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Got my 08 reg 220d se mm last friday. Scourced from a Lexus dealer. Pristine condition with 16.5k on the clock. I have driven a petrol car for years and this is my first diesel. I was horrified when i found on trips i was getting 35 MPG!! On the basis of what i had read on this forum, i guessed that i had a dud that was going to gulp diesel. However, i decided today that i would set the rev warning light for 2000 rpm and try not to exceed that.(on my last petrol car i was well used to 3000/4000 revs) I went on a 70 mile trip and spent about 20/25 mins crawling through traffic. Apart from that, i kept revs below 2000 and kept to legal speed limits. I was amazed and delighted to get 49.8 MPG. It would seem that the initial low MPG was down to my driving habits rather than to any issue with the car.Anyway, i am going to monitor and hopefully that is the case. If not, its back to the dealers who in fairness have said they will look at it if need be. In th emeantime, it appears if you keep the revs down, you will increase the MPG!!!

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Got my 08 reg 220d se mm last friday. Scourced from a Lexus dealer. Pristine condition with 16.5k on the clock. I have driven a petrol car for years and this is my first diesel. I was horrified when i found on trips i was getting 35 MPG!! On the basis of what i had read on this forum, i guessed that i had a dud that was going to gulp diesel. However, i decided today that i would set the rev warning light for 2000 rpm and try not to exceed that.(on my last petrol car i was well used to 3000/4000 revs) I went on a 70 mile trip and spent about 20/25 mins crawling through traffic. Apart from that, i kept revs below 2000 and kept to legal speed limits. I was amazed and delighted to get 49.8 MPG. It would seem that the initial low MPG was down to my driving habits rather than to any issue with the car.Anyway, i am going to monitor and hopefully that is the case. If not, its back to the dealers who in fairness have said they will look at it if need be. In th emeantime, it appears if you keep the revs down, you will increase the MPG!!!

Spot on ....I've being saying this on here for the last two years, the car's different learn how to drive it and it performs to expectation.

Good luck with it....I have a wonderful car....long may it last

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That sounds right to me. I don't proclaim to be an expert on this subject at all but the 220d's I've driven, I kept the revs low and got late 40's on the mpg. My LS spends most of it's time under 2,000 rpm and gets about 20mpg. Would it be worth it from time to time to give it the berries to blow up any carbon build up in the cat?

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Mine is 07and my first diesel. I too have found that it helps lots to stay near below 2000-1800 rpm all the time and then I can just get 45mpg on a trip out of town, or 35 in town. Normal driving means less than 30 in town and less than 40 on a trip.

But

I find I am almost all the time in the "dead" zone. It is like a turbo lag zone as turbo is almost off below 1800-2000.

I am selling now and moving to BMW. I tested 325d manual (they had no Automatics - they sold out), and drove over 2000-3000 R's for most of the drive, about 30 miles + about 10 miles on A road and rest in town. I am going to have a new knee in May and have bought the Automatic 325d. I find the clutch in the Lexus painful, but BMW was lighter and no pains, engine very very smooth. The BMW is so fast in any gears and any speed. Zero turbo lag even if you drive at 1500 R's, as Turbo start is 1300R's. Engine felt light, quite and revvy.

I was shocked. It gave me 39.6MPG average on the computer. IF I drove Lexus like this I know it would have been 30 MPG.

I know the computer may not be correct, but I think the BMW was a 3 litre and I am happy.

I will miss the Lexus. It is a beautiful car, but for one or 2 problems.

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I've recently started driving in the same way with a close eye on the revs. Yes it works, I got something like 46mpg on a run to Hull.

BUT, for me it takes the enjoyment out of driving and makes it hard work driving with all the gear changing etc.

If I drove it like my old petrol Volvo S60, which averaged 30mpg overall, I imagine the consumption would be not a great deal better than that which, for a diesel, is pretty poor and a bit too expensive.

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Glad to see that it works for some of you guys. I do agree, it feels like i am being very reserved in keeping the revs down and to be honest, it is not the most exciting way of driving such a lovely car with tonnes of hp. However, what does please me to know that i have a choice and when some days i am not so concerned about the price of diesel...i can put the boot down and bang the revs up!!!!

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Glad to see that it works for some of you guys. I do agree, it feels like i am being very reserved in keeping the revs down and to be honest, it is not the most exciting way of driving such a lovely car with tonnes of hp. However, what does please me to know that i have a choice and when some days i am not so concerned about the price of diesel...i can put the boot down and bang the revs up!!!!

you've just hit the nail on the head,that is what high performance diesels with 400nm of torque are all about.reading the german forums shows that the most recent models with dpf systems, long gearing and 170bhp deliver similar returns at the pumps comparable with the 220.

ps,my car is back to 43mpg after the recent cold winter,but sadly out of warranty now :sad:

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This really does make sense. On the 430 if you drive it in a spirited manner using plenty of revs, MPG down to single figures is very easy. Using the ROSPA style of driving is very easy to kill your MPG. Keep the revs low and it works. So, it's not only for diesels. On the motorway I have got 32MPG out of mine before and for a 4.3 tugging along the best part of two tonnes, that's preety good.

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I've never understood why people bitch about the mpg on the diesel. Fortunately, the main protagonists have p :tsktsk: ed off elsewhere...

I did a 350 mile run yesterday, mostly on motorways and I don't hang around, pushing 90 mph most of the way apart from 50 through the roadworks on the M1 and my IS220d returned 42 mpg according to the on-board computer. I'm more than happy with that.

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I've never understood why people bitch about the mpg on the diesel. Fortunately, the main protagonists have p :tsktsk: ed off elsewhere...

I did a 350 mile run yesterday, mostly on motorways and I don't hang around, pushing 90 mph most of the way apart from 50 through the roadworks on the M1 and my IS220d returned 42 mpg according to the on-board computer. I'm more than happy with that.

Point taken & driving keeping the revs down will increase the mpg on any car but I think many people's gripe (well mine anyway!) is that they have seen a big drop in mpg which we perceive is due to some of the work done under recall either the replacement 5th injector or the software updates.

I had been getting an indicated 42mpg constantly under my "normal" driving, this dropped to 35mpg at best. I tried keeping the revs to around 1800-2000 since earlier this week. On my run home I reset the computer once I was out of town & on the motorway, kept to speed limits & the rev range & got just over 39mpg, tbh driving that way & having bypassed the stop/start town stuff I would have expected mid 40's at least. Continued this style of driving & now getting just over 38, which is an improvement but not back to 42 yet.

Are forums not for bitching anyway?? :winky:

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I've never understood why people bitch about the mpg on the diesel. Fortunately, the main protagonists have p :tsktsk: ed off elsewhere...

I did a 350 mile run yesterday, mostly on motorways and I don't hang around, pushing 90 mph most of the way apart from 50 through the roadworks on the M1 and my IS220d returned 42 mpg according to the on-board computer. I'm more than happy with that.

Point taken & driving keeping the revs down will increase the mpg on any car but I think many people's gripe (well mine anyway!) is that they have seen a big drop in mpg which we perceive is due to some of the work done under recall either the replacement 5th injector or the software updates.

I had been getting an indicated 42mpg constantly under my "normal" driving, this dropped to 35mpg at best. I tried keeping the revs to around 1800-2000 since earlier this week. On my run home I reset the computer once I was out of town & on the motorway, kept to speed limits & the rev range & got just over 39mpg, tbh driving that way & having bypassed the stop/start town stuff I would have expected mid 40's at least. Continued this style of driving & now getting just over 38, which is an improvement but not back to 42 yet.

Are forums not for bitching anyway?? :winky:

Not had my car long but had the 5th injector and the remap done about two weeks ago and it doesnt seam to have changed my average at all. Granted its been a bit warmer in gereal since i had it done so maybe thats why but it was giving me about 41mpg before and pretty much the same since with a mixture of town and A road driving mainly

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I've never understood why people bitch about the mpg on the diesel. Fortunately, the main protagonists have p :tsktsk: ed off elsewhere...

I did a 350 mile run yesterday, mostly on motorways and I don't hang around, pushing 90 mph most of the way apart from 50 through the roadworks on the M1 and my IS220d returned 42 mpg according to the on-board computer. I'm more than happy with that.

You've answered your own question! The reason people bitch about the mpg on the diesel is because many, like me, get more like 30-32 mpg on trips like the one you describe. If you were one of the unlucky ones with a car like that (and it is pot luck it seems, the performance seems to vary so much between individual examples) I'm sure you would be very much less than happy.

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I've never understood why people bitch about the mpg on the diesel. Fortunately, the main protagonists have p :tsktsk: ed off elsewhere...

im sure if like me you got at best 33mpg you would be moaning, luckily for you i will be p*****g off soon.

then you can enjoy the fan club without people moaning about poor mpg on a 20+ k car

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If one of my main concerns were fuel economy, I would be very disappointed with a 220D. I think most people have worked out their likely mpg from the advertised ones. It seems to work well with petrol cars. However with diesels it seems different. Lexus diesels are not alone here. It just seems sad that a 220D can't give you the expected mpg unless you are very gentle with it. Perhaps it would have been better to have bought a lower powered and cheaper car in the first place. Don't ask me what though.

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the reason i went for the 220d was that i had been a lexus customer for 6 years i was looking to change and after speaking to the sales guy and viewing the published mpg figures it looked like a good car,

only after owning one do you find out what the car is really like, i have had the updates/re maps injector change ect but not seen any change in mpg

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I'm p :tsktsk: g off too :whistling:

I wish people wern't so rude. Anyway, you can buy a car with a bigger engine and 2 more cyls which is more economical. I have just. I pick it it up tomorrow morning. BMW325d. Anyway, point is that yesterday I drove my Lexus at 60mph in 5th for 73.6 miles on a motorway (M74 between Glasgow and M6, all down hills non stop). and I got 47.6mpg. That is the best my car will ever give driven like a old woman, down hills and ith no AC on. Me only and no luggages.

So, I think that some cars are brilliant and will give 57.5 like on other notes, but even my Lexus garage has told me not to expect anything more than a 45 at best.

I will know more tomorrow with the new car. I am planning a trip on Sunday all being well. Will report next week.

Ciao

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I am the OP and i have further tested by theory. I drove 270 miles today and i averaged 50.4 MPH. Very few of the miles were in 6th gear. No AC and kept within speed limits. The tank average since my last fill (about 360 miles ago) is 45.7 MPG(there is quite a bit of city driving in that). The reality is with my car is that if i keep the revs down and use the cruise control (with uses the ECU to accelerate and throttle when you go up hills and hence is more economic) i can get a very decent MPG. What i would repeat is that it is far from the most enjoyable way to drive a car that is essentially a performance car. It does make for a stress free comfortable ride though.

In response to the posters who are getting BMWs,Friends of mine have Beamers with 2 litre diesel engines which is a better engine than the Lexus/Toyota 2.2litre block and more frugal.However, my Lexus is miles more comfortable and luxurious than the BMW and a much better looking car. They are not nearly as common as the bavarian, which are everywhere and dont turn heads at all. Yes, i would accept that overall the BMW is probably a better car, but so far, i wouldn't swap my Lexus for any 3 or 5 series.

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I'm p :tsktsk: g off too :whistling:

I wish people wern't so rude. Anyway, you can buy a car with a bigger engine and 2 more cyls which is more economical. I have just. I pick it it up tomorrow morning. BMW325d.

you know, bmw has the best diesel engines in the market and probably also the best 6pot petrol engines.

To be the best doesn't mean to be the cheapest, in other words, they want heaps of money for their perfection.

You pay, you do the math.

I did, and I did the comparison with 320d, which I tested, as I did with IS220d. In day to day life, I would get 0,5-1,0l better consumption per 100km with the bmw. In your oldstyle measuring methods it means that at the moment I am with IS220d on 41,9, with beemer I would be on 45,5-49,5 - which I doubt but OK, let's to do the math with the worst case.

The difference in money means I would pay at worst 1 € extra per 100km.

When I was buying my car, the difference with 320d was about 10.000 € (talking about the same equipment level)

If I bought 320d, I would have to drive 1 milion kilometres, just to equal the ownership and running costs. But, as I lease the car and I have insurance, I would be paying about 25% extra on interest and also I would be paying extra for the insurance, because it is more expensive car and it is being more often stolen - so even after 1milion kms I wouldn't be on even.

Of course, you can buy bmw without the toys and gadgets and you will be on equal price from the beginning. The question is, do you want premium car to be in luxury and feel luxury or you want just look good in front of your friends and neighbours?

The competition in family sized cars is now very strong, with cars as mondeo, new C5, mazda 6, insignia, accord... if you want to save every penny, why did you buy premium car?

It is your money, your choice, but I guarantee you that with 325d you won't save nothing.

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