Simple Way To Save £670 Per Year With Your Ls

[mikesands]

Been doing the snow mode experiment for about a week now, and will have to curtail it tomorrow as I'm going to be doing lots of untypical driving.

Previous average per tank was 18.9 mpg This is sometimes with the switch in economy mode but more often with it in pwr mode. Current average on this tank which has been used every trip in snow mode is 22.1mpg. That's nearly 17% improvement. I do 15000 miles per yr and petrol up here is currently £1.10. If I run in normal mode it's going to cost me £3.900 per yr in petrol. If I run in snow mode it's going to save me £670 on that figure.

.... worth having eh?

Mike

[dan_t]

What models got snow mode??

[ManicMark]

What models got snow mode??

Mark4 ls400 & ls430s Ive been using the snow mode scince this topic started seems im getting 3 mpg more round town.

[jamesholden]

Well it should be OK because it's a big engine, essentially all it's doing is starting off in 2nd gear rather than 1st. If it were in a small engined car though i'd be worried about the long term effects of labouring the engine at low speeds.

[ManicMark]

What sort of effect would it have on the tourqe convertor, I think I will go back to normal mode for now ( im on gas anyhow & was just trying to see how much I could get out of it if I had to)

[lexusdriver]

Been doing the snow mode experiment for about a week now, and will have to curtail it tomorrow as I'm going to be doing lots of untypical driving.

Previous average per tank was 18.9 mpg This is sometimes with the switch in economy mode but more often with it in pwr mode. Current average on this tank which has been used every trip in snow mode is 22.1mpg. That's nearly 17% improvement. I do 15000 miles per yr and petrol up here is currently £1.10. If I run in normal mode it's going to cost me £3.900 per yr in petrol. If I run in snow mode it's going to save me £670 on that figure.

.... worth having eh?

Mike

Hi Mike,

I posted re snow mode query a while back and I thought that nobody had taken any notice. Assuming that your experiment was in answer to me; thank you.

Do you think that using snow mode, all or most of the time, could do any damage to anything? I assume the engine switches to a higher gear sooner than normal cutting performance but saving fuel.

Also, there's been alot of talk about changing transmission fluid of late. My '98 LS400 Mk 1V has nearly 99K on clock - I'ver noticed lately that acceleration from stationary, when first starting up, a bit strange - similar to the clutch

slipping if it were a manual geared car. It then seems o bite and from then on is OK. Could this be a sign of fresh fluid being needed, or someghing more serious? The car hasn't had it's timing cam belt changed yet - should I get tat done soon?

Thanks to anyone who might read and/or reply.

I do enjoy reading all the postings and assume we're all learning something from someone - thanks to you all.

[mikesands]

I have been trying to find out exactly what snow-mode does, and there is very little information out there. Lots of speculation by people with all kinds of cars but no manufacturer saying exactly what their own snow mode does. I will keep investigating, but for what it's worth my gut feeling is that on the LS430 it is not just simply starting the car off in a higher gear. It feels that the ECU is doing something more intelligent. There is also some deifinte road speed at which snow mode becomes indistingushable from either of the others, but I haven't found what that speed is yet.

Mike

[lizzy borden]

Been doing the snow mode experiment for about a week now, and will have to curtail it tomorrow as I'm going to be doing lots of untypical driving.

Previous average per tank was 18.9 mpg This is sometimes with the switch in economy mode but more often with it in pwr mode. Current average on this tank which has been used every trip in snow mode is 22.1mpg. That's nearly 17% improvement. I do 15000 miles per yr and petrol up here is currently £1.10. If I run in normal mode it's going to cost me £3.900 per yr in petrol. If I run in snow mode it's going to save me £670 on that figure.

.... worth having eh?

Mike

Hi Mike,

I posted re snow mode query a while back and I thought that nobody had taken any notice. Assuming that your experiment was in answer to me; thank you.

Do you think that using snow mode, all or most of the time, could do any damage to anything? I assume the engine switches to a higher gear sooner than normal cutting performance but saving fuel.

Also, there's been alot of talk about changing transmission fluid of late. My '98 LS400 Mk 1V has nearly 99K on clock - I'ver noticed lately that acceleration from stationary, when first starting up, a bit strange - similar to the clutch

slipping if it were a manual geared car. It then seems o bite and from then on is OK. Could this be a sign of fresh fluid being needed, or someghing more serious? The car hasn't had it's timing cam belt changed yet - should I get tat done soon?

Thanks to anyone who might read and/or reply.

I do enjoy reading all the postings and assume we're all learning something from someone - thanks to you all.

My soarer has a built in safety for a cold gearbox. It basically changes more gentley until the oil is up to temp.

Yours could be the same?

Snow mode on my SC430 seems to reduce power and make the throttle less responsive.