Higer Than Expected Fuel Consumption

[Matthewj1268]

Hi All, this is my first post.

I am the new owner of a lovely but quite well travelled 2001 IS200. She has 108k on the clock and drives beautifully.

I have just driven out my first full tank. from 59L I did 349 miles. That is about 26mpg,

In my experience Jap NA engines usually score close to their official specs. I was hoping for 29mpg or a bit more.

Do you have any tips based on experience of IS200 that are drinkier than usual?

My car has a FSH and has only ever visited 2 garages. She is almost due her next service.

I thank you for your constructive input.

Matt

PS: Please no snarky "Buy a diesel remarks" I am a petrol head, I just don't want my car performing worse than it should be.

[Mr.Rudus]

hi Mathew and welcome to the forum.

your mpg is about right. .70 litre tank. assume its a manuaI?

the only sure best way for any mpg gain is a few psi more in tyre pressures and control your throttle response.

service will help with correct clean oil eg 5/30.

after all you will get about 2 -4 mpg max.

[noby76]

Welcome to the club Matt.. a petrol head does not worry about MPG :) ..

ok jokes aside if you tend to drive mostly in town with lots of start stops then expect around only low 20's mpg even worse if you put your foot down more.. the 29mpg stated is a combination of both motorway and town driving so if around 50% of your driving does not involve driving on motorway or open road were 6th gear comes into play then am sorry you will not see 29mpg. things like tyre pressure also do help so worth checking your tyre pressure Lexus recommends between 33 -35 psi all round. clean air filter and quality engines oils also does improve combustion efficiency so make so worth getting the air filter changed and using the recommended SAE 5W-30 engine oils some do have additives which reduces internal friction which causing the engine to run more efficiently resulting in less fuel consumption so will recommend those brands. couple of guys on here have also confirmed they get not so good mpg when they use supermarket fuels so try some branded fuels to see if it makes a difference.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

That's normal mpg. My average is 22mpg but I like the go faster pedal a lot :)

[Matthewj1268]

Thanks for your input. The last tank was Asda's finest, As is the current one, I will fill up on Shell next time and see if I get better mileage. I have a 15 mile commute, 10 miles motorway or fast A road and 5 miles steady going in town, occasionally there is a jam but I would expect any car to its combined ave on this trip.

I will be getting a service in a month or so, so it will be good to compare economy before and after the service.

I am always on top of the PSI but has anyone tried increasing their rolling diameter?

Has anyone got better economy from K&N style filters? Also this catalyst is very old do they tend to fail? Does that affect economy?

Anything that is affecting you economy may also be affecting your performance.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

If you want to talk mpg then Stuart Aspey is your man. He's the mpg expert. The only person I know who has got over 500 miles from 1 tank in an IS200.

Look up some of his threads :)

[Matthewj1268]

That's astonishing, I will be happy with 400.

[noby76]

dude drives in snow mode 24/7 and I bet he doesn't exceed 40mph on a 60mph road to get those figures lol. anyway 10 miles motorway and 5 mile townish should give around the 29mpg mark. I get 30-33 mpg on a 25 mile commute to work. 5 miles town and 20 miles motorway and its a 1000cc more..put my foot down more and the whole tank will average only 25mpg . you can also try resetting your ECU after your fill up as the ECU might still have logs of the previous owners driving style compared to yours. disconnect your negative Battery terminal reconnect it after about 15 - 20mins and ECU has been reset.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Yeah nobby true... but 500 miles from a tank is very impressive any way you look at it!

[noby76]

tell me about it Chris I need some tips from Stuart... Hey Stuart help us out here! what's the secret? :)

[Matthewj1268]

"you can also try resetting your ECU after your fill up as the ECU might still have logs of the previous owners driving style compared to yours. disconnect your negative Battery terminal reconnect it after about 15 - 20mins and ECU has been reset."

Thanks for the tip @Noby76

[sjrainsford]

Hi Matthew.

I do mainly A road drives with my general use of the car. My lifetime average is 29mpg (it's an auto). I've had a few weeks where I've averaged 31 but that's with sticking to 60mph and no more. If I drive at 80mph regularly my tank average drops to 27mpg.

[lexus loon]

Matthew,is yours a manual or auto ,i have a manual and get 29mpg urban ,it helped after i put BG44Kin tank to clean it out.

[petayV8]

Dont worry you wont get any of those diesel remarks here, thats what i love about the LOC. were very like minded in that sense :)

[petayV8]

try that engine cleaner stuff. ive heard good things. also mine runs better on none supermarket fuel. and K&N give 1 - 3 mpg more on some cars but not sure about IS

[Matthewj1268]

Mine is a manual, I have tried driving in snow mode, From the position of the MPG gauge, it seems to make a very big difference. I am quite surprised.

@PetayV8 - if you mention MPG on Pistonheads, you get lynched!

[sjrainsford]

All the snow mode does is vastly relax the throttle response. It doesn't actually improve mpg as such, it just helps you drive more economically.

The same results can be achieved without snow mode, but you have to be disciplined. That's where most of us fail hehe!

[Stuart Aspey]

Hey guys, sorry been away for a while. Did you know the facebook group has a girl member!!!!!

Anyway, MPG. Yes. I was using the Snow Mode religiously, but haven't for the last 3 fill ups. I'm just being cautious now.

My commute to work is around 13 miles each way. About 15 minutes at 60 MPH, other wise it's through small villages. My last tanks were, 472 = 32.4MPG, 292 =32.6MPG and 446 =32.7MPG

I am as gentle as can be with the accelerator and alway monitor the MPG ometer. I coast to slow down to lights and approaching roundabouts to try and increase my MPG where possible. I'm about to hit 250 miles to half a tank this time, where I've been hovering around the 230-240 mark.

When the fuel light comes on, I can go another 50 miles and even with the needle resting on the stopper, I know I've got about 2 litres left. This is needing a petrol station fuel only. Lol.

[noby76]

Hey guys, sorry been away for a while. Did you know the facebook group has a girl member!!!!!

My commute to work is around 13 miles each way. About 15 minutes at 60 MPH, other wise it's through small villages. My last tanks were, 472 = 32.4MPG, 292 =32.6MPG and 446 =32.7MPG

Tell her I said Hi Stuart...actually I am not doing that bad then based on your figures as I also average around 30 -33mpg during fill ups when i take things smoothly.. but this involves pretty much motorway commute where the mpg needle can comfortably sit between 40 and 30mpg at 70mph..

[Stuart Aspey]

My ownership average over 14,000 miles is 31.5MPG. I think the fuelly link is still in my post signature.

I've twice gone over 500 miles to a tank, though this was entirely motorway driving when we went to Scotland in May.

[petayV8]

I thought the FB group was originally set up by a girl Kelly Nash? Anyway im not actually that surprised because if you look around there are alot of females driving IS200s ive noticed!

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

I thought the FB group was originally set up by a girl Kelly Nash? Anyway im not actually that surprised because if you look around there are alot of females driving IS200s ive noticed!

No mate. Kelly was just an admin. She's not any more, I took her place when she got rid of her lex. Gregori set up the page :)

[Stuart Aspey]

Female Lexus owners are still in the minority, but the RX seems to have a higher proportion than first gen IS.

The fuel economy of the first gen IS can be improved beyond the official figures without too much difficulty. I don't travel at below the speed limit and I don't accelerate too slowly. I'm gentle, but I don't drive slowly. But I watch the MPG ometer like a hawk.

[Noreen is200]

Hi Matthew, very nice car!

I have to say I'm with Stuart on this one. I used to be very heavy footed on the accelerator and found I would need to fill up my tank once a week. After being much lighter than before its now been 8 days since I've filled up and I am just over halfway. I drive 40 miles total on the motorway about 5 times a week.

Tomorrow is the first time I will be driving to Birmingham (70 miles one way from where I am) with my lighter foot in tow so lets see what we make of that!!

[Sherbertmelon]

My best MPG was around 36, this was on my trip to wales, covered a total of 648 miles on £100 of Standard Unleaded! and the other day when I was pushing it i managed 469 off £80 but didn't run it dry as I got worried haha!