IS300h - mpg question

[cruisermark]

Hi Guys

I have been and LS driver for about 11 years - I now fancy a change and want something a bit more modern and slightly more economical overall. I was looking at the is300h range and noticed that the MPG figures shown for urban, extra urban and combined are very close together. I would of thought urban and extra urban would have a bigger difference between them.

Can someone please elaborate and if possible let me know what real life figures to expect if im doing 80% town driving.

Also if anyone has any buying advise please feel free to comment - gold with cream leather is appealing at the moment

 

[wharfhouse]

2 minutes ago, cruisermark said:

Hi Guys

I have been and LS driver for about 11 years - I now fancy a change and want something a bit more modern and slightly more economical overall. I was looking at the is300h range and noticed that the MPG figures shown for urban, extra urban and combined are very close together. I would of thought urban and extra urban would have a bigger difference between them.

Can someone please elaborate and if possible let me know what real life figures to expect if im doing 80% town driving.

Also if anyone has any buying advise please feel free to comment - gold with cream leather is appealing at the moment

 

I have an IS 300h and yes the figures are very close across the different driving scenarios due to the way the hybrid system works. In urban areas (around town and up to 40 mph) the car is running in EV mode quite a bit of the time and the Battery is being replenished when braking. On the open road (50 mph +) the car then uses it's electrical power to supplement the ICE and keep the engine running at optimal fuel consumption. I do a mix of both urban and long runs/motorway and using the car computer when running around town etc. will see 50+ mpg (and on a nice easy 30 - 40mph run it can reach 60mpg). On long motorway journeys (so long as I'm not caning it but still driving with the fast flow of traffic) I will see 50+ mpg on the car computer. My overall average across all conditions etc. over a couple of years is around 48mpg on the car computer - so as you can see these are all quite close. There is a difference between summer and winter mpg - in winter the car has to run the ICE more around town to get it to temperature and maintain the heating in the cabin and so there is some 10% difference in mpg summer to winter for town driving though not so much difference on long runs (as the ICE will be running at low revs most of the time).

[NemesisUK]

Search on Fuelly.com for real world mpg figures

[cruisermark]

Thanks for the reply guys - really looking forward to buying one - never had a hybrid before.

[Stuart Aspey]

I am approaching 40,000 in my IS300H premium. I'm running between 40-42mpg on average. The system doesn't like the cold weather and you've got to be very gentle on the accelerator. You'll get used to it. 

[rayaans]

Depends what you mean by town driving and what your distances will be.

My wife does mainly town driving, she gets about 33mpg max in a lot of stop start traffic

[malcolmw]

On our IS300h we have averaged about 45mpg over the last 3 years on mixed driving.

[wharfhouse]

21 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Depends what you mean by town driving and what your distances will be.

My wife does mainly town driving, she gets about 33mpg max in a lot of stop start traffic

Must be some good drag runs between traffic lights to get that low 😉 - I never see anything that poor around town... 

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, wharfhouse said:

Must be some good drag runs between traffic lights to get that low 😉 - I never see anything that poor around town... 

Has a lead foot not going to lie. And some of the journeys are very very short - i.e. 1 mile down to the father in laws, 3 miles to the shops then car turned off so becomes cold again and then back home. School run etc. 

Now when Lexus release that UX300e, it would be perfect for her driving.

[wharfhouse]

2 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Has a lead foot not going to lie. And some of the journeys are very very short - i.e. 1 mile down to the father in laws, 3 miles to the shops then car turned off so becomes cold again and then back home. School run etc. 

Now when Lexus release that UX300e, it would be perfect for her driving.

Ah yep - with such short trips and allowing the car to cool inbetween that would bring the overall mpg down especially in winter. As you say that's certainly the right mix for a BEV. 

[Linas.P]

8 hours ago, cruisermark said:

I would of thought urban and extra urban would have a bigger difference between them.

As much as hybrid owners will start crying now... hybrid on motorway is just a petrol with a heavy Battery. Depends on speed somewhat, but over 65mph the scales starts to tip over. Specifically comparing say IS250 (mk2) and IS300h in the city and up to 65mph the hybrid would rule, at 80mph the consumtion would be the same and at 90mph the petrol woudl me more efficient then the hybrid.

Hybrids are for cities - that is all, if you do a lot of driving on motorways you still best of with diesel and you won't find much differences between hybrid and petrol. 

[malcolmw]

This is not our experience. We have had both an IS250 and now an IS300h. We do generally the same pattern of driving with a fair proportion of A road and motorways. We never got more than about 35mpg from the IS250 on a long run while a long motorway run in the IS300h gives typically 48mpg. We don't drive very slowly!

[wharfhouse]

17 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

As much as hybrid owners will start crying now... hybrid on motorway is just a petrol with a heavy battery. Depends on speed somewhat, but over 65mph the scales starts to tip over. Specifically comparing say IS250 (mk2) and IS300h in the city and up to 65mph the hybrid would rule, at 80mph the consumtion would be the same and at 90mph the petrol woudl me more efficient then the hybrid.

Hybrids are for cities - that is all, if you do a lot of driving on motorways you still best of with diesel and you won't find much differences between hybrid and petrol. 

If one is doing 80% of miles on the motorway at full motorway speeds mile after mile then no doubt about it diesel is the most efficient. But the real world in the UK is that the motorways are jam packed most of the time and so traffic is often moving 50 to 60 mph or crawling through mile after mile of camera controlled road works or "smart motorways" at 50 mph or less. In these conditions a hybrid is actively working and not just dragging dead weight around - not to mention the fact that the IS 300h is a very relaxing and tranquil  place to be compared to the tractor quality of a diesel stop start system! The majority of people need a car that can cope with all types of driving - town/city, urban and motorway and the Lexus hybrid system IMO blends these all together better than anything else. It's certainly much more than just a city car and is much more in tune with real world grown up mixed needs than most other current technologies. 

[Linas.P]

Both of you above...

Did I say petrol is better then hybrid for mixed driving? No I haven said that... Yes for mixed driving you will get better MPG on IS300h... 

Did I say diesel is better for congested motorway? driving in queuing traffic with speeds between 40-60MPH? I haven't said that either... But not all motorways are always congested and there are people who literally do 300miles per day on motorway... diesel is better for that. Sounds like a tractor... yes it does.. not so much the issue inside.

Do not read between the lines and invent thing I haven't said. OP asked - why extra urban MPG for IS300h is similar to urban one - because it is similar in practice, because IS250 (mk2) is more fuel efficient @90MPH and because IS300h is really most beneficial up to around ~65MPH. Hybrids are not for motorways... especially not if you driving faster than 70MPH.

[wharfhouse]

9 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Both of you above...

Did I say petrol is better then hybrid for mixed driving? No I haven said that... Yes for mixed driving you will get better MPG on IS300h... 

Did I say diesel is better for congested motorway? driving in queuing traffic with speeds between 40-60MPH? I haven't said that either... But not all motorways are always congested and there are people who literally do 300miles per day on motorway... diesel is better for that. Sounds like a tractor... yes it does.. not so much the issue inside.

Do not read between the lines and invent thing I haven't said. OP asked - why extra urban MPG for IS300h is similar to urban one - because it is similar in practice, because IS250 (mk2) is more fuel efficient @90MPH and because IS300h is really most beneficial up to around ~65MPH. Hybrids are not for motorways... especially not if you driving faster than 70MPH.

I don't think we are saying anything different - I was just pointing out that the statement hybrids are only for cities is not in line with the what we live with. Any extreme will have an optimum solution. Cities are probably best suited to full electric. Hundreds of mile along a motorway at 90mph are clearly the domain of the diesel. For those that have a need for a bit of everything then the hybrid makes a very good case for itself and this was the crux of the OP question that the consumption of the IS 300h is very similar across the standard official driving cycles (which stick to the UK speed limits of course) which those of us who own the IS 300h have confirmed does indeed happen in practice. 

[ColinBarber]

19 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

 because IS250 (mk2) is more fuel efficient @90MPH

That might be the case if the IS250 was in anyway a modern and fuel efficient engine but it isn't. Do you have any data to backup such a claim?

[Linas.P]

27 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

That might be the case if the IS250 was in anyway a modern and fuel efficient engine but it isn't. Do you have any data to backup such a claim?

Practice... I do mixed driving, but often I work in Paris or Geneva... which means Monday morning 5AM Romford to Gatwick and Friday 9PM back again on fairly empty M25/M23.

Autopilot is set to undisclosed speed all the way without single touch of the brakes (with exception of Dartford) and I know that I get better MPG in IS250 than IS/RC300h. Done it 100s of times in IS250, once in RC300h and 4 times in IS300h.

Now obviously in light of low MPG thread that is probably not true anymore, but here I am saying what the car can do.

@wharfhouse - again that is true, for mixed driving hybrid is better than diesel or petrol. It depends how much of that mixed driving one is doing and what kind of mix you are getting. The point I was making - the real benefits of hybrids are in the city (or be that electric car), that is why urban and extra urban fuel consumtion is nearly the same. As I mentioned people who do 300 miles day on motorway, there are ones (and I know few) who drive car 3 times per week in central London for 5-10 miles. I would not suggest to buy the diesel for them... heck I would have Ferrari if that would be the case... because if you do 30 miles a week fuel consumtion is not a concern. There are taxi drivers in the city as well... hybrids are game changers (hence all drives Prius now).

[lordlen21]

With an IS300h Exec I achieved 45mpg in winter and 50ish in summer (on the computer). I didn’t hang around either and didn’t drive it particularly gently.
Now have an Audi 2.0 190 Quattro - need an estate - which achieves about 48mpg under the same driving conditions but sounds like a tractor and not as smooth, but is faster and more nimble.


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[The-Acre]

You'll regret it!  I tried it with a GS last year.  I loved the GS at first, more modern looking, sportier to drive, more economical (I managed 43mpg on one long trip) but after three months I was longing to get back in an LS.  It ended up losing me money, then costing me more to buy an LS (albeit a Celsior) but there's nothing like it.  Maybe it'll be different for you Mark, but I learned the expensive way!  The LS is an itch and I've yet to find anything else to scratch it. I think only those who have had one would understand that.

[Linas.P]

There are no comparison between diesel and IS300h... hybrid will be much smoother and more comfortable to drive. But it isn't as smooth as straight NA petrol and certainly not even worth comparing to LS.

[Hadrian]

The IS300h is a nice car to drive. We've had ours for just coming up to 1 year. We don't use it around town very much.

Mileage is around 50mpg on the computer, plus or minus a touch.  About the same as we used to get from our Civic hybrid.

[Jayw13702]

I use mine as a taxi so it spends the vast majority of its time in town.

I average between 48-52 most days, I’m not a slow driver but I’m not afraid to stick my toe down when the need arises.

On a run up to London I will easily see 55mpg, I sit at 75 and run it on cruise most of the time.




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[Stuart Aspey]

I noticed in the original fuel consumption tests that the base model has better fuel economy. Not sure if it's the weight and smaller tyres? But mine is mainly a 15 mile commute to and from work each day mixed with a school run and shopping round town. 42mpgiz what I'm getting in Premier with 18' tyres 

[wharfhouse]

30 minutes ago, Stuart Aspey said:

I noticed in the original fuel consumption tests that the base model has better fuel economy. Not sure if it's the weight and smaller tyres? But mine is mainly a 15 mile commute to and from work each day mixed with a school run and shopping round town. 42mpgiz what I'm getting in Premier with 18' tyres 

Yes the differences in mpg purely down to wheel/tyre differences and potentially weight (not sure how much difference there is between trim levels) - drive trains are identical across all hybrid trims. 

[Jayw13702]

Mine is the SE spec with 16” wheels so that may be part of the reason I get quite good economy.
After 35 miles of round town driving


That will drop off now as the traffic is building up and I’m more stop start now


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