Getting 18mpg!

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The MPG on this rig is quite elastic with the major variable being driving style and average speed. We use the LX470 as a vacation vehicle.

I typically drive 75-85 mph with lots of passing in 2 lane fwys, from which I'll see anywhere from 12-15 mpg. When it's my wife's turn to drive, she does an easy 70-75 mph, resulting in 15-16 mpg.

I've done a casual 65 mph leg, when we were killing time en-route. Saw 17 mpg on the gauge.

Note that I'm on 33's with all else stock, and no correction factor applied to the gauge readouts, so I'm likely doing a bit better than the numbers quoted.
 
There's a difference between "getting" a certain mpg regularly, and "got" a certain mpg in special circumstances. I'm very skeptical of the "getting" claims...
 
Had our lx470 for 3 fill ups, 12.7, 12.9, and 17.5. Installed a new battery last Tuesday/Wednesday which means reset of the computer. All but about 40-50 miles was around town (lots of red lights). Seems like engaging cruise control increases the mpg based on the nav screen showing current mpg.

Tracked via aCar app on android.
 
Driving up and back L.A. to Lake Tahoe I typically get 17-18 mpg on cruise control around 75 mpg. Even with A/C on! Mid-octane 89 or High 91, I haven't seen a huge difference with the gas...
 
Mileage, and the ability to improve it, shouldn't be much of a surprise. Given the 100-series focus here, most of you own thirsty cars.

My wife has a RAV4 EV. For any others that have an EV, or efficiency focused vehicle, you might be familiar with hyper-milling techniques. The funny thing is hyper-milling, while possible with all cars, has even more benefit on gas hogs like our cars. I don't go extreme with the practice, but play with it every once in awhile.

For example, a Prius might go from 45 to 55 mpg with these techniques.

Our hundy can go from 12 mpg to 17 mpg on the highway, in my own experience, again without going extreme like 55 mph following big rigs.

While the Prius seems to have a advantage with the technique, gaining 10 mpg, it's an illusion. Would you believe that in 1 tank of gas, using hyper-milling strategies in our cars, we can save as much gas as the prius takes to almost fill its whole tank!!?

Consider this. To drive 300 miles:

In a 45 mpg prius, 300/45 = 6.66 gallons
In a 55 mpg prius = 5.45 gallons
Difference of 1.21 gallons

In our 12 mpg hundy = 25 gallons
In our 17 mpg hundy = 17.65 gallons
Difference of 7.35 gallons or 6X the gas savings over the prius!

Let just say for a moment that we just stretch our hundy to 14 mpg over 300 miles = 21.43 gallons. That's still a difference of 3.57 gallons, or $10/fill up.

Eye opening isn't it? Taking that lead foot off the go pedal can reap huge benefits. Also gallons per mile (GPM) is a much more linear metric to understand gas efficiency at our range of the mpg scale.
 
I'm on the tail end of my 2k mile road trip. Mileage last Saturday over 3 tanks was 6.4 mpg. Very stiff head wind was pretty killer. Since then we've been mostly on slower speed roads and have mostly been in the 8's and 9's. I've been saving receipts and fuel has been easily been the biggest cost of this trip.
 
TeCKis300 said:
Mileage, and the ability to improve it, shouldn't be much of a surprise. Given the 100-series focus here, most of you own thirsty cars.

My wife has a RAV4 EV. For any others that have an EV, or efficiency focused vehicle, you might be familiar with hyper-milling techniques. The funny thing is hyper-milling, while possible with all cars, has even more benefit on gas hogs like our cars. I don't go extreme with the practice, but play with it every once in awhile.

For example, a Prius might go from 45 to 55 mpg with these techniques.

Our hundy can go from 12 mpg to 17 mpg on the highway, in my own experience, again without going extreme like 55 mph following big rigs.

While the Prius seems to have a advantage with the technique, gaining 10 mpg, it's an illusion. Would you believe that in 1 tank of gas, using hyper-milling strategies in our cars, we can save as much gas as the prius takes to almost fill its whole tank!!?

Consider this. To drive 300 miles:

In a 45 mpg prius, 300/45 = 6.66 gallons
In a 55 mpg prius = 5.45 gallons
Difference of 1.21 gallons

In our 12 mpg hundy = 25 gallons
In our 17 mpg hundy = 17.65 gallons
Difference of 7.35 gallons or 6X the gas savings over the prius!

Let just say for a moment that we just stretch our hundy to 14 mpg over 300 miles = 21.43 gallons. That's still a difference of 3.57 gallons, or $10/fill up.

Eye opening isn't it? Taking that lead foot off the go pedal can reap huge benefits. Also gallons per mile (GPM) is a much more linear metric to understand gas efficiency at our range of the mpg scale.
Click to expand...


Funny...my last tank in my Prius averaged 57.1mpg and filled up my 100 today and it averaged 13mpg. I accelerate quickly in both cars, cruise steady and coast a lot to stop. If only I could go 600 miles for $20 in the 100!!!
 
brianrride said:
Funny...my last tank in my Prius averaged 57.1mpg and filled up my 100 today and it averaged 13mpg. I accelerate quickly in both cars, cruise steady and coast a lot to stop. If only I could go 600 miles for $20 in the 100!!!
Click to expand...
Just think in terms of people/cargo-miles per gallon. But if you drive alone in the cruiser, I guess you're screwed. Then think of enjoyment-per-miles-per-gallon...
 
re_guderian said:
Just think in terms of people/cargo-miles per gallon. But if you drive alone in the cruiser, I guess you're screwed. Then think of enjoyment-per-miles-per-gallon...
Click to expand...

Ha...you got it man. I like the way you think.
 
nnnnnate said:
I'm on the tail end of my 2k mile road trip. Mileage last Saturday over 3 tanks was 6.4 mpg. Very stiff head wind was pretty killer. Since then we've been mostly on slower speed roads and have mostly been in the 8's and 9's. I've been saving receipts and fuel has been easily been the biggest cost of this trip.
Click to expand...

Whoa. I'd highly suggest a tune-up as something is up. Even while towing my travel trailer, I've never gotten into the single digits. Heck, a 22,000 lb Class A RV gets better mileage than that.
 
Haring Bagsik said:
Interesting...tempting to try it

Click to expand...


Don't waste your time or money. If you run hydrogen your O2's will read a lean mixture and the ECU will just dump more fuel into the engine to compensate.
 
TeCKis300 said:
Mileage, and the ability to improve it, shouldn't be much of a surprise. Given the 100-series focus here, most of you own thirsty cars.

My wife has a RAV4 EV. For any others that have an EV, or efficiency focused vehicle, you might be familiar with hyper-milling techniques. The funny thing is hyper-milling, while possible with all cars, has even more benefit on gas hogs like our cars. I don't go extreme with the practice, but play with it every once in awhile.

For example, a Prius might go from 45 to 55 mpg with these techniques.

Our hundy can go from 12 mpg to 17 mpg on the highway, in my own experience, again without going extreme like 55 mph following big rigs.

While the Prius seems to have a advantage with the technique, gaining 10 mpg, it's an illusion. Would you believe that in 1 tank of gas, using hyper-milling strategies in our cars, we can save as much gas as the prius takes to almost fill its whole tank!!?

Consider this. To drive 300 miles:

In a 45 mpg prius, 300/45 = 6.66 gallons
In a 55 mpg prius = 5.45 gallons
Difference of 1.21 gallons

In our 12 mpg hundy = 25 gallons
In our 17 mpg hundy = 17.65 gallons
Difference of 7.35 gallons or 6X the gas savings over the prius!

Let just say for a moment that we just stretch our hundy to 14 mpg over 300 miles = 21.43 gallons. That's still a difference of 3.57 gallons, or $10/fill up.

Eye opening isn't it? Taking that lead foot off the go pedal can reap huge benefits. Also gallons per mile (GPM) is a much more linear metric to understand gas efficiency at our range of the mpg scale.
Click to expand...

As someone who drives for a living I can tell you that this is 100% true. I openly drive 65mph on the expressway on long trips, 60 on my commute which is 18miles expressway, 2 surface streets. That's each way.
I use the cruise control religiously. I even use it in town, speed limit is 25, I set the cruise at 26.
The trick is to drive slightly slower than the flow of traffic so you can not only use your cruise but also not have to slow down and speed up all the time. Timing the stop lights and anticipating your stops to maximize energy speed/coasting.

Going to visit my inlaws, 150 miles one way, 90% expressway and the rest county roads. 2006 Kia Sedona (wifes van) if I set the cruise at 65 we can be there in 2.5hrs and 1/4 tank of gas.
If I try and drive 80mph we get there in 2.25hrs and 1/2 tank of gas.
That's a lot of money to save half hour round trip.

So far in my '04 LC I'm averaging 14mpg combined. I use an app on my phone to keep track of mpg and fuel costs.
The computer in the truck reads close to what the app says.
 
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