Hut49

It's going to depend entirely on the type of motoring you're doing. Driving a mix of out-of-town roads with a fair amount of accelerating to 50-60-70mph, then in the winter season, in my 2009 Rx400h, I typically get 22-24. Burn a tank on enthusiastic use of acceleration and a motorway thrash or 2 and I have been sub-20. If most of the driving is in town at 25-35mph average speeds, where the hybrid stands a chance of making a net contribution to fuel economy, then, again in the winter, I'll typically be seeing 27-29. In the summer my corresponding figures are going to be 32-35 in town, 28-32 out of town and 22-24 on a thrash. You can optimise fuel economy by learning the hybrid driving technique and this does make a noticeable difference but I'm hopelessly undisciplined and always in a rush...

Camera is less than useless in the dark! I had front/rear sensors added to my 09 RX400h LE when I purchased it this time last year. Haven't used the front ones very often and the back ones emit a constant alarm when its raining, so useless most of the time. Rather than spent £500 having them fitted I wish I'd invested in some brighter reversing lights! Anyone know if there's a suitable LED bulb that will enable the camera to see even 10 feet behind the car when reverse is engaged?

Have owned my 2009 RX400h for 6 months. Over the cold months, when the petrol engine was often running just to keep the operating temperature above the threshold, the economy struggled to get above 27 on mixed town/country roads. A motorway thrash easily got it down below 25. In the recent, warmer months it seems to average around 29-30 except for one tankful where I was super careful and got it above 33. It's really crucial to master the hybrid driving technique of pressing and lifting the accelerator pedal if you want to maximize the economy.

And it's welcome to have that experience posted on the forum, some seriously impressive figures there; and my point earlier that it makes sense for some is supported by your exprience. I'm not sure I could drive without AC and have to watch a display that dictates my style of driving to ensure I can eek out the MPG I want. It would be interesting to know what your real MPG figures are as opposed to the onboard computer reporting consumption as I know from experience that if I am rolling downhill and lift off, the car will tell me I am doing 99.9MPG which for a computer means that it can skewer the overall MPG result reported by the onboard computer. .... So the reality from calculating the actual miles travelled and fuel consumed is that 36mpg average on the display was bo££ocks - on two successive tanksful, where the consumption average per the energy consumption guide was 36.1 and then 33.8, was 29.1 and 27.9mpg respectively. I found that a bit disappointing and resolved never to drive trying to max the average.

Buy a torch?

No, they're dark. Lexus designers must've figured that you should only be fiddling with these controls in the daylight!

Not to everyone's taste, but try here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemNext&&item=280203117046#ht_2231wt_1042

Fair do's - I just completed 200 miles of mixed urban and single/dual carriageway driving shuttling Easter folk between Horsham-London and back and Horsham-Leatherhead and back, twice and the consumption meter is showing 36.0 as I pulled into the drive. I drove carefully (but not slowly) with aircon off (outside temperature was 11 deg C) and kept an eye on the meter to judge the point where electric power was contributing whenever possible. On the longer sections at 50/60 or 70 I set the cruise control. That's pretty impressive - I found a redeeming feature.

Pirelli Scorpion Verde might be worth a look and they do make them in the RX400h size - they make some pretty attractive green performance claims re improvement in fuel economy and low road noise. I'm going for a set so will post on performance in due course

I got my 2009 RX400h (LE) in December 2011 - Christmas Eve actually - with around 18k on the clock. I wasn't really looking for a Lexus but wanted something spacious, AWD, well-equipped and was unimpressed with the glut of mid-size "SUV" that have swamped the streets with their LED lighting and panoramic sunroofs. I test drove the RX400h and enjoyed the driving position and really liked the knee room / head room in the rear. Having tall grown up children and tall/big friends made the RX400h pretty attractive and I liked the rear cargo area and power tail gate. I didn't like the narrow steering wheel (felt rather 70s) and I hated the anachronistic cassette player sitting in the console (how 80s!) but there was something fascinating about the energy display that totally distracted me from the unappetising noise made by the CVT when you give it the beans. Off the mark, the power delivery from the 3.3L petrol and electric motors, is frankly surprising, but don't look at the energy meter while your foot's pressed on the loud pedal, it will give you a serious pain in the wallet. The handling is not bad for a big, high wagon and I've actually surprised myself how well it hangs on, even when I thought I was pushing it around the limit of traction (but don't have passengers on board when trying this - it's more of a selfish thing). I love creeping around multi-storey car parks on silent electric power and watching people trying to figure out how. I've never had a car that had so little character - I think it's impossible to have a relationship with this car and this, for me, is the most disappointing thing about it. It's comfortable, it works, it's practical, it's very precise and responsive on the road. And then there's the fuel economy (or whatever the inverse is!). The salesman, bless his socks, promised me that I would get at least the 32mpg I was averaging in my trade-in. Perhaps in the summer this might be possible but in the middle of winter, when the petrol engine runs to keep the operating temperature up to the mark, you will be lucky to see 28. Driving the RX400h requires a different technique - it's more of a surge and glide approach and if you don't master it you will see 27mpg. If you invest in this technique you can get 29 in the winter. Now, as the temperature is warmer I can see 29-30 for a mix of local country road and quick squirt bypass driving. I suspect 32 may be possible in the summer, but stick it in the outside lane on a motorway at 80-85 and you will be lucky to see 29mpg average even on a warm (!) March day. So RX400h's economy habit is more aligned with mixed cycle urban driving than high-speed thrash. I doubt I will own this car for more than 1 year and expect to make a thumping loss when I sell it. I made a huge misjudgement when, on an impulse, I bought it. I keep looking for some redeeming quality that will allow us to bond but I now sense that this is not a car with whom you have a relationship. It's just an expensive, un-involving box to get you (and your un-impressed passengers) from A to B.

While in Japan recently I saw a RX400h with front fog lights modified to include a ring of white LEDs. They looked very good and provided a refreshingly simple uplift in front styling - rather than the wavy LED stick-ons around the headlights. Anyone seen an importer for these in UK?

Just to add something to this thread that has been quiet for nearly 12 months! I just completed two tanksful in our new purchase 09 plate RX400H with around 20k on the clock. The first tank I frequently explored the performance and got a measly 21mpg. The second one I tried to be as economical as possible and with a mix of rural and motorway driving (using the accelerate and lift off technique) I got to 28.3. No where near the 33.2mpg that I got from my Jag XF 3.0D S averaged over 10,000 miles. Frankly I'm very disappointed because the salesman bragged that the RX400H should easily match the Jag's fuel economy. Nowhere even close. However the driving experience is very good and the practicality of the loadspace (the real reason for making the change) makes it just about acceptable.

Thanks for the reply Steve. I think you may have missed my point: the lights, when set to auto, don't ever go out (until the battery is flat :duh: ) even if I open and close the door and lock the car. Even in the most basic car there's usually a reminder buzzer that the lights are on when the key is taken out of the ignition or there is some time delay after locking the car before the lights are extinguished automatically. The 400h seems to have a deficiency in both departments, unless I'm mistaken or missing something. For a car with a 'fragile' 12V battery, inadvertently draining charge by allowing the lights to remain on seems to be a real shortcoming. Nick

With apologies for raising this from the forum vaults.... I think I have a malfunction but can't find anything in the owners manual or the Forum to help. If I have the light switch stalk set to "Auto" the headlights come on when the ambient light outside drops, and all is good. If while the headlights are on, I stop the car, turn off the power and take out the key the lights remain on. If I open the door, get out and close the door and lock it on the key-fob, the light still stay on dipped beam and do not go out. I waited for several minutes and eventually have to reopen the car and turn the lighting stalk to "off". Surely there is something wrong here? I even tried pressing the lock button on the fob twice, but to no avail. Anyone any ideas? Thanks Nick

By coincidence it happened that my RX400h was ready for collection today, 24th Dec - how cool is that! Thanks to Lexus Guildford for arranging everything and providing coffee and Danish while we went through the hand-over formalities. It's a 2009 Exec Limited Edition in Stafford Blue with grey interior with low mileage and seems to tick all the boxes. Driving home I realized how the energy display could become a real distraction but maneuvering around a multistorey carpark on the way home in stealth mode was great fun! Will need to add a few tweeks - eg iPod connection and maybe a set of winter tyres on a spare set of rims, and perhaps a set of stainless steel/aluminium running boards so the (vertically challenged) cleaner can make a good job of cleaning the roof (just kidding!)....Gave her (or him, not sure yet) a full tank of Super unleaded on the way home as a welcome, having read the optimistic reviews that suggest that it's more economical. I expect it will be back to regular fuel after the Christmas credit card bills come in. Merry Christmas! :hohoho: