LX570 - realistic fuel economy?

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If fuel efficiency is a concern, there is only 1 answer. The new Rav4 Hyrbid. 41 mpg city, 37 mpg highway and 39 mpg combined.

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2019 Toyota RAV4 First Drive Review | Definitely not playing it safe

I'm kidding of course. At the same time, I can't help but marvel at how far SUV MPG has come. Perhaps there's hope for the 300 series.

In the mean time, I'll happily continue burning dead dinosaurs until they are extinct again.
 
eatSleepWoof said:
Thanks, folks. Worse numbers than I had hoped for. Lots to think about.
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'Every rose has its thorn...'

For 200 its gas. Gas seems to be going down in price probably to offset elon musk's masterplan. My masterplan is one of each. Waiting for Tesla pickup/van or VW microbus but the 200 is staying with me until the world turns into mad max thunderdome apocalypse (need my 40 gallon aux tank + jerry cans).
 
Had a 2017 Tacoma, got around 24 mpg on road trips after OVTune. 2013 LC with stock wheels/tires get 19-20 mpg on same road trips. Not much difference in cost at the pump or frequency of refueling. Both vehicles have poor mpg in town, so all things being equal, don’t see much actual $$ difference after 7 months.
 
2008 lx570, 66k miles on the clock. No mods other than 285/55r20 tire size increase. Just averaged 14.5 mpg over 1000 miles, two adults, three smaller children, 4 dogs and soft topper on top making the brick bigger. That's rolling highways, and 80mph stretches on interstate and even some gravel here and there.

I'm happy with 14.5 normally in my 100:beer:
 
Speaking of tire sizes... The google spreadsheet of wheel/tire combos for the 200 series shows a few folks running 17" wheels/tires. Should I be able to reuse the 34x10.5 KO2s that I have on the Taco? Provided I pick up a set of 17" wheels? Are there specific 17" wheels/offset that work best? Mostly worried about clearing the brake callipers.
 
eatSleepWoof said:
I know, I know. I love the reliability, promised longevity, off-road capability and the interior space, but am having a hard time swallowing the price given the fuel economy.

The other vehicle I'm considering is a 2012+ ML 550 w/ the off-road package (skids, transfer case w/ low range, some electronic goodies). Better fuel economy and I've owed a few MBs before, so I'm naturally gravitating to what I have experience with. A 2014-2015 model can be had for $15-20k CAD cheaper than a LX570 of similar year/mileage. In terms of capability the ML would do everything I need (I had an '06 one that did), and that price difference certainly buys a lot of potential repairs...
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As long as you get an extended warranty with the Merc and keep it only for that long, it may be a better choice for you. Uncovered repairs will give you a nosebleed at best and a heart attack at worst. :D

An LX will do pretty much what the vehicle label says for fuel economy. Considering that the biggest cost of ownership will come from depreciation, it actually may come out ahead, depending on annual mileage, than many other similar vehicles, based off that alone.
 
Thanks, everyone!

A somewhat off-topic question: how would you calculate/predict vehicle depreciation over a 5-year term? Assuming purchasing a 4-year old vehicle, how would you calculate a %-based depreciation in another 5 years?

Say a vehicle that cost $100k new costs $60k four years later. That's a 40% depreciation over four years. Would you expect the same vehicle to drop another 40% (from $60k) in the next four years? There's no real conclusive research/info that I can find. Some brands/makes depreciate more than others, too.

What I'm doing it putting together a spreadsheet of all vehicle models I'm somewhat interested in, and trying to calculate/compare all costs over a 5-year term.
 
Itsky said:
=1 - (Numerator: Look at prices of 2010s on the market with the appropriate mileage.
Denominator: 2014 on market with appropriate miles) *100
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~2010 price divided by ~2014 price sounds like a reasonable approach!
 
Steepest depreciation is in first week. Just pull year price from cars.com and run a regression. You can get pretty close with 30 data points per vehicle.
 
‘13 LX. Stock other than yakama crossbars. I drive pretty conservatively. Overall I get 13-14 mpg summer 12-13 winter, 18 mpg highway. Towing my camper 8-9 mpg...

I love my cruiser and will keep it a long time but pretty much mostly drive it when: going off road, need the cargo or seating capacity, or when towing the camper. Other than that mostly drive the EV.
 
You're overthinking this. I get that you want to calculate cost of ownership over 5 years and factor gas, maintenance, repairs, depreciation, etc etc. At end of the day, it's all a forecast...and forecasts are wrong.



For me, buying a car is based off intangibles. I buy the car that I like and how it makes me feel.









eatSleepWoof said:
Thanks, everyone!

A somewhat off-topic question: how would you calculate/predict vehicle depreciation over a 5-year term? Assuming purchasing a 4-year old vehicle, how would you calculate a %-based depreciation in another 5 years?

Say a vehicle that cost $100k new costs $60k four years later. That's a 40% depreciation over four years. Would you expect the same vehicle to drop another 40% (from $60k) in the next four years? There's no real conclusive research/info that I can find. Some brands/makes depreciate more than others, too.

What I'm doing it putting together a spreadsheet of all vehicle models I'm somewhat interested in, and trying to calculate/compare all costs over a 5-year term.
Click to expand...
 
I've been crunching some numbers on the vehicles I'm considering. Some very different vehicles, I know.

The 5-year depreciation values I came up with in my own searching were very close to what Edmunds "True Cost to Own" calculator gave me, so I used the latter.

Some takeaways:
- LX has the highest depreciation of all. With that in mind, I do suspect that over long-term ownership the depreciation will slow down and essentially stop, whereas other vehicles will continue depreciating into worthlessness. It's also worth noting that the spread in depreciation is not that huge between what was originally a $95k vehicle and a $50k vehicle ('13 LX vs '16 CX-9).
- Maintenance & repair costs seem rather excessive. I suspect real-life numbers will be quite a bit lower, especially if doing most of the simple work myself.
- Fuel consumption costs seem to be more or less the same as my current Tacoma. Better fuel economy but more expensive (premium) gas, yet the end result is a miraculous equivalent with the Taco, down to the penny. The LX will take about $100/month more in fuel than the most economical option.
- Surprised to find out how quick the MDX is these days.
- Also surprised that the advertised interior cargo volume of the Highlander is the same as the LX. Doesn't seem right.

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427Monster said:
You're overthinking this. I get that you want to calculate cost of ownership over 5 years and factor gas, maintenance, repairs, depreciation, etc etc. At end of the day, it's all a forecast...and forecasts are wrong.

For me, buying a car is based off intangibles. I buy the car that I like and how it makes me feel.
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I generally agree with you. I'm largely thinking about fuel economy because I just bought my first house, and with house prices in BC being what they are, I don't have too much disposable income left. A $600k mortgage + cost of heating/maintaining a 4200 sq/ft house adds up quick. Trying to cut down on my excessive spending and be a little more conscious of where the $$ is going.

I don't really want to waste money on gas (or anything else), but I also don't want to end up with a vehicle that I will be unhappy with and will have to trade-in/sell in a year or two - that will cost me more than the extra fuel!

Every time I find a new vehicle that gets me excited and I spend time really looking into it and thinking things through, I end up going back to wanting an LX. Naturally, that's where I'm heavily leaning at this point. Now it's a mostly a question of removing mods off my truck fast enough, finding the right LX, and coming to agreement on numbers. An acquaintance of mine put me in touch with the GM of a large chain of dealerships in Vancouver, and he's running some no-haggle numbers for me right now on a '14 LX: black on saddle tan, ultra premium, 24k miles on the clock.

After owning a black Mercedes way back when, I swore I'd never get another black car. They look amazing when clean and freshly detailed, but are so tough to keep clean. But if the numbers come back doable, I think I'd go for it. Now that I have a house (vs. a condo), keeping up with the detailing will be much more practical.
 
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