Wooly62

And just one of the reasons we generally leave the 2010 ML350Cdi BE Sport sitting on the drive and take our 2003 Mk1 RX300 on most journeys despite the almost half fuel economy, its just a nicer place to be! Interesting that you rate the 7 year older Lexus a nicer car. I've been given 2 ML's as courtesy cars previously (when I drove Mercs) and whilst they look nice I simply didn't enjoy them. I definitely consider the Lexus plusher and IMHO the ride is more comfortable.

I have yet to see a computer read out from a RX which has anywhere near a normal journey pattern and returns over 40........you have to bite the bullet and accept the showroom figures are from a controlled industry test demanded by government legislation, and not real world fuel returns at all. They do provide a quite useful guide to vehicle to vehicle comparisons, but not a "real world" consumption figure. So now I have a dilemna - do I try to be the first person to achieve 40+ or should I just accept the fact it's uneconomical and enjoy it. I think I'll try both options! I just dumped my E class hybrid to get the Lexus. That achieved around 50 consistently and close to 60 downhill with the wind behind! Obviously the RX is much heavier and is a petrol hybrid rather than diesel, so no surprise it's less economical. The Merc hybrid though was a liability and extremely jerky when powered by the battery (which could only be done below 10 mph), whereas the RX is smoother and far more controllable when battery powered. Plus I prefer petrol engines to smelly old diesels and the Merc had other issues. All in all, I much prefer the RX with poor fuel economy, but I think to have the stated consumption so different to reality is annoying.....

Mine is on 26mpg but i have a lead foot and love putting it in sport mode! It becomes a little bit of a beast! To get 45mpg the main methods are to overinflate the tyres, I run them on 33psi but inflating to about 40psi will help, if you have dunlop or bridgestone tyres, change them out for michelin latitude tour hp. Keep the car constantly in eco mode and switch to EV when in slow traffic. I found that accelerating very slowly, and increasing braking distance significantly improves MPG also. Well I haven't yet found out how to engage eco mode and am not desperate enough to overinflate the tyres! I'm good on braking distance (as in I leave decent amounts of room in the interests of self preservation) and I don't normally drive too heavily footed, but I'm not going to sacrifice enjoying the car to squeeze better fuel consumption and find the idea of "unleashing the beast" more appealing :)

Going back to the Cayenne discussion... I've just bought a new RX450H and seriously considered the Cayenne (and the new Macan) before doing so. The Cayenne costs a lot more and doesn't exactly come with a high spec. It's also a much firmer ride, which I don't like. The air suspension costs a couple of thousand and the interior is smaller. The only thing I like better about the Cayenne is the Porsche badge(!), but that was very tempting. GTS is incredibly thirsty and very difficult to sell used because of that. The diesel is a better buy and cheaper to run, but the sound and performance of the GTS are fab. RX wins with the head, Cayenne with the heart. Talking of fuel consumption, my RX is only delivering low 30's - is that normal? How do I get the 40+ claimed in the brochure?