RX400h hypermiling

[BROUWERS]

I wanted to see what fuel economy can be had in an attempt to get the most out of each litre of petrol. My RX400h is an AWD model from the 2006 model year with 105K miles on the clock. In my record attempt I tried to make use of all the hypermiling tricks available:

- "Pulse and glide" wherever possible

- no highway, just country roads and city driving

- no unnecessary weight in the car

- maximum allowed tyre pressure (indicated on sidewall) I'm running Hankook Optimos K415 (5 mm thread depth) in the front and Michelin Primacy 4's (new) in the back.

- looking far ahead and keeping a bigger than normal distance to the car in front for an extremely anticipating driving style

- trying to reduce cold starts to a minimum

- no airconditioning

I travelled from Holland through Belgium to the German Sauerland region (mountains) and back visiting the Nürburgring, the German Eifel region (mountains again), through Belgium back to Holland.

The result:

Actual fuel consumption: 52.21 mpg (5.41 l/100 km)

684.9 miles (1102.3 km) on one tank. I filled up at the same pump at the start and at the end of the trip. I managed to get 59.65 litres in there, so in theory I could have gone another 60 miles. After the first 120 miles, the on-board computer said I was doing only 55.4 mpg (5.1 l/100 km), then it started to get hilly.

[James_1970]

Impressive.

How do people use pulse and glide without annoying other road users? Or do you just do it on a clear road?
I am averaging about 35mpg on our "new" 2009 RX400h.

[DanD]

Impressive... but I think I would have gone insane! 🤪

[acer54]

My RX400h consistently returns about 30mpg mainly around town with the odd longer trip, I certainly don't drive it for economy!

[Rutlandlex]

Mine averages 31-32 until I attach a caravan to the back of it then it falls to about 17.  Three quarters of a tank of petrol gone in 190 miles = ouch!!  I did try and see how low I could get it with the caravan on and so I floored it after turning a corner and got it down to 3.4mpg 😱

[BROUWERS]

It was a one off test. Certainly won't be doing it again anytime soon. Ideally, for pulse and gliding, I would make sure nobody is close behind me. With another car behind me, I would pulse and glide in shorter intervals so as to not let my speed drop too much and annoy the person behind me. I normally average around 36 mpg in summer without fuel economy as my main priority.