Lexus Nx True Mpg

[lee789]

I can bring the mpg of my NX F Sport down to just below 20 when using the sport mode and flappy paddles enthusiastically. Driving normally in town I am now averaging around 36mpg, which is well below Lexus claims, but considerably better than two of my mates get in their 2.2 diesel Evoques, which are truly shocking on fuel economy (20-22 in town). As for Lexus claims that you can drive in electric mode only at up to 30mph, well I'm not sure how they achieved that. My engine cuts in with the slightest push on the accelerator at anything over 15mph. So, as far as I'm concerned the hybrid drive is only useful for providing a bit of extra power from standstill. A totally different and somewhat less satisfactory experience than I had with my old RX 450H.

[hunslet]

I have taken this advice from the IS forum on driving a hybrid and thought it might be useful to share:
"I was encouraged me to get up to speed quickly, and maintain momentum through junctions and roundabouts. That doesn’t mean driving like a nutter, rather reducing how much you accelerate and how hard you brake: the sooner you reach your desired speed, the sooner you can back off the throttle, then the e-motor can maintain that speed. With the petrol engine off that’s where the biggest mpg gains come from and if you brake early and gently, you’re off the throttle sooner, and the batteries can better recover the regenerative energy."

[forbes]

at that low mpg i will have to stick with the IS300h

[C Mclean]

at that low mpg i will have to stick with the IS300h

Me too...

[PKnight]

I have a light right foot and an Nx300h Premier. The car started out returning an indicated 37 - 38 mpg in December. With 7000 miles on the clock it is now showing 41 mpg over the last 1500 miles. Car is driven in eco mode and I tend to stay about 70 on motorways. Consumption gets better by about 5% in warmer weather. I have checked these figures by filling the tank to the top from time to time.

On my previous car, Rx450h I was getting about 34mpg. Hope this helps but I am certain that driving style has a big effect.

[te0xdsm]

Having done around 1800 miles now - mpg hovering 42-44mpg per tank depending on percentage of city/A roads. Warmer weather definitely did help with the short trips mpg.

[Guest]

We are on nearly 7000 miles since pick up in November and we are nearly always in the 40+ mpg now.

[RcF]

8500 miles and up to 34.1

[Goggy]

With any Hybrid car it is all down to the type of journey and the way you drive. I have owned a CT for 4 years and the mpg varies from 45 - 65 depending on the roads, driving conditions and my mood.

Yesterday in my CT, i drove to see my daughter who lives 75 miles away. The journey is mainly motorway and 'A' roads. I managed 55 mpg.

I do a regular trip to another town about 30 miles away which is all 'A' and 'B' roads and can get up to 65 mpg as my speed rarely goes above 50 mph. The best speed for a hubrid is in the 30-45 range, which means the Battery takes over more.

When I just doing local trips to shops, or taking the wife to work etc the mpg is down to 45, this is because the engine has hardly warmed up before it is switched off again.

If I am in a hurry I drive more aggressively and my mpg drops 10% but if I am really careful and drive so that I am keeping the hybrid on low revs it can go up by 10%.

Overall in winter my average is 45 but in summer 55 roughly.

These are figures for the CT I currently own. When I get my NX I will report back.

[Deadloak]

I really liked the NX300h a lovely looking vehicle, but the MPG on the test drives, doing my type of driving pattern was not very attractive. I did another test drive in the IS300h, which was much better. A shame as the NX is a great looking car, and would have been able to load those bulky items the few times I need to. But I retained the old car to do that instead, and the IS will not be forced to do what it is not designed for, whereas the NX would have been perfect.

[lee789]

I've handed the NX over to my wife now, because I became so frustrated by it's poor fuel economy. Driven really gently (and I mean like a 90 year old on a Sunday outing) I managed 35-37mpg. However, driven even slightly enthusiastically saw mpg drop to 28-30, and driven hard 19-25mpg. Ultimately, that's truly pathetic for a 2.5L Hybrid, especially when many 3.0L diesels are much quicker, and considerably more economical. I know some people don't like diesels, and many are put off by particulate filter issues, but once technology overcomes this barrier to diesel ownership, I can't think of a single reason why anybody would buy a car as compromised as the NX, IMHO, it has just two things going for it - build quality and looks.

[ColinBarber]

It will be interesting to see what economy NX200t owners can achieve. It may be similar to the 300h. Lexus should offer the 200t in all grades and make it cheaper than the 300h.

[lee789]

Son in law averaged 32mpg in the 200t he had on loan for a long weekend, and knowing how he drives, that makes the hybrid even more irrelevant. It wouldn't be so bad if it had better performance (say 0-60 in around 7 seconds), but 9.3 is slow for a 2.5L petrol and a hybrid system to boost power.

[rayaans]

NX has too much weight to carry around so fuel economy is always going to bad. Bigger engines seem to get better fuel efficiency in bigger cars as they are not under as much strain as a smaller engine.

For reference my RXh is heavier than an NX, I don't try to get great mpg, I just drive normally and i'm getting a good 30mpg consistently. If I really try, I can get athe claimed 45mpg which makes the NX300H quite pathetic really.

However, having said that, I was talking to a good friend of mine who is an engineer at Jaguar. He said that an engine should be driven the way you'd normally drive the car and that helps long term with fuel efficiency. He says that run in periods are a bit hit and miss and it's designed to suit the average driving style.

[lee789]

Well I know how a lot of people feel about Volvo's, but I've been driving around in a V60 D6 2.4 Plug In for a few weeks now, and it really does demonstrate how good a hybrid can be. I get 26 miles from pure electric mode at speeds of up to around 75mph, and then the diesel cuts in. So far, I'm getting approx 96 mpg because I do quite a few shorter journeys. But the best thing about the car (apart from being fully loaded to Lexus Premier spec and beyond) is the 0-62 of 5.8 seconds when the diesel and electric motors work together. It is a very good car, but maybe not practical for me in the long term because of the restricted luggage space.

[Goggy]

Although MPG is important, unless you do a very high mileage I am not sure it is a deal breaker. Currently I get about 48 mpg from my CT. When I take delivery of my new NX I am expecting to achieve about 35-38, so about a 21-25% reduction. So my annual cost or fuel will increase by that amount, which should be about £300-£360, averaging £25-£30 per month, maybe slightly more, but not a silly increase. To be honest that would not present me with a problem. As I said at the start, if my mileage was twice what it is now, or even higher then yes, it would become more of an issue, but on low mileage owners it may only increase the total ownership cost over 10 years of something like 3-5%. I bet someone out there will do a full cost breakdown on total ownership costs on cars that do 36 mpg and 48 mpg.

[wh05apk]

Very good point, and that is how I feel as well, to spend £30-£40k on a car, based on fuel consumption is madness, when a new car loses £5k+ in depreciation a few hundred more on fuel is negligible.

[lee789]

I think the issue is more to do with real world fuel consumption figures compared with Lexus claims for the car. People may buy these cars thinking they are going to save money because it's a hybrid, and will be environmentally friendly at the same time. Simply not the case in my experience. Anybody buying an NX 300H thinking they will achieve a constant 35-40mpg is likely to be in for a shock, unless they drive it very very carefully barely touching the accelerator, because the slightest pressure will fire up the petrol engine. Had I known what I know now, I would have definitely gone for the 200T, having waited first for those idiots at Lexus marketing to sort out the available options list.

[wh05apk]

All "official" figures should be taken as an absolute maximum in perfect conditions, which in the real world will not be achievable, realistically does anyone really expect a 2 tonne AWD petrol automatic vehicle to give 50+ mpg? I would expect high 30's to be about the norm? I wouldn't expect much more from any of the diesel competitors.

My last car was a 2006 Hyundai Santa fe diesel auto, which had an official figure of 34mpg, over 7 years and 100,000 miles I achieved about 32mpg average with ~35mpg on a run, which was pretty close, but newer cars are more optimised for testing, with longer gears/hybrid systems etc.

My current IS, I was expecting about 45mpg, and so far I am pleased that I am getting nearly 47mpg, which is probably about the same as I could have got from an unrefined noisy BMW 320d, on a gentle run I have had it showing 60+ as an average, but numerous short journeys bring the average down.

[lee789]

I agree Tony, official figures are always highly optimistic, but the figures some NX owners are achieving are up to 50% below these. The Volvo V60 Hybrid I talked about earlier is a 2 tonne AWD car, and I am averaging around 95 mpg with a mixture of electric only, and electric/diesel power combined. It is also a darn sight quicker than any hybrid that Lexus currently produces, with only 48 grms CO2. The reason for this is that it is a plug in, with an electric only range of up to 32 miles, and the batteries alone produce an additional 80bhp, on top of the 210bhp produced by the diesel engine. I hate to say it but theToyota/Lexus hybrid system is fast becoming obsolete, and obviously the major German manufacturers agree if you look at the number of plug in diesel and petrol models they will launch shortly. I imagine it will force Lexus to drop the current hybrid system in favour of plug in technology, or maybe something even better?

[wh05apk]

The V60 PHEV is a great bit of kit and I would have liked one of those, if it wasn't for the small boot.

Talking about MPG with a plug in hybrid is even more misleading, as the amount of electric running makes a massive difference, what does it do once the batteries are used? IE diesel only?

Personally I think a larger hybrid Battery capable of 5-6 miles at up to 40-50mph would make the car far more efficient, it could then charge up when out of town, and would allow much greater use in town, currently I can fully charge on a longer run, but the Battery runs out too quick in town, the ICE firing up too quickly, I think with a larger Battery 55-60mpg would be easily achievable?

[Scoops]

While I am sure the V60 'Twin Engine' is clearly a good car it suffers from the same problem as all cars - it efficiency, or lack of, is directly related to the type of driving done. The electric only range is great but my commute is 100 miles and then business on top and some of that is high speed driving. I would be interested to see if it was any more efficient than my current IS - I doubt it would be by much. The economy figures on plug in hybrids are probably open to the most 'abuse' - just as a BMW i8 owner! On the other hand if your commute was 30 miles a day it would be cheap to run - effectively, an EV but with more flexibility. I guess though there would be nothing stopping me going for a i3 range extender or Ampere. Also factor in the cost - the V60 is approaching Tesla prices.

In terms of Lexus and the NX, clearly the figures mentioned here are disappointing but Lexus have said no to plug-in hybrids at the moment though it will be interesting to see if that changes. I think they could make some really effective tweaks to the system with a slightly bigger Battery and more power from the electric motor when accelerating and pulling away. The next generation hybrids are due next year I believe so it will be interesting to see if they go with lithium ion and more power but keeping the Battery small enough to be charged via the ICE still.

[lee789]

Yes Tony, the V60 PHEV is a very good car, and would suit me nicely if the boot was just a little bigger, and Volvo were a bit more realistic with their pricing. (£53k for a decent spec after the £5k government grant). Once the batteries are empty, I'm getting around 45-50mpg on diesel alone, and the batteries recharge partially whilst driving. One of the handiest things is the SAVE function in the car, where you can disable the batteries to save power - use diesel only when driving on faster roads, and engage the Battery power again when you hit start/stop traffic. Ian is right that PHEV's are not a good idea if you do long commutes, unless you can recharge at work. Most manufacturers recommend diesels for above average mileage owners.I think Volvo were a bit silly putting a diesel in the car, when you consider it is aimed at people who do a lot of short journeys. We all know what happens to diesels if you don't give them frequent longer runs!! Another problem is that Volvo have put a sensor in the fuel tank which calculates the age and condition of the diesel. If it's been in there more than a few months it disables the hybrid system, and forces you to drive on diesel only until the tank has been depleted enough for a fresh top up. That doesn't make a lot of sense if you buy the car for mostly in-town driving, because you may get away without using fuel for months,

[rayaans]

The main problem with the NX is that it has no power to fuel economy ratio lol.

The RX has a bigger engine and weighs more yet still manages similar mpg figures. This is also set to improve with the new RX, with mpg figures identical to the NX300H. In that case, Lexus screwed the NX over with a 300h in order to save customers £30 or so in road tax and enhance their frustration when climbing hills

Im guessing the 450h in the NX in a detuned state at around 230-240 combined hp would be providing real world 40mpg on a regular basis too taking into account the lower strain the engine has to cope with compared to an RX and of course the NX has slimmer tyres on it whichll help

[lee789]

I'm sure the 2.5 petrol engine coupled with hybrid batteries in the 300h is capable of producing a good deal more than 195bhp. As it currently stands with the NX 300h you get the worst of all worlds - poor performance, poor fuel economy, poor choice of options. So, basically the slightly lower VED and edgy looks are really the only plus points as far as I can see. I agree that Lexus screwed the 330h over, just as much as the customers (like me) who have bought it. Then again, it looks like they are about to screw over RX owners with the price of the new model.