Is220d Fuel Economy Fixes?

[JANUS]

Hello,

can anybody give me the "ref-number" of the MOTOR-ECU-upgrade (for better manners and earlier torque of the engine :winky:

(wich is available in UK since mid-february) meantime?

Thank´s

[W2 DWB]

One thing I have noticed and can't find a single reason that stands up logically is that whenever we fit 18" accessory wheels, the economy drops by up to 5mpg overall!

Same rolling diameter, same width of tyre, same offset etc - work that one out!

I've upgraded from the 16" rim to the 18" standard set as supplied on the Sport. The economy has only been very marginally affected by approx 1-2mpg and i monitor closely because of business usage. The speedometer has also been very slightly affected by approx 1-2mph at around 70mph as indicated on the dial. This is cross checking the speedo against a TomTom.

Car not only looks a whole lot better but is also a lot more composed on the road, in high winds on the motorway at times it was a bit of a handful.

There must be a small increase in drag from the tyre footprint because the grip is also better this might also help explain the increase in fuel usage.

[MeOfLeeds]

Just done my first really long run. Leeds - Manchester - Portsmouth - Stansted - Leeds.

Lots of fiddly bits in between around town etc., including a horrendous slog around the M25 and then driving like a lunatic on the M11 (where possible) to get a colleague to the airport on time to catch his flight and managed to get a smidgen over 41mpg.

I'm a real A-B driver, don't like hanging around and pootling along at all, so I think that is pretty impressive.

BTW, I've got the "orange glow" to warn me when I'm doing an indicated 85 and during my mad dash home I noticed it changes to red when you go over a (ahem) certain speed...

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Just done my first really long run. Leeds - Manchester - Portsmouth - Stansted - Leeds.

Lots of fiddly bits in between around town etc., including a horrendous slog around the M25 and then driving like a lunatic on the M11 (where possible) to get a colleague to the airport on time to catch his flight and managed to get a smidgen over 41mpg.

I'm a real A-B driver, don't like hanging around and pootling along at all, so I think that is pretty impressive.

BTW, I've got the "orange glow" to warn me when I'm doing an indicated 85 and during my mad dash home I noticed it changes to red when you go over a (ahem) certain speed...

Sounds OK, especially when you put it like that. But

A BMW 535d Sport can almost match that - on a long cross country run it averages 40.5, on a 400 mile journey. The biggest shocker is that it only has 1300 mile on the clock. In town it's more like low to mid 20's....

BTW - it has:

280+bhp, 3 litre Straight 6 diesel, with not one but I think 2 turbo's. Oh, and it's an auto!

:duh: ...I have this battle daily...and have stopped comparing now. It's still running in, but it's driven fairly briskly...and boy does it fly!

I've only ben in a couple of times, but it is amazing, with head up display etc it cost almost £50k list! It's ugly, but you don't care when you're inside it! AND the ride is dreadful!

PS - the Headup display is impressive. It costs almost £1k, but the information is only visible to the driver, at the base of the screen, and it looks as though it's floating in front of the car....Lexus should consider this!

[Harrydavy]

Hi Jamboo,

Just got back from Kingston-upon-Thames and av'ed 47.9mpg! At one point had 49.8 but couldn't manage the magic 50!!

All injectors were replaced last week and what a difference!!

[The Mole]

Mine's just past the 1,000 mile mark and has just jumped from mid 30's to about 40.(driven fairly gently and mostly on motorways).

'Off boost' vibration has reduced a bit too. Still over geared though. Yak!

Drove a sport the other day - almost under geared, but what a difference to motorway driving. 6th in the sport is almost the same as 5th in the SE. Boost comes in at 60mph in top making motorwaydriving fantastic!

Only problem is that you're in 3rd gear before you reach the middle of the round-about....

[romaro]

Drove a sport the other day - almost under geared, but what a difference to motorway driving. 6th in the sport is almost the same as 5th in the SE. Boost comes in at 60mph in top making motorwaydriving fantastic!

Which equally means that 5th on the standard model is great for motorway driving. I've just done a 1500 mile round trip through France, almost exclusively on the autoroutes, and was in fifth just about the whole time (I normally use 6th where possible, but the car was quite heavily loaded and grumbled a bit about top gear).

Fifth was great for anything from 50mph to 80+mph with serious overtaking ability on tap the whole time - and still pretty decent for fuel economy (ranging from just over 50 to 45 mpg - depending how big the 'plus' was on 80+ :D).

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Hi Jamboo,

Just got back from Kingston-upon-Thames and av'ed 47.9mpg! At one point had 49.8 but couldn't manage the magic 50!!

All injectors were replaced last week and what a difference!!

Nice one

[Sheroo]

Hi rick11,

Did you get any joy at the Leeds Centre ? I've had my first car service done there (was most impressed by the service). But have only just read this thread today and am gutted I didn't know this before as I am only getting around 32MPG from by 220D SEL and getting the rearview mirror shake etc. I might ring them to find out if I can get the injectors changed, just want a heads up whether you had any success ?

[Harrydavy]

Hi rick11,

Did you get any joy at the Leeds Centre ? I've had my first car service done there (was most impressed by the service). But have only just read this thread today and am gutted I didn't know this before as I am only getting around 32MPG from by 220D SEL and getting the rearview mirror shake etc. I might ring them to find out if I can get the injectors changed, just want a heads up whether you had any success ?

I believe somebody (The Mole) said that the 'update' was being done without request. I am now getting much better reults but it took from last October to get them to change the injectors as it's £2700 and Lexus UK do not want to know! Also try setting the rev light to 2000rpm and change at 2000rpm. The car is still amazinly responsive 1-5 and I can just about get 6th @ 70mph if you don't try to accelerate to hard. Hope this helps

[rick11]

Hi rick11,

Did you get any joy at the Leeds Centre ? I've had my first car service done there (was most impressed by the service). But have only just read this thread today and am gutted I didn't know this before as I am only getting around 32MPG from by 220D SEL and getting the rearview mirror shake etc. I might ring them to find out if I can get the injectors changed, just want a heads up whether you had any success ?

hi,

got no joy from lexus Leeds, they said they wont change the injectors as they have had no instruction from Lexus GB there is a problem.

the service manager at lexus sheffield has told me the chap at lexus poole who started the changing of the injectors 'does not work for lexus anymore'

i really dont know what to do now, the remap got me an extra 1/2 mpg and 6th is more usable. those of you who have had the injectors changed.. how did you convince your dealer to do it???

[javadude]

I believe somebody (The Mole) said that the 'update' was being done without request

My dealer hadn't even heard of it and could find nothing about it so I guess it depends on your dealer.

Drove a sport the other day - almost under geared, but what a difference to motorway driving. 6th in the sport is almost the same as 5th in the SE. Boost comes in at 60mph in top making motorwaydriving fantastic!

Yup, the sport is sooo much better to drive.

[richard55]

Hi everyone, I am new to LOC and this is my first post.

About 6 weeks ago I purchased my first Lexus, an IS220D first registered in June 2006. Overall I am very pleased with it. Before buying the car I had browsed this site and had read all the postings about fuel economy. I was hoping that my car wasn't going to suffer from this problem. However, this seems not to be the case and I am experiencing similar problems to others on this board, including the 6th gear issue. Two thirds of my daily commute of 70 miles takes me on A roads and motorway with the final third through urban rat runs. The best I am recording is 39mpg. I think I should expect to do better than this on the basis of the publicity data for the car.

I have been back to the dealer (Lexus Croydon), who said they had to contact Lexus GB about this. After 10 days I contacted them again and they will now take the car in and have a look at it next Wednesday. The point of my post is to seek your comment on what you think the outcome of my approach to the dealer may be and any tactics that have worked for you in getting them to take the matter seriously and deal with it!

Any feedback would be very much appreciated by this newbie!

[Gareth]

A bit off topic, but where abouts in west sussex are you?

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Hi everyone, I am new to LOC and this is my first post.

About 6 weeks ago I purchased my first Lexus, an IS220D first registered in June 2006. Overall I am very pleased with it. Before buying the car I had browsed this site and had read all the postings about fuel economy. I was hoping that my car wasn't going to suffer from this problem. However, this seems not to be the case and I am experiencing similar problems to others on this board, including the 6th gear issue. Two thirds of my daily commute of 70 miles takes me on A roads and motorway with the final third through urban rat runs. The best I am recording is 39mpg. I think I should expect to do better than this on the basis of the publicity data for the car.

I have been back to the dealer (Lexus Croydon), who said they had to contact Lexus GB about this. After 10 days I contacted them again and they will now take the car in and have a look at it next Wednesday. The point of my post is to seek your comment on what you think the outcome of my approach to the dealer may be and any tactics that have worked for you in getting them to take the matter seriously and deal with it!

Any feedback would be very much appreciated by this newbie!

Richard - firstly Hi and Welcome to the Forum. I understand it is down to the new Euro5 compliance.

I think what you've done is sensible - you need to let the dealership take a close look at the car, paying particular attention to:

1) Injectors - some cars have had faulty injectors, ranging fom the emmisions controlling injector 5 to all injectors

2) ECU Remap - they should do this as a matter of course for - you'll notice that the car will perform slightly better at lower revs, and 6th is only marginally better too.

On the whole though, 39MPG is not too bad for this car as many have had worse (though bad if you compare it to a BMW535d), the best you'll get unless you drive like Mrs Miggins from Blackadders local tea shop is 42-46, but that would be total M'way journeys using cruise control and sticking between 1500 and 1900rpm, without labouring.

That's my experience...

PS - is it a Sport, or Non-Sport?

PPS - where are the pictures - we love pictures

[richard55]

A bit off topic, but where abouts in west sussex are you?

Nearly a neighbour ....but not quite. My home is in Horsham.

Hi everyone, I am new to LOC and this is my first post.

About 6 weeks ago I purchased my first Lexus, an IS220D first registered in June 2006. Overall I am very pleased with it. Before buying the car I had browsed this site and had read all the postings about fuel economy. I was hoping that my car wasn't going to suffer from this problem. However, this seems not to be the case and I am experiencing similar problems to others on this board, including the 6th gear issue. Two thirds of my daily commute of 70 miles takes me on A roads and motorway with the final third through urban rat runs. The best I am recording is 39mpg. I think I should expect to do better than this on the basis of the publicity data for the car.

I have been back to the dealer (Lexus Croydon), who said they had to contact Lexus GB about this. After 10 days I contacted them again and they will now take the car in and have a look at it next Wednesday. The point of my post is to seek your comment on what you think the outcome of my approach to the dealer may be and any tactics that have worked for you in getting them to take the matter seriously and deal with it!

Any feedback would be very much appreciated by this newbie!

Richard - firstly Hi and Welcome to the Forum. I understand it is down to the new Euro5 compliance.

I think what you've done is sensible - you need to let the dealership take a close look at the car, paying particular attention to:

1) Injectors - some cars have had faulty injectors, ranging fom the emmisions controlling injector 5 to all injectors

2) ECU Remap - they should do this as a matter of course for - you'll notice that the car will perform slightly better at lower revs, and 6th is only marginally better too.

On the whole though, 39MPG is not too bad for this car as many have had worse (though bad if you compare it to a BMW535d), the best you'll get unless you drive like Mrs Miggins from Blackadders local tea shop is 42-46, but that would be total M'way journeys using cruise control and sticking between 1500 and 1900rpm, without labouring.

That's my experience...

PS - is it a Sport, or Non-Sport?

PPS - where are the pictures - we love pictures

Thanks fo this, I'll see what the dealer says next week. The car is an SE not the Sport and has done about 11k miles. Pictures........mmm.....need to work on that!

[Gareth]

A bit off topic, but where abouts in west sussex are you?

Nearly a neighbour ....but not quite. My home is in Horsham.

Why do you go to Croydon instead of Brighton?

[The Mole]

Hi everyone, I am new to LOC and this is my first post.

About 6 weeks ago I purchased my first Lexus, an IS220D first registered in June 2006. Overall I am very pleased with it. Before buying the car I had browsed this site and had read all the postings about fuel economy. I was hoping that my car wasn't going to suffer from this problem. However, this seems not to be the case and I am experiencing similar problems to others on this board, including the 6th gear issue. Two thirds of my daily commute of 70 miles takes me on A roads and motorway with the final third through urban rat runs. The best I am recording is 39mpg. I think I should expect to do better than this on the basis of the publicity data for the car.

I have been back to the dealer (Lexus Croydon), who said they had to contact Lexus GB about this. After 10 days I contacted them again and they will now take the car in and have a look at it next Wednesday. The point of my post is to seek your comment on what you think the outcome of my approach to the dealer may be and any tactics that have worked for you in getting them to take the matter seriously and deal with it!

Any feedback would be very much appreciated by this newbie!

The ECU re-map is not designed to improve economy, it is designed to improve off boots flexibility to 'help' with the over geared 6th etc and reduce noise. If some have experience an improvement in mpg, good for you, but that was not it's purpose.

If you're getting 39mpg, you're doing okay.

The figures advertised are produced by the standard government rolling road test. If they are wrong, the problem is with the test, not the car.

If you aren't getting any warning lights and your car's had the ecu mod, there is simply nothing your dealer can do as there is no 'fault'.

Those who talk about replacement injectors have suffered a problem caused by a design issue with the 5th injector that is there to help with emissions. Problems with this can cause issues elsewhere.

The bottom line remains unchanged. The base/SE/SE-L has an over geared final drive ratio put in place to give decent co2 results on the government test to make it copetitive to company car drivers who like it or not, make up over 90% of IS diesel buyers.

As said before, as soon as co car drivers are taxed on the new euro 5 emissions standards which the car was designed for (and is only 50% making it the cleanest diesel for its size in the world) maybe they will change the gearing to make the car more user friendly, but don't expect a change in economy, all that will happen is that the competitors diesels mpg figures will fall in line as soon as they are forced to run all the emissions control hardware.

Sorry....

[Tango]

Well after reading all this I'm just grateful I bought the IS250 petrol...29.6 mpg on a round trip of 220 miles yesterday at average speed of 74 mph ...sorry officer ...and it doesn't sound like a box of bolts when you start it :D

[Matus]

I believe somebody (The Mole) said that the 'update' was being done without request

My dealer hadn't even heard of it and could find nothing about it so I guess it depends on your dealer.

Drove a sport the other day - almost under geared, but what a difference to motorway driving. 6th in the sport is almost the same as 5th in the SE. Boost comes in at 60mph in top making motorwaydriving fantastic!

Yup, the sport is sooo much better to drive.

so why don't you stay with standard box on 5th then?

sorry, but I don't see the point.

I have driven sport and basically I see no difference, except that first two gears are almost unusable (1st is totally useless)

The rest of gears drives the same as standard box except that in sport I am on "one gear plus" over the standard (when standard goes on 4th, sport goes on 5th etc)

The difference is on highspeed driving, on 140kph (87,5mph) is sport already overrevved on its last gear while standard has the possiblity to go to 6th, to have +- 2000rpm and saves fuel.

You have to understand, that manual gearbox means adjusting the gearswitching to the driving, and not using always the tallest (last) gear...

I have standard box and for me first 3 gears are enough for city driving. If I hade sport, I would have to use first 4 gears. Where is the advantage?

With standard I am saving 25% of the gearchanging, which plays for me, as I am lazy ***** ;) And this all also lowers the consumption and emissions...

[javadude]

@Matus and Tango

I tend to stick close to the speed limit so high speed driving is not an issue for me. When accelerating I like to push it hard sometimes and having to work through more gears is not so bad either. In fact I found the sport gearing better for low gears too though I don't know why. Anyway for my driving style the sport suited me much better: Accelerating I get the noise and awesome torque of the diesel (I found the petrol one just too quiet after my IS200 with fat exhaust and induction kit) and have to work the gears so the car is more involving. Cruising at 70mph I get a car thats very quiet and still flexible with the sport gearing.

Anyway back on topic my fuel consumption has been getting worse. Commuting it dropped from 33mpg to 30mpg. Perhaps I was just driving it harder though I tried taking it easier this week and perhaps because it was warmer too I was getting 35mpg. I was surprised it was suddenly 5mpg better.

[Harrydavy]

[

The ECU re-map is not designed to improve economy, it is designed to improve off boots flexibility to 'help' with the over geared 6th etc and reduce noise. If some have experience an improvement in mpg, good for you, but that was not it's purpose.

If you're getting 39mpg, you're doing okay.

The figures advertised are produced by the standard government rolling road test. If they are wrong, the problem is with the test, not the car.

If you aren't getting any warning lights and your car's had the ecu mod, there is simply nothing your dealer can do as there is no 'fault'.

Those who talk about replacement injectors have suffered a problem caused by a design issue with the 5th injector that is there to help with emissions. Problems with this can cause issues elsewhere.

The bottom line remains unchanged. The base/SE/SE-L has an over geared final drive ratio put in place to give decent co2 results on the government test to make it copetitive to company car drivers who like it or not, make up over 90% of IS diesel buyers.

As said before, as soon as co car drivers are taxed on the new euro 5 emissions standards which the car was designed for (and is only 50% making it the cleanest diesel for its size in the world) maybe they will change the gearing to make the car more user friendly, but don't expect a change in economy, all that will happen is that the competitors diesels mpg figures will fall in line as soon as they are forced to run all the emissions control hardware.

Sorry....

I think Jamboo, already mentioned this, but its abit strange, that using more fuel is more efficent!! I'll lay money that the Germans crack it!! :tsktsk: Also I have had the 5th injector changed but 2 weeks ago I had all of them done and it has made a massive difference. My av has moved up from 31 to 38mpg and is continuing to increase :D

[JINKY]

[

The ECU re-map is not designed to improve economy, it is designed to improve off boots flexibility to 'help' with the over geared 6th etc and reduce noise. If some have experience an improvement in mpg, good for you, but that was not it's purpose.

If you're getting 39mpg, you're doing okay.

The figures advertised are produced by the standard government rolling road test. If they are wrong, the problem is with the test, not the car.

If you aren't getting any warning lights and your car's had the ecu mod, there is simply nothing your dealer can do as there is no 'fault'.

Those who talk about replacement injectors have suffered a problem caused by a design issue with the 5th injector that is there to help with emissions. Problems with this can cause issues elsewhere.

The bottom line remains unchanged. The base/SE/SE-L has an over geared final drive ratio put in place to give decent co2 results on the government test to make it copetitive to company car drivers who like it or not, make up over 90% of IS diesel buyers.

As said before, as soon as co car drivers are taxed on the new euro 5 emissions standards which the car was designed for (and is only 50% making it the cleanest diesel for its size in the world) maybe they will change the gearing to make the car more user friendly, but don't expect a change in economy, all that will happen is that the competitors diesels mpg figures will fall in line as soon as they are forced to run all the emissions control hardware.

Sorry....

I think Jamboo, already mentioned this, but its abit strange, that using more fuel is more efficent!! I'll lay money that the Germans crack it!! :tsktsk: Also I have had the 5th injector changed but 2 weeks ago I had all of them done and it has made a massive difference. My av has moved up from 31 to 38mpg and is continuing to increase :D

hi all, this is my first post here, though i've been an avid reader for a while now. i've had my 220d mm for about 5 months and done around 13k with an ave mpg of around 37.5 which i'm reasonably happy with cause, in the words of my work mates, "i own the fast lane".

first point, i left my baby in a couple of weeks ago for a service and asked about the ecu remap. the service manager told me that the remap was being done for fuel economy reasons and nothing to do with the tall gearing.

second point, after having the remap done, i noticed the mpg creeping up to around 39, so i was a happy bunny. then i realised that i was driving differently, and i think the reason is that i wanted the economy to be better so that i'd feel better about choosing a lexus instead of one of the germans, maybe a common phoenomenon?

third point, i've just spent a day driving a bmw 320d, and i have to say that i'm now more happy with my choice, i found the beemer to be very german..ie it felt like it was meant to be used to invade small european countries (no offence to our german neighbours..) it was very heavy, seat pinched and uncomfortable, and severe lack of goodies! i was glad to get back into the lexie!

jas

[Matus]

yesterday I drove 140kms in Austria - 20kms in Vienna, 10kms on higway (140kph, only place where I used 6th) and the rest on country roads and villages (country road 100kph, village 50kph)

consumption 5,4 equals to 52,3 mpg

The worst part was Vienna, on arrival I had 5,3 (53,3mpg) and when leaving 5,8 (48,7mpg)

I bet if I was doing only country roads, I would be on 5,0 (56,5mpg)

PS: I realized, that when driving in mixed occasions (city, highway, country roads) the board computers shows the consumption pretty accurate, while when driving most on highway at 140-150kph (88-94mph) the BC shows 1,4mpg _less_ than reality. DO you have the same experience?

[rush]

I did get 38.7 mpg on my is250 to liverpool from brighton (night driving no traffic at all) on cruise @ 75mph