Tank Range

is200 Newbie · September 10, 2014

Filled up on Monday at Shell - didn't use VPower - I went for their standard unleaded,

Had a trip to Coventry to take a 2 day training course for work. I noticed straight away that I was getting more miles out of it so thought I would just see how much I would get by the time I had done the return trip and got home.

I have recently changed both fuel / air sensors (Bank 1, Sensor 1 and Bank 2, sensor 1) and the car has been a lot more responsive.

I put the cruise control on on the way down and for the most part I stuck to 70 with the odd time up to 80.

By the way, I passed BMW / Audi (or they passed me as they weren't hanging around) I would say every second car was either a BM or Audi - Out of the 150 miles trip to Coventry I only saw 2 Lexi (new white IS300 and an old IS200) - glad they still stand out ! (why are the residual values so low?)

Anyway - return trip (one CT passed me) but I was travelling between 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 for most of the way, Birmingham what a nightmare, with the odd sod it moment (just wanted to get home)

I recorded - picture below - a combined range of 483 miles and I expect to get more out of it. I think I can easily get over 500 out of this tank. Pretty damn good I think.

I reckon the sensors have had a lot to do with this as I have taken it to Scotland in the past on a 350 mile (one way) run and not got anything like this out of it.

toffee_pie · September 10, 2014

doubt if you get 500!

I did a trip from Southampton to Liverpool and back and stuck at 70/80 mph, like you saw hardly no lexus cars. I worked out about 430 ish on a tank. give or take.

500 would be mad...

mad!

September 11, 2014

500 on my is220 39 average now since the egr was mechanically cleaned

toffee_pie · September 11, 2014

its a diesel, even at that id rather a petrol to give me 400 miles than the hassle of a diesel for 100 more miles.

back on topic, i doubt a 250 could do 500 miles...!

dazed · September 11, 2014

500 miles is most certainly achievable with an IS250 - I do it regularly (especially during the summer months) although I generally fill up at around 480 miles for obvious reasons.

I do 25,000 miles a year, mostly on dual carriageways with only small amounts of urban driving and I generally get the low fuel light come on at around 455 miles when the range left reads 40 miles. I believe that equates to an actual total range of around 532 miles, but I'd never try and actually achieve that!

Assuming the tank is 14 gallons that equates to 38mpg, which tallies perfectly with me putting 56 litres (12.5 gallons) in the car this morning after having travelled 475 miles since the last fill up. On leaving the filling station the range display read 494 miles, which equates to about 530 miles if I tried to run the car dry.

I reckon if I drove with a really light foot and managed to avoid traffic jams for a week I could get 560 miles out of a tank.

Jamesf1 · September 11, 2014

500 miles is most certainly achievable with an IS250 - I do it regularly (especially during the summer months) although I generally fill up at around 480 miles for obvious reasons.

I do 25,000 miles a year, mostly on dual carriageways with only small amounts of urban driving and I generally get the low fuel light come on at around 455 miles when the range left reads 40 miles. I believe that equates to an actual total range of around 532 miles, but I'd never try and actually achieve that!

Assuming the tank is 14 gallons that equates to 38mpg, which tallies perfectly with me putting 56 litres (12.5 gallons) in the car this morning after having travelled 475 miles since the last fill up. On leaving the filling station the range display read 494 miles, which equates to about 530 miles if I tried to run the car dry.

I reckon if I drove with a really light foot and managed to avoid traffic jams for a week I could get 560 miles out of a tank.

Thats a big pair of ifs!

I get 380 out of a tank full on mine, mostly urban- ish driving, thats on supermarket fuel. Im going to try Vpower, as my civic type R used to get an extra 30-40 miles out of a tankful compared to 95 ron

toffee_pie · September 11, 2014

532 miles on a is250 is pie in the sky, seriously.

I get about 400 ish with urban/mix of long distance. On a few long runs i got about 430 ish on a tank. I never ran it dry so i could probably get more.

anyway the milage i have got on mine is fine with me and i would not expect much better on a v6 petrol fully loaded car.

dazed · September 11, 2014

532 miles is not pie in the sky, but I accept that it's certainly not the norm. Even I'd have trouble hitting that figure during the winter months.

As I stated in my previous post I filled my car this morning with 56 litres, having travelled 475 miles since the previous fill up. If you just do the maths, you'll arrive at a total range of around 532 miles.

I'm a bit obsessive about fuel consumption (I burn my way through nearly £4K of petrol a year) so I reset my fuel consumption display at the start of each month to monitor any significant deviation. Last month's final reading was 39.8 which equates to around 38mpg in reality, which gives a total range of (and I'll say it again) 532 miles.

People on this forum often fail to appreciate that if you avoid urban driving and give the car a good run (45 miles, twice a day in my case) on a generally open road, you can achieve 38mpg without too much difficulty. There are numerous anecdotes on various threads that back that figure up.

Minimising brake use and anticipating the need to ease off the throttle is also a significant contributor to improved economy. I covered just over 100K miles in my first IS250 and the car was still on the first set of brake pads when I traded it in.

toffee_pie · September 11, 2014

if you drove in a straight line, with no stopping you probably could get that but for most people in normal usage that figure would be pretty impossible to achieve.

Exdee · September 11, 2014

Not too bothered about fuel economy but I was drawn to this thread because of 'Tank Range'.

Now considering the car has a 65 Litre tank and the most it takes is around 56-57 litres, I wonder what happens to the rest. Does the tank get air locked? Or is the reserve that big and Lexus just make us fill up earlier than required.

Ideally, I would like to fill it up to the 63-64 litre mark which means I could go longer between fill ups as I just hate the drill of waiting in queues first at filling area and then at the kiosk.

I am really tempted to see how long I can travel when the 'Tank Range' says Zero.

Ishaq · September 11, 2014

what do you go by Tank Range or Range Approx

Mine reads for London local driving yesterday: Range Approx: 23.5 Tank Range: 29

On Motorways the Tank Range Changes to: 35-38 but the Range Approx changes to about 28-29

dazed · September 11, 2014

When the 'Range approx' display hits zero you have about 1 gallon left.

I learned this during the test drive of a used IS250 about 7 years ago. When I got into the car and switched it on it reported a range of 2 miles. I said to the sales guy that he needed to fuel the car, but he said it would be fine for the test drive. Well, he was right as we drove for about 15 miles with no problems.

To be honest, I didn't really enjoy the drive as I thought the car would cut out any minute.

toffee_pie · September 11, 2014

driving the car dangerously low on fuel is very bad, you could be looking at huge bills. I normally fill up way before it goes that low, at around 60 miles or so i fill up, mostly i brim it each time.

great car to drive and i try worry as little as possible about fuel consumption and just enjoy driving it.

is200 Newbie · September 12, 2014

I think this will be on track to break the 500 miles ... cant argue with the figures the cars putting out...

Trip counters now on 334.2 with the range on 162 - that amounts to 496 available. I will post the final results next week before I fill up.

One thing to note as I mentioned in the first post was that I have not long changed the fuel/air sensors. The car was running rich before this was done. Judging by the soot on the exhaust tips before I changed the sensors then it must have been gradually getting worse over a period of time. When I replaced the sensors I cleaned the soot away and although early days, they have not sooted up so far which is a good sign.

I do think changing the sensors has had a massive difference in the fuel economy. Its definitely running better, possible placebo effect but feels smoother.

dazed · September 12, 2014

Good luck with your 500 mile tank is200 Newbie. It's perfectly achievable if you do the right type of driving.

My current tank is on target for about 550 miles (one of my better ones this year).

is200 Newbie · September 12, 2014

I think I will get the 500 - like you say, driving style will help a lot.

I have noticed your "Range approx." reading is 351 with 157.6 miles done .... the max range I have ever had from a fill up was around the 360 mark - what does yours start at when filled up?

dazed · September 12, 2014

I have noticed your "Range approx." reading is 351 with 157.6 miles done .... the max range I have ever had from a fill up was around the 360 mark - what does yours start at when filled up?

It usually varies between about 460 and 495. I suspect it's calculated on some kind of rolling average of the previous few tanks, so if you have a few good tanks it gradually creeps up and then gets knocked back when you don't get such good economy (in my case usually due a change in where I'm driving).

is200 Newbie · September 12, 2014

Exdee

That's interesting ... 65 litres means filling up would usually cost around £85. I usually fill the car up every two weeks and it works out to have around 80ish miles left on the tank range with the needle showing about I/4 tank left. Between £50 to £60 will fill the car up at that point for me.

When I have filled up I have only ever had around 360 mile range although I usually get a lot more out of it when doing long distances.

I wonder if there is an air lock?

is200 Newbie · September 12, 2014

Dazed - I will keep an eye on mine now I am getting more out of it - its the first full tank since I changed the sensors so I would expect the range reading to improve

is200 Newbie · September 17, 2014

I knew I could get to the 500 mark but didn't think it would go past it ... I initially got to around 305 miles last week after a good run on the M6 motorway on a round trip to Birmingham with the range stating when I got back home that I could get a total of just under 500 miles.

I have just done another 220 mile trip on M56 / M6 with approx. 15 miles around town. So its all motorway miles mainly.

I am pretty staggered at this - the picture below is of the mileage when I parked up at home. Yes the tank is on 9 mile range left (garage is around the corner so will be filling up first thing in the morning), maybe I should not have taken it that low but I eeked every fume out of the tank I think in getting home but I wanted to prove I could get to the 500 mile mark.

There has definitely been a big big improvement from when the sensors were replaced - that, along with a clean air filter (K&N oiled) relatively clean oil and tyre pressures set correctly have I think all contributed to this, you could also add the exhaust to the mix I guess as this is not an OEM one. I will be on a 750 mile round trip in a few months time so I will be able to verify this is achievable again....Maybe not take it down as low this time though !

dazed · September 18, 2014

That's really impressive Noo bie. I make that a total tank range of about 580 miles. And I bet you were still driving at a decent speed on the motorway.

My current tank is looking like it'll return about 550 miles. That's good, but not unusual for my typical weekly motoring.

It just goes to show that the IS is a brilliant car if you spend a lot of time cruising. It's the urban driving that kills the economy.

jamesm182 · September 18, 2014

What an excellent results - very impressive! Looking forward to giving mine a good run and seeing what is achievable. Normally I only average around 25mpg around town although after a decent run (about 1 hour 15 each way) the other day, my tank mpg was up to 36.

toffee_pie · September 18, 2014

nice work, what speed were you doing to get that?! i only ever got the 400 miles but have not done many long runs, i am mostly driving in Southampton which i would imagine is not far from driving in rush hour in mexico city or Bangkok.