mama mia

I am in a similar position to mama mia in that I bought an 08 plate 400h SE in December 08 with around 9,500 miles on the clock.

I have done 6000 miles so far and average 30.8 mpg. Mostly motorway driving with cruise control set at 75mph. I had a couple of minor problems with the vehicle and received a replacement 400h for a day. I drove it like an 18 year old.... flooring it at every set of traffic lights and motorway driving at 85-90mph (not legal but not a ban) and averaged 27mpg - however I was not in any traffic jams.

400h ownership is great. There are detractors but it is a great all-rounder.

This site is great too. Thanks for all the advice to date.

That's great efficiency. Does it mean that the efficients speed is more than 85 mph?

In that case, I have to admit I am quite impressed. How on earth are you managing 30 - 32 mpg in London ? I seem to only ever average 22mpg and have come to accept it as par for the course. Pray tell in what way(s) specifically have you adapted your driving style ?

Thanks in advance

I don't do anything special. I try to keep the car rolling as often as possible, controlling the speed using the accelerator by anticipating events and potential obstacles as far ahead as possible so that I can slow the car down gradually rather than rushing towards traffic lights or slow moving traffic and then being forced to use the breaks. I use the same approach on motorways and often manage to drive anti-clockwise from Junction 13 of the M25 to the Folkestone Eurotunnel exit without touching the brakes.

I find that when the Battery is fully charged the car will run at 40miles per hour for quite a distance. In london traffic, the car spends most of the time running on Battery power and then re-charging when the traffic comes to a stand still. Not using the Air Conditioning also helps in Winter. I suppose it also depends upon how your Battery charges - I can get often get mine to charge to full green bars as I descend down a steep hill towards the village I live in.

I also only use premium unleaded from Shell wherever possible and BP on other occasions.

When I had a MkII RX300, I used to average 20-22mpg for every day driving, and 25-27mpg on longer runs.

Thanks for the tips. I am going to try it. Today, I took the car on the highway and the average I did was only 27 MPG - which is far from satisfactory. I also find that I cannot sufficiently get the Battery to be charged to the maximum green bars. The highest it can go is 2 to 3 bars above the mid-point. How can I get it fully charged without the benefit of going down slopes? should I get the car checked? Many thanks!!

I know there have been some discussions about the real mpg of the RX400H compared to the published one. I just bought a pre-approved 08 400h which has just about done 10,000 miles. My fuel efficiency is only about 20-23 mpg in city driving when the traffic is smooth. Is this too low? Does the fuel efficiency increase if there is a lot of 'start stop'? Even when I drive really slowly at 10 mph, I find the engine kicking in all the time. In fact, the moment I start driving, the engine kicks in. Only when I stop pressing the accelerator, does the Battery kick in. Is this supposed to be the way? Would appreciate your comments and thoughts.