Is200 Very Low Mpg - 12

[damtrx]

Hi to all,

I'm new to this forum but I've already read a lot an articles.

My problem is that my Lexus IS200 is getting very low miles per gallon - It's about 12 MPG or 19l/100km in urban area.

Well i press hard on the pedal sometimes but I never get 20 MPG or more in urban area.

On the highway I get around 20MPG (12l/100) with around 80-90 mph.

My local Lexus dealer told me that there is no problem with the car and everything is fine.

Is that normal fuel consumption ?

I hope that someone will answer to my question . BTW some days I get 9 MPG that is about 21l/100km - From 2.0l engine that is a lot .

[lexus loon]

Martin, thats not right im sure, can you get it hooked up to a diagnostic machine because you should get much more than that

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

This car is notoriously bad on fuel but your MPG would indicate either your driving everywhere with your foot to the floor or there is something wrong.

I get about 20mpg around town. I can get this up to 28-30mpg if driving on the motorway at 60-70mph. To be honest 20mpg might be about right if your flying down the motorway at 90mph.

[lexus loon]

Also martin ,is your car a manual or automatic ,as mine is a manual and get 27-28 mpg around town,but thats with sensible driving mostly.

[damtrx]

Also martin ,is your car a manual or automatic ,as mine is a manual and get 27-28 mpg around town,but thats with sensible driving mostly.

It is manual transmission . I did full engine diagnostic in local Toyota service and they confirmed that everything is fine.

There is no check engine , and OBDII diagnostics shows no errors. If I drive it for 50-60km on a full throttle it seems that the fuel consumption drops.

For example in the winter I get 20l/100 (11MPG these imperial units :) ) and I decided to ride 100km of a full throttle on every possible road. I get 20/100 (11MPG) and then another 100km I ride it normally. My fuel consumption was OK 11/100 or 20MPG .After that I drove the car to the Toyota service for full diagnostics and it was ok.

Now couple of months later my car is consuming 17/100 (14mpg) and whatever I do I can't drop it. I know that there are times that I push it a lot but when I try to drive it below 4000rpm it's almost the same.

edit: And I change all the oils , cam belts and etc. The only thing that I didn't try Is to clean the throttle body

edit: Correction 43km with 8liters is about 18.56litres per 100km or about 12-13 MPG . I should drive a monster :)

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Clean the throttle body then. There's a "how to" on this forum. Doesn't take long either :)

[damtrx]

Clean the throttle body then. There's a "how to" on this forum. Doesn't take long either :)

I will clean it definitely but according to other forums people are complaining that when the engine is cool the idle RPMs are 2000 but mine are 1200 . When my car reach normal temperature the RPMs drop down to 650 that is normal according to the manual .

So I don't know what is normal on cold engine - 2000 RPMs or 1200 . That is my real concern about that operation. I already investigate how to clean and it's really simple operation .

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Mine idles at 1500rpm when cold and about 650 rpm when warm. I would say 2000rpm is too high.

[damtrx]

Mine idles at 1500rpm when cold and about 650 rpm when warm. I would say 2000rpm is too high.

Did you try to clean your throttle body ?

And I change sparkles too with the original iridium ones . Still no change in fuel consumption or performance.

[noby76]

Hi damtrx when driving normally at which rpm do you change up to the next gear? and which viscosity of engine oil are you using and which type of fuel?

reason why I ask is if you tend to change gears around 3500rpm or above most of the time in each gear then the car wont be economical in town driving because you will be opening the secondary intake ports which sucks in more air into the engine and if ECU senses more aire coming in, it will then chuck in more fuel. if you are using 10W-40 instead of 5W-30 engine oil then although you are not doing any damage to the engine, it will not run efficiently as 10w-40 is slighlty thicker than 5W-30. Although any 95RON fuel will be ok for the IS engine, all fuels are not formualted the same just like Tyres are not designed the same so unfortuntely if you are not using branded fuels like BP. Esso, Shell, Total then you might not get better or more mpg from the engine. all fuels come from the same refinery but its the extra friction reducing additives added into these fuels which makes them differ from another brand of fuel or non branded fuel. I get between 20- 23 mpg in town driving in auto IS300 not sure how that works out in Litres/100km and its 11years old with 116,000miles on the clock so in other words it should be getting worse mpg but its doing the opposite and giving more using Shell fuels.

[damtrx]

@noby76 - well I will give you two examples .

1. Start engine, drive like a hooligan with gear change around 6k RPM - fuel consumption - 12MPG (19l/100km)

2. Start engine , change gears around 2,5k - 3k RPM ,drive in urban environment at 6th speed with 25-40miles per hour - Fuel consumption 15-16 MPG.

I tried to drive slow as hell but there is no big difference still no 20MPG . This was my only normal fuel consumption and i'm starting to think that calculation is wrong :)

I use OMV and Shell 95 to 100 unleaded petrol (Shell V-power , Shell 95 or something similar ) . I'm not from UK :)

[noby76]

@noby76 - well I will give you two examples .

1. Start engine, drive like a hooligan with gear change around 6k RPM - fuel consumption - 12MPG (19l/100km)

2. Start engine , change gears around 2,5k - 3k RPM ,drive in urban environment at 6th speed with 25-40miles per hour - Fuel consumption 15-16 MPG.

I tried to drive slow as hell but there is no big difference still no 20MPG . This was my only normal fuel consumption and i'm starting to think that calculation is wrong :)

I use OMV and Shell 95 to 100 unleaded petrol (Shell V-power , Shell 95 or something similar ) . I'm not from UK :)

In that cae something is not right because your car is drinking fuel like a V8 GS430. sorry cant help then..

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Don't take this the wrong way but it sounds like everytime you get in the car you drive it like you stole it so it's no wonder your mpg is rubbish. Lol.....

My driving style for this car if wanting good mpg is to never take it above 3000rpm before a gear change, when I get to my desired speed, just feather the throttle ever so slightly. At 60mph I can get the MPG needle to sit on 40mpg. I know I'm not getting that (the needle isn't exactly accurate) but if I do some sums then I get about 30mpg driving it like that.

A full tank returns between 300-350 miles for me. Do you know what mileage you get from a full tank?

[IHgs300]

When we owned an is200 manual, never used 6th gear round town, Only for motorway surely??

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Mine pulls quite nicely at 30-40mph in 6th Ian. It'll even pull in 6th from below 20mph. Torqueiest car I've ever driven lol :)

[damtrx]

Don't take this the wrong way but it sounds like everytime you get in the car you drive it like you stole it so it's no wonder your mpg is rubbish. Lol.....

My driving style for this car if wanting good mpg is to never take it above 3000rpm before a gear change, when I get to my desired speed, just feather the throttle ever so slightly. At 60mph I can get the MPG needle to sit on 40mpg. I know I'm not getting that (the needle isn't exactly accurate) but if I do some sums then I get about 30mpg driving it like that.

A full tank returns between 300-350 miles for me. Do you know what mileage you get from a full tank?

Maybe you are right about my driving style but when I try to drive gently the situation is the same.

That's why I decide to try hard to get the most fuel consumption ever - 12MPG or 20l/100 in urban area .

So if 11-12MPG is the limit , then if I drive gently it should drop. This is not my case . Sometimes I drive about 10 miles to my work with traffic and so on , with no more that 3k RPM and the fuel consumption is almost the same.

I thought that if I press the car hard maybe some indication will direct me to the problem. Still no check engine lamp or other engine problems.

The only way my consumption is low on the meter is when stop pressing the gas pedal .If I press it gently my fuel consumption goes high.

Don't get me wrong - I tried but with the same results.

[IHgs300]

Mine pulls quite nicely at 30-40mph in 6th Ian. It'll even pull in 6th from below 20mph. Torqueiest car I've ever driven lol :)

Round our village you can never get out of 3rd before you hit an other set of traffic lights or a mile of speed humps.. :megaangry:

[lexus loon]

I only tend to use 6th gear above 50mph , but the car is so quiet sometimes its easy to forget which gear you are in and like chris says it still pulls

[sjrainsford]

Ok, as you seem to be looking at instantaneous MPG from the dash readout, this doesn't really give you a good picture. In reality you need to fill the tank, run it down for a couple of hundred miles and fill it up. Then work out your actual average MPG.

[damtrx]

@sjrainsford - That is the calculation I made .

Fill the tack and then run down 100KMs (60miles) ,then refill the tank and calculate the MPG .

[sjrainsford]

That is quite low then!

I know that the brakes can be a problem on these, you'd see reduced mpg if they were binding a little.

[andyk134]

I am a little surprised by this thread. I can't believe that anyone actually buys an IS200 for its fuel consumption or its performance. I bought mine because I didn't want the usual rep mobile and something that providing you look after it and get it properly serviced on a regular basis will be utterly reliable for a very long time. I love driving it, ok so the Eibach springs and roll bars make it I different car, but I enjoy every minute of owning one. I run it on vpower all the time and get around 20mpg around town and 30 on a run which I expected before I bought it. Just enjoy the car.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

I am a little surprised by this thread. I can't believe that anyone actually buys an IS200 for its fuel consumption or its performance. I bought mine because I didn't want the usual rep mobile and something that providing you look after it and get it properly serviced on a regular basis will be utterly reliable for a very long time. I love driving it, ok so the Eibach springs and roll bars make it I different car, but I enjoy every minute of owning one. I run it on vpower all the time and get around 20mpg around town and 30 on a run which I expected before I bought it. Just enjoy the car.

Yeah but if the OP is genuinely getting below 12mpg no matter how he drives then there's a problem surely? That's LFA MPG

[andyk134]

LFA now you are talking! Could just be a heavy right foot or short journeys. In the cold weather and the rush hour traffic mine can go as low as 15 on a bad week!

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

LFA now you are talking! Could just be a heavy right foot or short journeys. In the cold weather and the rush hour traffic mine can go as low as 15 on a bad week!

I did hint and suggest this in an earlier post :)