or 3000RPM but I doubt it frankly speaking.

I know the fuel consumption is not the most important for a car enthusiast but nevertheless it is strange for 2.0L which is not supercharged.

Thanks in advance for any tips and suggestions

Sorry for the km/h and liters per 100 km but I'm really not used to miles and mpg ;)

[Parthiban]

Yep the IS200 is not a great car for fuel economy, I've got an auto and it's even worse

As you've said, it's best to change up as earlier as possible, and keep your pressure on the accelerator pretty light. Another tip is to try to build up speed when coming downhill and then accelerate as little as possible up hill. There have been people say that keeping the snow mode on helps with this too.

Now I don't like driving like this at all, and never do it (my foot's always flat to the floor) but that's how you should drive if you want to save some fuel :)

[Steviewevie]

A K&N air filter should slightly help your fuel economy through freeing the breathing of the engine. Don't forget to reset the ECU if you install one, so the ECU can re-learn how much fuel to use.

[wegiel]

I'll probably start running using the LPG installation which was mounted by the previous owner though I never thought I'd use this kind of fuel, :duh:

[84Stoney]

I'll probably start running using the LPG installation which was mounted by the previous owner though I never thought I'd use this kind of fuel, :duh:

If it is there, use it!

If economy is a big concern for you thou, you have the wrong car.

Snow mode helps a little, but driving style is the main influence.

It is not uncommon for mine (supercharged) to return 17-18mpg if pushing hard, that's around 14 litres/100km in Polish money, or 3 miles to the £, in actual money!

[DimitrisTS]

Wegiel, are you sure about those 12l/100km? (23,5mpg)

At 90km/h i ve got 7,5 - 9 l/100km (37,6 - 31,4 mpg) with steady gas and a seemingly leveled road.

[84Stoney]

Wegiel, are you sure about those 12l/100km? (23,5mpg)

At 90km/h i ve got 7,5 - 9 l/100km (37,6 - 31,4 mpg) with steady gas and a seemingly leveled road.

Yeh that doesn't sound right, if the car is standard and you drive sensibly. I would guess you should get around 8.

Thinking about it. On long runs I can get 25mpg, which is about 8.5 litres per 100km. This was with snow mode ON and cruising at 100mph - 160kph.

[wegiel]

You may be right. These were my short-term observations - looking at fuel level indicator. I'll fill it up and check the consumption based on the full tank. I know I need to change the LPG BRC Genius part (don't know the English name) and maybe this might be doing some mess.

Anyway, thanks a lot for sharing knowledge

[Jack300]

Get the LPG sorted - forget petrol. Just keep a quarter of a tank of petrol in it just in case you run out of LPG.

My 300 does the equivalent of 49mpg - when you compare the cost of LPG to petrol. There's no real noticeable difference in performance but you do notice the extra tank of fuel in the spare wheel well.

Question is, the difference in the price of LPG and petrol as great in Poland as it is in the UK? ...if it is then stick to LPG. If not, get used to the poor fuel economy.

Good luck

jack

[wegiel]

Right, for the time being the difference is that the petrol is twice as expensive as LPG :)

[wegiel]

One more question. Is the fuel consumption meter worth anything? I mean does it show real values? (the analog one)

[Mike_B]

One more question. Is the fuel consumption meter worth anything? I mean does it show real values? (the analog one)

Waste of space in my opinion. It's too immediate, it goes up and down like a yo-yo everytime you press or lift off the gas pedal.

[ibby]

the mpg is a real time

hence the yo yo effect.

[Steviewevie]

Having come from a car with a trip computer showing mpg over a journey, I initially thought that the fuel meter in the IS200 was a complete waste of time, because of that yo-yoing effect.

However, I now think it's absolutely great. It lets you see how there can be a major mpg difference through very subtle differences in the way that you drive. If you nail the throttle all the time, then there's going to be no point looking at it. But if you drive in a way that you try and conserve your momentum (e.g. not having to break sharply and then accelerate hard again) then you'll see you can keep your mpg relatively high.

[Jack300]

interestingly - when I'm on LPG the mpg guage still thinks I'm using petrol even though there's no petrol being consumed. Therefore it's calculating the assumed mpg from whatever sensors. I think that the fuel guage does something similar as sometimes I have near half a tank full and other times I have near a quarter of a tank - all whilst not using any as it's running on LPG...

...meanwhile back in Poland, if LPG is half the cost of petrol, you will (almost) get twice the miles from LPG as you will pertol - when comparing the costs.

Good luck

jack

[wegiel]

I was wrong about the fuel consumption on a long run. I drove almost 400km using less than a half tank which means to me that the fuel consumption is about 8,5l/100km which is about 30mpg - if my calculations are ok ;)

[WylieCoyote]

A K&N air filter should slightly help your fuel economy through freeing the breathing of the engine. Don't forget to reset the ECU if you install one, so the ECU can re-learn how much fuel to use.

Is there any point resetting the ECU? Doesn't the car just run rough for a couple of tanks afterwards and give exceptionally poor fuel economy? The ECU will learn and adjust itself. Resetting, as far as I'm aware causes unnecessary problems.

I found in mine the K&N filter didn't improve fuel economy. Backing off the gas a little and doing 65 instead of 70 on the motorway and pulling away smoothly, taking out unneccesary weight are much more effective ways. Better still, if it's a short journey, walk or take a bicycle. Good for your health and wallet.

[coolrides]

lexus is200 + economical = wrong car

lol.

[muddyell]

lexus is200 + economical = wrong car

lol.

Spot on

[spikes]

lexus is200 + economical = wrong car

lol.

Spot on

but a great looking and nice car to drive :D

[wegiel]

interestingly - when I'm on LPG the mpg guage still thinks I'm using petrol even though there's no petrol being consumed. Therefore it's calculating the assumed mpg from whatever sensors. I think that the fuel guage does something similar as sometimes I have near half a tank full and other times I have near a quarter of a tank - all whilst not using any as it's running on LPG...

...meanwhile back in Poland, if LPG is half the cost of petrol, you will (almost) get twice the miles from LPG as you will pertol - when comparing the costs.

Good luck

Jack

I got sorted my LPG out but the have the same problem with fuel gauge - behaves like I was running on petrol. This is totally strange. Running on LPG it almost went down to the penultimate tick and then when I run onto a bump it jumped up to 1/2 - crazy stuff.

[Jack300]

You'll get used to it. The other day I'd been driving on lpg as normal and the petrol light had been on for a couple of days - so, I thought I'd better put some petrol in it - and guess what, on the way to the garage the car decided it had just under half a tank of petrol in it - fuel guage went back up, orange light went out. And as I was heading towards the petrol station I still put £20's worth in and now it's reading nearly full - but going down (or so it thinks) steadily.

I don't mind but I don't need to be carrying around all of that fuel... it's just extra weight.

I'm trying to figure out when and how it checks what's fuel's actually in the tank... petrol that is.

As for the LPG guage it's totally useless - I just run it until it beeps and automatically switches over to petrol - and then I refill it at the next lpg station.

...and slightly off topic I've just fitted a Flash Lube kit to help protect aginst valve seat recession.

Good luck

jack

[wegiel]

Do you know what to do to get the fuel gauge back to its correct position? Will no always remember how much fuel is left and don't wont to run out of fuel.

I go to NESTE self-service petrol station and fill 5liters and then it goes back to its position :) - stupid workaround