Real World London Mpg

[stelam]

By London standards it has been rather cold of late and I decided to get an accurate MPG figure.

This worked out at 30.38 MPG which I would suggest is far lower than any other owners have posted.

My journey is 3 miles each way which takes about 12 minutes starting at 6:50am and about 20 minutes on the return starting at 5:30pm so on both journeys the engine is cold and lights, heaters, etc needed.

The same journey in the summer I achieve around 44 MPG.

I just thought I would post this up in case any interested parties wanted to know.

Personally I think the standard test for urban MPG should be a 2 mile journey in winter when it is dark and cold in a built up area with a few stops and starts. At least this would give everyone a worst case scenario.

[ColinBarber]

I have my trip information on the dashboard set to show mpg from start up - if I'm doing small journeys around town from cold (say 2 to 4 miles max) I would get between 25 to 35 mpg depending on the weather. I tend not to use the car for those journeys and end up using the wife's car. Currently I'm averaging around 45 mpg to the tank based on 15 miles journeys to/from work.

[Roscobbc]

I, like others on here seem to me averaging 41/42 mpg in mixed London/Suburban/M25 70 mph driving in my 300H Executive. The mpg reading is set for mpg from re-fuel - mpg from last start-up. My journey later yesterday afternoon was from NW10 Staples Corner district - A406 - A1 Barnet Way - M25 to J28 A12 junction. Traffic on all roads except M25 was fairly heavy so lots of slow driving. I decided to 'cruise' the M25 at 55/60 or so mpg rather than the usual 70 (ish). I was suprised to see the mpg figure steadily creep-up from the 41 mpg (since fill-up) baseline to 51 mpg (since start-up) in the space of only 20 miles or so. For the hell of it (and if I had the patience) it would be interesting to do a longer motorway journey at sub 60 mph speeds.

[Steve_L]

Valuable observations for anyone whose mpg 'suffers' from the short journey to work. Those figures will apply everywhere - not just London - and will be worse if the car has to climb any hills.

Mine spends the 3 miles to work charging the Battery (EV Mode not available) and usually reads 35. Journey back is almost all uphill and I have readings as low as 22.

As Ross noted, it doesn't take long for mpg to rapidly climb if you drive patiently. Worth a try to compare experience.

[michaelH]

I have done that longer motorway journey at or below 60 mph. well, it was a mix of motorway and A-road, and in summer. The lowish speeds were necessary because of a passenger with spinal injuries. The mpg was impressive at around 60. The readout on the dash suggested even better figures, but like most users I find it to be about 3 mpg out.

[DJP]

Valuable observations for anyone whose mpg 'suffers' from the short journey to work. Those figures will apply everywhere - not just London - and will be worse if the car has to climb any hills.

Mine spends the 3 miles to work charging the battery (EV Mode not available) and usually reads 35. Journey back is almost all uphill and I have readings as low as 22.

As Ross noted, it doesn't take long for mpg to rapidly climb if you drive patiently. Worth a try to compare experience.

Personally I think EV mode is a gimmic. It is so sensitive to speed and throttle limits to be nigh on useless.

I can achieve just as good, if not better,results by careful use of the throttle in Normal and judging what the engine/motor combination needs me to do to maximise the motor input.

TBH I do this more for the fun factor that being cost conscious or eco friendly. I thought that might have worn off by now but it hasn't.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[ColinBarber]

Forcing EV mode by pressing the button isn't recommended unless you are doing it for an explicit reason, e.g. just moving your vehicle off the driveway, or if you know you are approaching road conditions where you will get a large amount of regeneration to charge the Battery back up. It is typically more efficient to let the vehicle come in and out of EV mode automatically.

[Theo87]

I am new to the Owners Club and came on here to find out if I was alone. There are so many posting "I regularly get 60mpg" or "even pushing the car I never get less than 50mpg" or "I have done 700 miles from new and averaged 55mpg in my F-Sport" that I was starting to think that my car (Executive edition with upgraded 18" F-Sport alloys) has a problem! Relieved in a way to see the posts above (because it means that my car is normal) but must say I am surprised and a touch disappointed with the economy.

I have done just 400 miles in 4 weeks since new. Hardly anything I know! Yes it has been cold (average 5 degrees Celcius, heaters and heated driver seat on), yes my journeys are mainly to and from the station (3 miles, 10 minutes, up and down quite steep hill) but I am getting 30 mpg to the station and 25mpg home. I am driving like Miss Daisy, trying to hit the sweet spot as much as I can! On a bit more of a run I got 42mpg and doing 50 motorway miles today at 70mph (cruise control) I got 45mpg. Overall a disappointing 33.5mpg from new. The dealer says the engine will loosen up at around 8000 miles :-):-)

Initially I had the car in Eco mode, but Normal is better as it gives better torque and gets you up to speed (where you can tickle accelerator to maintain speed) more quickly.

That said I love the car to bits, and that is coming from an Audi S5 Quattro 3.0 supercharged where I averaged 24 mpg over 3 years of ownership and typically 25mpg to the station and 18mpg home. The IS is a totally different drive, more relaxed but just a much fun trying to improve my fuel consumption! Sounds like a gripe but not really, I just wish there was more "real world truth" in the Department of Transport published figures (no blame to Lexus).

Would appreciate any thoughts, but it sounds like I am not in as much a minority as I thought I was!

[Roscobbc]

Did a 85 mile trip on M25/M11/A1 this morning at a speedo indicated 60 mph (approx 56/57 'real' mph) and keeping 'speed limited' HGV's company. Quite relaxing on cruise control (except when overtaking) Indicated MPG for outward bound journey showed 48. I'm sure another 20 miles or more and it would have topped 50 mpg.

Return trip, and I was in a hurry, not attempting for economy and keeping up to speed with all other traffic (like a typical work trip) - this showed 42 mpg on the return journey

I thought back some 30 old years when was using a Mk1 manual 2 ltr injected Cavalier GLS. Fuel economy would average out at about 35/36 mpg and would actually improve the faster you drove. Economy 'sweet spot' was 42 mpg at a constant motorway 85 mph. Some things haven't changed that much!

[solarpower]

On 1/30/2015 at 10:47 PM, Steve_L said:

Valuable observations for anyone whose mpg 'suffers' from the short journey to work. Those figures will apply everywhere - not just London - and will be worse if the car has to climb any hills.

Mine spends the 3 miles to work charging the battery (EV Mode not available) and usually reads 35. Journey back is almost all uphill and I have readings as low as 22.

As Ross noted, it doesn't take long for mpg to rapidly climb if you drive patiently. Worth a try to compare experience.

Based on this- if you do 2-4 miles from cold in stop-start traffic, the car never runs in the EV mode? If you drive the car like this, would not the Battery die out quickly. Is IS300H (or other Toyota hybrids) are not suitable for such driving?

[ColinBarber]

34 minutes ago, solarpower said:

Based on this- if you do 2-4 miles from cold in stop-start traffic, the car never runs in the EV mode? If you drive the car like this, would not the battery die out quickly. Is IS300H (or other Toyota hybrids) are not suitable for such driving?

In this situation the hybrid Battery would be charged by the petrol engine and is never really used, so it would remain almost permanently charged - certainly wouldn't cause any damage. It isn't an ideal situation, you aren't really getting the benefits of a hybrid system, but not an issue.

On the next generation of hybrid system (Prius IV, Lexus UX etc.) the petrol engine will cut out in less than 1 mile from starting (unless you want cabin heating) so the system is much more efficient on shorter journeys.