Tank Range-Congratulations To Myself

[Rabbers]

In some previous posts (see Tank Range, started 8 February 2015) I described a self-

motivational game I like to play whereby, after filling up, I try to get the combined Range

and Trip distances up to the nice round target figure of 1000km (=620miles), or better,

and then stick to it. Success means that when the low-fuel warning next comes on, real

consumption will have been 18km/l (=51mpg) at worst, and, of course, there will still be

something like 10 litres (=2.2 gals) left in the tank.

Considering that this was at least twice the range/half the consumption to which the two

250s I previously owned had accustomed me and 5-10% better than I was getting with

the 300h itself, I was naturally very pleased with myself when I first achieved the target,

all the more so because any appreciable impact on my style of driving and enjoyment of

the car was limited to early in the game when I was obliged to seriously moderate my

speed in order to bring the displayed Range+Trip figure up from the 920km (=570 miles)

I had hitherto been averaging.

Since then I have bettered the target for eight consecutive tankfuls and even touched

1080km (=670 miles) on one occasion. Consequently, my displayed range after filling

up has stabilized comfortably above the 1000km mark, and this can only mean that

whatever changes I adopted in respect of my original style and behaviour at the wheel

have to all intents and purposes become second nature. And while it occasionally

crosses my mind that I could maybe try and raise the target to 1100km (=685 miles),

I feel no great compulsion to do so. I am, in other words, finally content to rest on my

laurels, self-awarded though these may be.

I wish I could draw any single lesson from this experience that I could pass on to

anybody who suspects, as I originally did, that they are not adequately exploiting the

300h's potential as a remarkably economic drive as well as the extraordinarily

pleasurable one they already know it to be. All I can say is that the 1000km game

has made me acquire a measure of self-discipline sufficient to allow me to do a number

of small things and observe a few rules which in their totality have clearly paid off:

instead, for example, of habitually exceeding speed limits by, say, 15-20%, I now tend

to exceed them by only 10%; and instead of slowing down and/or braking 50m before

a light or junction, I now do so at maybe double that distance; and, if I was once wont

to race away from lights, I now immediately kick myself on the increasingly rare

occasions when I do. Essentially, I have taught myself to let the 300h do all the work

in any given situation and at whatever pace familiarity and experience tells me is

consistent with the car's relaxed but far from sedate character.

[michaelH]

This is my experience of speed vs economy. Three night time trips on original tyres over the same 173 mile route - a mix of town, motorway, dual carriageway and single carriageway A roads, the last of these including lots of welsh hills and bends: the ave speeds is as calculated by the car. The roads were largely clear but with some lengthy speed restrictions and cameras on the M6 and M54. I used to think the ave speed always read too low, but it matched the time elapsed, so is clearly accurate over a distance, unlike the mpg reading, which always seems to come out about 3 mpg too high, as it seems most other users find. The message is that the IS300h lux can be a very economical car when driven gently, and isn't too bad even when you 'press on' with no regard for economy, as I did in run no. 1. My mark 2 IS250 was typically about 15 - 18 mpg less economical over the same journey, and the cost difference per annum compared to an economical diesel in the same size range is really not that significant unless you do huge mileages. But as Rabbers has found, the car somehow encourages economical driving, which is probably also safer driving.

1. Ave speed 60 mph; display = 45.0 mpg (= a real 42.0 approx.)

2. Ave speed 53 mph; display = 49.5 mpg (= a real 46.5 approx.)

3. Ave speed 50 mph; display = 57.2 mpg (= a real 54.0 approx.)

[ganzoom]

So had to drive down to London today, 100 miles or so on the M way, than 40 miles of inner London urban traffic (ie: very very slow).

When I got to the destination I noticed the fuel gauge had hardly moved more than 1/8, so checked the trip computer. Nearly 70 mpg....Frankly that's ridiculous efficiency for a car with this amount of luxury, fuel cost works out at 8p per mile. Still double how much the Leaf costs to re-charge per mile using standard electricity tariff, but never the less it's might impressive, shows how well developed the hybrid units are for efficiency.

I reckon with some more economy focused driving on the M way (slip-steaming lorries), I can crack 70 mpg...So in theory 14.5 gallon tank should give rang of close to 1000 MILES, and with less than 2000 miles on the clock the engine apparently the isn't even at its most efficient yet :)