MPG - 2004 Outback Wagon 2.5 auto

[drgolf]

Our Outback Wagon was rated 22 mpg for city. We've only been averaging about 17 mpg city and have about 6,500 miles. Is this all we should expect?

We're taking it in again next week for them to check out mpg and auto transmission - has always seemed to be a little jerky.

Thanks for any help.

[sios]

Our Outback Wagon was rated 22 mpg for city. We've only been averaging about 17 mpg city and have about 6,500 miles.

I wouldn't think that's right. Mine is a Impreza "Outback" Sport but with same engine, transmission and mileage. Not a turbo, but you didn't say yours is.

 

MPG is still working out to be around 24 to 27, average. I believe the weight difference in our cars is just 300 pounds, and I almost always drive alone and I weigh 170 lbs. not pulling or hauling anything either.

 

Difficult to say why you'd get so low a mpg, unless A/C is on a lot still and you drive mainly in city-like traffic. I'm mostly a freeway/highway driver. However, the engine being relatively new still it takes time for that to loosen up (hopefully correctly). I'm anticipating 30 mpg someday next year. If not, I'll begin to worry a little.

 

Those 22/28 mpg numbers are averages themselves. If I recall this right, the real min/max is more like 17/33, or thereabouts.

[blitz]

Like Sios, my '02 OBS 2.5/ 4EAT returns 24 city - 27 highway in warm weather. During the winter, the city figure drops to 21 or even 20 when I'm trudging through frozen drift in the lower gears.

 

You're not throwing a check engine light are you?

[friendly_jacek]

It is possible. My wife does short commute to her work and errands and gets 16-18 pure city in her AT 00 Legacy Wagon. While this is lower than I expect, there is nothing wrong with the car (that the dealer or myself can detect) and the various tweeks I tried (ECU reset, different weights of engine oils, synth only fluids, 40 PSI in tires, FWD fuse) did not change it. I even purchased OBD2 interface to make sure O2 sensor worked correctly (replaced under recall anyhow).

 

When I get the car worked up on a hwy (long family trips) I get more "reasonable" 24-25 mpg. Let me tell you, no more AWD for me in future cars (we moved to snow-free zone :-)

 

Another thing is that the 2.5 runs very rich at cold start-up.

 

And one thing is we bought it "new" with 300 mile. Possibly abused during the brake-in.