NX 450h+ fuel tank capacity? Missing 23 litres…

[AlanDL]

Everyone should be aware that for the phev versions, it is necessary to have the petrol engine operational, and it is dangerous to rely on the electric motor to run the car on its own (according to some post somewhere): in other words, an empty tank won't work. Presumably there are certain functions which still rely on the petrol engine even if it is not running (no idea how that works!).  I think we need a concerted campaign to complain to Lexus about this issue.  Maybe it thinks a 30% petrol reserve is safer for the engine, as it keeps a reserve in the Battery as well.  Surely someone can explain this properly.

[dts439]

4 hours ago, Tickedon said:

It’s because there are quite a few options…

HV - hybrid, will fall into Ev as appropriate

Auto EV/HV - will switch between Ev and hybrid mode

EV only - will stick in EV mode as much as possible 

CRG - you hold the button down to select this - forces petrol engine to run and uses petrol to charge the battery

I think there’s at least one more mode I’m forgetting, but I’m sure this is all in the manual somewhere.

Thanks.

For comparison this was one button in my old A3 Etron (Drive mode : EV > Hybrid -> Charge hold - and it defaulted to what it was set to last time).  You could also force a harder regen mode by selecting sport mode which was useful when coming up to a junction or going down steep hills.  Given the EV range it had it was all a bit academic but still miss the Audi/VAG infotainment/trip computer system.

[JoeB]

I checked this with my local dealer and was told that the NX has a fuel reserve of 8.5 litres, so when the fuel gauge reads empty, there's apparently still 8.5 litres left.

What I've found confusing is the range indicator, but I'm told that this is the range until the fuel gauge reads zero.  My fill ups on a long run seem to support the reserve size stated and the range indicator.

[dts439]

So car went in to the dealer yesterday and they have "recalibrated the fuel gauge".  They were pretty hopeful as the range went up as they did this.

When it was collected it was showing 140 miles range, and now its back its showing 158 miles, and it would have been driven 35 miles, so perhaps gained 50+miles?  I'll run the tank down to when it asks to refuel and see if its different 🤞.

Dealer stated that when the car is on the Reserve level it can have between 5 and 15 litres of fuel in the tank.  I said that 15 seemed a high number.

[dts439]

So unfortunately not good news.

After the recalibration by the dealer when filling the tank to full it now shows an HV range of 530-560 miles (so 100 miles more than it used to). However, the range drops faster than expected (particularly in the last 1/4 of the tank) and after 325 miles of driving (with no EV at start) and gauge showing 30-40 miles range I could not put in more than 32 litres.   This tallied up well with the trip computers 45mpg.

I'll present this back to the dealer and see what they say.