Increase Your Mileage In Few Steps

[aviator888]

They need a good long run and importantly, regularly get upto temperature.

And how many diesel cars get this sort of treatment? Lorrys & sales reps? :D

In fact it's gone so bad over recent years, that 50% of new car sales is diesel. Most owners absolutely clueless about how to drive and maintain a car with turbo diesel engine.

[IS200D]

They need a good long run and importantly, regularly get upto temperature.

And how many diesel cars get this sort of treatment? Lorrys & sales reps? :D

In fact it's gone so bad over recent years, that 50% of new car sales is diesel. Most owners absolutely clueless about how to drive and maintain a car with turbo diesel engine.

I fell into the ignorant catagory when I bought my is200d, thinking what have I done buying diesel after years of petrol cars. However, once I educated myself about how to drive it, on here and talking to people, now I think its great car. I can live with the occasional need to put ones foot to the floor - such as the other day when I clearly frustrated a bmw driver. Even mrs is200d didn't complain as usual, so that was a bonus!

P.s. Many thanks for your detailed guide Matus

[chris_abr]

Here's my take on the subject:

I can get 52-53 MPG on 6th gear at 76 mph acc. to tacho, or 69 acc. to GPS.

Anything above that speed, and the MPG goes into 40s.

This is measured on trips between Lancaster and Bristol, so quite a lengthy drive. (¬200 miles one way)

The most I ever got out of it was 64 mpg, though most of it was driving behind lorries in traffic at 55 mph for good 100 miles.

You can get good mpg out of it, but you do have to resort to cruise control pretty much all the time.

I use it at 30/40 mph in the city, and get between 32 and 40 mpg with cruise control, or about 32/34 mpg manually.

Then 26/28 mpg when my foot's particularly heavy.

I think the trick to getting good mpg out of this car, is like with any diesel: cruise control, good maintenance, especially the fuel filter and EGR. And a good burn of the DPF every month or so (drive at 3000 rpm for 20 minutes).

This is the maintenance I follow and seems to be working for me.

I also manage to avoid the turbo lag by playing with the throttle and clutch rather than just releasing the clutch then accelerating.

i think if I managed to get this MPG out of my '06 now 180k mile IS220D, anybody can.

[Shano76]

I've had my '06 220d for just over a year now & despite some initial teething problems that got rectified quickly enough, I'm really enjoying it. It's a lovely place to sit & eat up the miles. IMO it's far nicer to drive than the equivalent BMW e46 320d or the A4 1.9/2.5 TDis. Seats are better, sound insulation is better etc.

The only disappointment really is the gearbox. It's a shame that the auto isn't more common over here. All the 220ds seem to be manual (not sure if it's actually available in auto??). I would agree with others that for speeds up to 80mph, 6th is pretty much redundant which means in 99% of daily circumstances it's uselss! At the other end of the range, 1st & 2nd both also seem to be a bit at odds with each other. 3rd & 4th though at speeds over 45mph are a pleasure & give great, torquey acceleration for overtaking.

I'll be the first to admit that because mine is on the road all the time, it doesn't see as regular EGR cleans etc., as it should. But it still gets 40+ mpg on the motorway which, considering it's 9 yrs old, heavy & a 2.2 with 160k miles on it isn't the worst, but it's not great either. My old '01 MKIV TDi would regularly see 50+mpg.

I am suprised though at the number of people on here buying diesel cars & doing very low mileage. To me it makes no sense. Unless you're doing upward of 20,000 miles a year, there's more value to be had in petrols I would have thought. The increased service costs & wear & tear items like turbos, EGRs, cats etc in diesels far outway any fuel cost savings below that mileage.

In Ireland (where I'm from & live) the Govt changed the car tax system in 2008 from a cc based system to a Co2 based system which meant that diesels suddenly became very attractive in terms of fuel costs & tax saving (a typical VW/AUDI 1.9TDi went from around €550 p/a to €256). The result is that there have been very few petrol cars bought since 2008, and there are people all over the country driving big engined diesel cars that are costing more to run than a 1.4 petrol equivalent that would probably better suit their needs. When these come on the market as trade ins, they are riddled with problems like clogged engines, manifolds, cats etc cos they never get properly used.

I drive 30+K miles a year with a normal daily commute of about 120 miles & the wife does the same in her car so makes sense for us to have diesels. For my purposes, the 220d is a great car & as I said, much nicer to drive than the equivalents. The complaints & disappointments expressed here seem to be mostly from people who might have been better off buying the 250 or something else altogether given their driving habits. Diesels on short trips are never going to be the more economical choice in the medium to long term. Just my 2 cents.

[Derek870]

I agree, diesels are absolutely ideal for the slog up and down motorways

I have a 250 and do 50 miles round trip to work and back on a mixture of roads, I always get over 30mpg, which for 2.5l V6 is fine by me!

[jayt13]

I got a IS200d (2010) i drive daily m'way, dual carriage way & city driving totally miles a day do roughly 64 miles i get around 36-38mpg+ depending on my driving however my recent drive from London- Nottingham inc return I managed to get 56mpg at 70mph in 6th gear no cruise control I was quiet happy with that.

Not a fan of using cruise control I think it takes fun out of driving and the feel of driving a lexus.

It is worth using Shell Regular and sticking to one brand I think it kinder helps.

[IS200D]

After about 6 months ownership of my is200d, I’m really pleased with the costs, both for fuel and car tax.



I fill up the tank about every 5th week, and the tax for the year is £135. My driving is mainly short trips in traffic day to day averaging 33-34mpg, so airport runs about every 6 weeks are handy to clear things out. I also use the A40 instead of back roads going into town putting my foot down whenever possible, so that helps keep it healthy. My old 2.4 petrol Toyota needed filling up about every 3rd week and tax was double the amount what I pay now, so this car is definitely cheaper to run in comparison.

Lexus clearly didn't have boy racers in mind when they designed the engine and gearbox, instead providing an economical and capable motorway mile muncher, which shifts rather quickly ( but very serenely) when required. Initially bought it as a stop gap, but the more I own it, the less I think about changing it.

Reading about mileages of 160k and 180k from is220d owners like Shano76 and Chris-abr is extremely reassuring as well!

[amego]

Wow what the hell is 6 gear for

[Matus]

In in most EU countries we can drive 130 kph and +10 is tolerated. These are GPS measured speeds, so in fact we can drive almost 150kph legally (car speedometer reading). At 150kph we have over 2.100rpm on sixth, so for this it is.

If you drive under 130kph, just stay on 5th, it is more economical.

[ophelie278]

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[hwefa]

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[Brechin Slate]

Does anyone have a view on acceptable mpg numbers for the petrol engined IS250? I managed 50 mpg on a run from Portsmouth to New Milton, mostly motorway and clear roads, cruise control for 80% of the journey and didn't go above 60 mph. I'd be interested to know if my new car is 'normal'!

[jackcramerr]

I haven't managed to get above 30mpg on is250 even with high octane fuel. very slowly accelerating and almost I never use brakes as i anticipate traffic. Avoid pot holes and opt for high way always. I can never imagine it touching anywhere near 50mpg.

Which year is250 have you there ?

[jayt13]

If you're getting 50MPG from 2.5 V6 is would say that is very good, most owners from Lexus petrol /deisel owners would struggle to get it but then i can say for sure most lexus owners do not drive on m'way at 60 mph, it's far more fun putting the foot down :)

[Brechin Slate]

I haven't managed to get above 30mpg on is250 even with high octane fuel. very slowly accelerating and almost I never use brakes as i anticipate traffic. Avoid pot holes and opt for high way always. I can never imagine it touching anywhere near 50mpg.

Which year is250 have you there ?

[Brechin Slate]

Jackcramerr, I have a Feb 2007 car on a 56 plate. 107,000 miles on the clock and regular Lexus services in the book. I must confess, I have never bought a car based on fuel economy, in my car ownership history I have always let my heart rule my head, for the most part it's paid off and I've had some great cars....Jayt13, I don't usually dawdle, I just wanted to know the best case scenario, it seems with day to day driving I'm getting about 32 mpg. I thought the original post was excellent and just wondered how petrol compared. I guess we don't have that 6th gear issue?

[jonosafc]

50mpg i get about 20mpg if i'm lucky but only use mine for work which i should cycle to work as south tyneside is really good for the cycleway as my work is only about 10-20 mins cycle ride

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[Simon Williams1965]

I'm getting an average of 33 on my commute up and down the A69 every day. I filled up with Shell Nitro+ the other day and saw 38 on the Tank Average display at a steady 70 on the A69 and up the A1. 

[Surebet]

Regarding MPG for IS250 petrol, first time I have put it to the test on a long run, Bispham to Cumbernauld, reset average MPG when filled up at petrol station, constant speed between 70-80 MPH (don't tell anyone!). Filled up tank at the end of journey. Average MPG gauge reading 41.8, calculated the old fashioned way (miles travelled divided by fuel used ) and was pleasantly surprised at a result of 42.7 MPG. This proves the average MPG gauge is pretty accurate but more important to me is the car is not as bad as I was expecting for a 2.5l six cylinder engine. Happy days. 

[paulrnx]

What an interesting thread this one is

[Tyre Tread]

I've had my IS250 just over a year now and covered 18K miles mostly on my commute and I've been monitoring the fuel consumption using a phone app called "mycar".

Firstly its clear that the trip computer is about 10 to 12% optimistic when compared to a brim to brim comparison.

The lowest figure in that time was 25.45 (brim to brim calculated) when doing lots of short runs and the best was genuine 40.87 2 weeks ago. (indicated 44.4 for the tankful)

From the data its obvious that temperature is a critical factor for warm up times to get the best mpg along with type of use (daily commute is 80+ mile round trip of mostly clear motorway).

Today I'm doing an almost non stop trip up to Scotland and it will be interesting to see what MPG I get if we don't get caught in too much traffic (the other MPG killer)

I'll try and report back in a week or so.

 

ETA it seems aircon hits the MPG to about 3 to 4 mpg.