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Lexus advertise the 220d (not the sport) as 35.8 mpg urban, 52.3 Extra urban and 44.8 combined. I manage just 33, and that is on all types of trips, long and short and driving sensibly.

Lexus said the 5th injector recall and ecu remap would help but I had that done last month and it is WORSE now!

When I complained they told me fuel consumption goes down in cold weather because of the extra fuel used to start in the cold, etc but I think this is rubbish. Even after an hours driving (well warmed up by then) I only get 33 mpg. In a word they are washing their hands of the issue.

I know this is a known problem with the 220d but I am furious that Lexus can publish those figures (even as a "guideline") yet my car's consumption is so far off the mark.

My question is - has anyone challenged Lexus until they fix the problem and have any of you considered legal action against Lexus for this blatant breach of trading standards?

Secondly, my warranty expired 31 Dec 2008 but I told them of the problem before this date and also they did the injector etc before - can I still claim any fix under the warranty as I brought it to their attention before the expiry or will they try and stitch me up on that too??

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I sympathise with you but how is it a
blatant breach of trading standards

the published figures are a government guideline and not part of any contract.

As Steve says- they are a guideline from tests performed in a lab environment...FWIW, mine was almost identical toyours, and I rarely break any speed limits....and even then it is by accident and I come straight back down...

Having said that, take a look here:

LINKY

It shows that you can actually beat the government figures for Extra Urban if your car performs like it should...and no matter what anyone says and tries to scare people, the best diesels are made by BMW (choose carefully), Audi and Honda.

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As we all know its a common problem with this car. My mpg wasn't spectacular before the 5th injector mod but it's definitely worse after it. I told Lexus about it before its last service and they said they would check it out. There's no evidence that it was ever 'checked' but they said that they had when I asked. I reset the trip yesterday when I was doing a 70 mile m/way trip. I was doing between 70-75mph all the way there in 6th (I have the Sport so its useable). Finished my trip and checked the computer which revealed a mesmorisingly crap 33.2mpg. After all that has been said on here about mpg and the common opinion of the 220d engine, I think we all just have to accept that it never will be a powerful, responsive, economic engine regardless of how you drive it or what modifications it has etc.

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I just had a 220D for a 24 hour test drive, and managed 51mpg (according to the OBC) on the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh

According to the government figures, the Extra urban is 53.3 - for the new 2009 model which is 1 mpg or so more than the original IS220d...I only ever managed to get higher than 50 MPG in my IS by doing this - resetting the Ave MPG readout at 50mph in 5th, using cruise and staying at that speed for a few miles...even a slight gradient made it plummet to mid 30's on the histogram. Even then it only worked when it was newer, towards the end it gave 42, on a rolling start!

Hopefully the newer IS is sorted....but what's the gearing and engine response like on the IS220d 2009?

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Mine also is worse since the last service - high 20's in urban in this weather and 40 at best on A roads - i have pretty much stopped using 6th gear altogether as i stick to the 70mph limit on motorways. My lease is up in a couple of months and am in the process of ordering a bmw which seems miles better in every way (in terms of diesel engine/gearbox)

I think the only thing i will miss from the lexus is the reversing camera and MM system

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Mine also is worse since the last service - high 20's in urban in this weather and 40 at best on A roads - i have pretty much stopped using 6th gear altogether as i stick to the 70mph limit on motorways. My lease is up in a couple of months and am in the process of ordering a bmw which seems miles better in every way (in terms of diesel engine/gearbox)

I think the only thing i will miss from the lexus is the reversing camera and MM system

Ditto - I only really miss the rear camera, but it is an option (dealer fit) on BMW's if you have Professional nav (don't know about Business Nav). Also, get the HiFi sound - it's worth it. Thye standard BMW speakers are pants even though they have sub's under the front seats...

The Lexus Satnav was better at routing logically, the BMW prof seems slightly better in terms of features and much better in terms voice commands. The idrive is a doddle to use once you've gotten the hang of it, and you don't really miss the touch screen...

The new iDrive on the 2009 3 series seems almost identical to the Audi MMI....which is brilliant!!

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I sympathise with you but how is it a
blatant breach of trading standards

the published figures are a government guideline and not part of any contract.

Thanks for the reply, but how did they arrive at this figure? The lab tests must have been done using one of the Lexus models I assume, who supplies the test models from which the figures are obtained? Lexus I assume.

If it is clear from real life that the cars achieve nowhere near those figures and Lexus know this surely they should not publish them in their literature.

The other point is that some individual cars (same model) do have much better fuel consumption so it seems that it is more down to pot luck than an intinsic characteristic of the car. It also appears that fuel consumption can be improved if the service people persevere and try different things to fix it - eventually it can be improved, according to some members who post here.

So there must be a way and Lexus, knowing the problem exists and knowing what the published MPG figures are should fix it. No matter who made the figures (government tests or whatever) if Lexus since know that they are wildly innaccurate then they should not use them in their blurb and get the model re-tested I would think. The point is they are knowingly publishing false data no matter where it comes from, surely?

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According to the government figures, the Extra urban is 53.3 - for the new 2009 model which is 1 mpg or so more than the original IS220d...I only ever managed to get higher than 50 MPG in my IS by doing this - resetting the Ave

How do you reset it when driving ? i thought it reset when you filled your Tank

Regs Matt

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According to the government figures, the Extra urban is 53.3 - for the new 2009 model which is 1 mpg or so more than the original IS220d...I only ever managed to get higher than 50 MPG in my IS by doing this - resetting the Ave

How do you reset it when driving ? i thought it reset when you filled your Tank

Regs Matt

Avge tank does reset automatically when refilling. Avge can be reset by pressing he Display button in the wheel & holding it until it zeros the display

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I just had a 220D for a 24 hour test drive, and managed 51mpg (according to the OBC) on the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh

This proves my point - it is acheivable so it should be fixable!

Salient point above is according to the obc. Figures published for consumption figures are not measured in this way. My GS 430 OBC is always right on mpg when I check it on brim fill, but this is the only car I have driven which is accurate. I have had various 220d as courtesy cars and they have proved attrocious in regard to mpg, although I haven't gone any great distance in one.

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My 220d was within 1% when comparing brim to brim with the OBC. My Beemer's OBC Over-reads by 4% consistently. I need to recalibrate it (which you can DIY on a Beemer).

Also, it's not helpful when people keep saying that you can never hit the government figures. The simple fact is that you can if your car is setup like the one they tested - i.e. perfect, but you have to drive in a way that is optimum for fuel economy and not performance. I can in the Beemer, and exceed the figures easily, as I could in My Audi. In the Lexus I could "sort of" initially (between 5000 and 7500ish miles) and then I couldn't after that...

OT - By the way - spell checker now works on adding replies. How novel...Interestingly, the word Lexus isn't in the dic'n'harry on PC...may be 'cos it's Google Chrome that I'm using. Oh dear, even the word Google isn't there!!!

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OT - By the way - spell checker now works on adding replies. How novel...Interestingly, the word Lexus isn't in the dic'n'harry on PC...may be 'cos it's Google Chrome that I'm using. Oh dear, even the word Google isn't there!!!

OT ??????????????????

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Anyone who has seen my previous posts will know that I have always been almost happy with the MPG on my SE 220D

HOWEVER.....in the last 2 weeks, I have seen the tank MPG drop to 36 - 37mpg which is a HUGE difference.

Cannot put any pointers as to why - same driving style, same journeys etc etc

Only differences of late have been:-

1) New Front Tyres (early december but drop doesn't appear to match this date, MPG was fine to start with on new tyres)

2) Cold weather - would the recent cold snap really make such a difference (we are talking almost 10mpg here)

3) I did fill up once at Morrisons; normally (and have reverted) to the local Total Garange

The worrying thing is that this morning filled up and tried to drive as conservatively as possible to work - doing so previously would have seen 45mpg+....this morning 37mpg.....

Car did have a service (40k) late November...as far as I am aware, nothing touched apart from the normal servicing....

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I know fuel economy drops in cold weather for example, increased use of the AC for defrost etc plus

Heated Rear Screen & Heated Seats, but would it make 10mpg ?

I don't think cold weather should be affect it much once the car is running along the road once warmed up

and those accesories are turned off ?

Crazy differences im mpg between similar cars :shutit: without apparent reason.

I can't (for now) see Lexus producing another Diesel Engine/Model again in the forseeable future.

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Only differences of late have been:-

1) New Front Tyres (early december but drop doesn't appear to match this date, MPG was fine to start with on new tyres)

2) Cold weather - would the recent cold snap really make such a difference (we are talking almost 10mpg here)

Car did have a service (40k) late November...as far as I am aware, nothing touched apart from the normal servicing....

1) Check your tyre pressures. They can easily nosedive in the sub-zero temperatures that we have been having recently. Under-inflated tyres can have a negative effect on mpg.

2) Cold weather = Cold air = Denser air = Greater volumetric air intake by the engine per cylinder cycle.

The ECU adapts to this by adding more fuel to prevent the engine from running lean. All of this equals slightly more power but less mpg.

3) Check that during your last service, Lexus didn't download the latest ECU software to your car. From my experience and those of others, this combined with the 5th injector replacement has seen a decline in the mpg we are seeing from our cars.

Hope some of this helps. :winky:

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I know fuel economy drops in cold weather for example, increased use of the AC for defrost etc plus

Heated Rear Screen & Heated Seats, but would it make 10mpg ?

I have 7kms to work. This route in summer I can make between 5,5 and 6 ltr/100km, now (-10 in the morning) 7,5-8ltr. That makes 25-30% rise of the consumption.

And as you can see on bmw forum, it is normal.

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Anyone who has seen my previous posts will know that I have always been almost happy with the MPG on my SE 220D

HOWEVER.....in the last 2 weeks, I have seen the tank MPG drop to 36 - 37mpg which is a HUGE difference.

Cannot put any pointers as to why - same driving style, same journeys etc etc

Only differences of late have been:-

1) New Front Tyres (early december but drop doesn't appear to match this date, MPG was fine to start with on new tyres)

2) Cold weather - would the recent cold snap really make such a difference (we are talking almost 10mpg here)

3) I did fill up once at Morrisons; normally (and have reverted) to the local Total Garange

The worrying thing is that this morning filled up and tried to drive as conservatively as possible to work - doing so previously would have seen 45mpg+....this morning 37mpg.....

Car did have a service (40k) late November...as far as I am aware, nothing touched apart from the normal servicing....

Well, checked tyres on Tuesday evening, all out by about 1psi (35 front, 38 rear is what I went by as per manual)

Had a 400 mile run yesterday, filled up tank prior - nearly all motorway, some stopping and starting in heavy traffic on return trip, average speed when clear about 75mph, end result 44.4mpg

Better than I had been experiencing but have done exactly the same trip before and got nearer 46mpg - it was quite cold again yesterday morning I suppose.......

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This must be the most talked about subject on the forum. There have been numerous posts with some people getting very upset and doubting other posters honesty.

Some owners get very good consumption and others very poor. Discussions on the subject have been going on for so long that is the only conclusion the following, a car set up correctly gives good consumption and the failing is not the cars but the innability of dealers/Lexus to tune the thing.

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This must be the most talked about subject on the forum. There have been numerous posts with some people getting very upset and doubting other posters honesty.

Some owners get very good consumption and others very poor. Discussions on the subject have been going on for so long that is the only conclusion the following, a car set up correctly gives good consumption and the failing is not the cars but the innability of dealers/Lexus to tune the thing.

I tend to agree with you but what concerns me is the increase in fuel consumption which on reflection seems to have happened after my last service. It's gone from about 42mpg to 35mpg. It's due a 60k service in the next couple of weeks so I'll see what the dealer has to say about it.

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This must be the most talked about subject on the forum. There have been numerous posts with some people getting very upset and doubting other posters honesty.

Some owners get very good consumption and others very poor. Discussions on the subject have been going on for so long that is the only conclusion the following, a car set up correctly gives good consumption and the failing is not the cars but the innability of dealers/Lexus to tune the thing.

I tend to agree with you but what concerns me is the increase in fuel consumption which on reflection seems to have happened after my last service. It's gone from about 42mpg to 35mpg. It's due a 60k service in the next couple of weeks so I'll see what the dealer has to say about it.

That's the suggestion I'm making. It was doing fine until the dealership got their hands on it.

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I don't own a diesel car but if I did and I didn't get MPG like it says on the tin, I'd be seriously brassed off. With all the wizardry Lexus is supposed to have available to their highly skilled technicians you would think there would be an MPG equivalent to the dyno thingy.

Generally speaking there does seem to be a problem with claimed and experienced MPG figures on diesel cars. The German cars claims seem to be the most accurate. Makes you think about a 320D instead of a 220D.

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