how many miles per gallon should i be getting in my 95 subaru legacy wagon? from what ive averaged out the car is currently getting 20.85 miles to the gallon is this normal? just seems to me like it should be better.

Sounds about right for a 20 year old car on winter blend gas.

 

If it's a manual trans that could be a bit low......But consider......these cars are geared for 65 MPH max cruising speed of mid 90's..........Most everybody does 75+ on freeways these days.

20mpg is low imho

My moms 90 wagon auto with 285,000 miles gets around 23-25 in the winter

My 90 wagon 5 speed gets 25 steady during the winter, but it has a low milage replacement motor as well

 

Check your plugs for wear, air filter, fuel filter. Lucas fuel injector cleaner will improve mpg slightly for a couple tanks.

Edited January 15, 201511 yr by mikaleda

My 96 wagon gets 28 on the highway

 

My 96 wagon gets 28 on the highway

I usually get 28-30 if I'm just cruisin the highway in the summer time.

20 is a bit on the low side - even for winter blend fuel/warm up times...

 

my 95 is getting around 24-25 mpg...and that is with 10-15 minute warmup times.

My 95 legacy L sedan get's about 20-22 for most of the driving I do, which is mostly in town but some highway. On the highway though I get about 26 or so. Its a 5 speed too.

I use ONLY non-ethanol premium gas and I even let my car warm up in the morning for at least 5-10 minutes.  It is totally worth it for me to use non-ethanol gas. It runs so much better and has waay more power. 

I just think that fuel economy isn't one of the strong points of these cars. Everyone I talk to who has a similar car reports similar fuel economy. It's worth it for the AWD though. 

Edited January 16, 201511 yr by nicholi2789

We can just barely squeak out 29 on a road trip with our '96, but 28 is really the norm. Mixed is between 22 and 23.

Edited January 16, 201511 yr by bendecker

1993 Legacy wagon with automatic transmission & FWD - In summer, my city mileage is 20, Hwy between 28 & just over 30. Combined mileage is about 25. Much lower mileage in winter, about 14 city in last winter's record cold with all the time spent warming up.

i normally don't warm the car i have a habit of just getting in and going i cant afford to let the car run for 10 or 15 min to warm up that's a few miles i could have driven. i don't drive the highway often i tend to stay on back roads with speed limits of 50 usually everyone is doing 55 the rest of my driving is at around 30 to 40 mph driving to work and home with 6 stop lights on the way. i have new plugs and coil still using the wires that were on the car no vacuum  leaks found. it has the auto transmission and 194,198 miles currently.

If it is very cold outside and your doing short trips, that is a great number. I would love that number in winter on short trips. 

 

The usual check your tire pressures, but 20 for a 1995 AWD car assuming it is around town is pretty good. When was the last time a tuneup was done on the car?

I check my car's fuel-consumption by averaging over 5 fills.

I call this a 5-fill moving-average, and I graph this on a spreadsheet.

 

I ignore the fuel-consumption from a single fill. I cannot control how full the tank gets, especially how much fuel gets up into the filler tube.

 

This 5-fill method is best for monitoring long-term changes in fuel consumption, but does also help in the short term too, just not after a single fill.

The multi tank average is best. Right now, Mom has been in the hospital 2 miles away for a week, and now she is in rehab about 3 miles away. Multiple short trips a day in winter with lots and lots of traffic control devices, i am getting 17 mpg or less if it gets in single digits. This doesnt bother me as i think any car would be low at this duty cycle. 

 

Multi tank also is mopre typical for a season, otherwise that one or two days of extreem weather change can easily make a tankfull look scary.

The multi tank average is best. Right now, Mom has been in the hospital 2 miles away for a week, and now she is in rehab about 3 miles away. Multiple short trips a day in winter with lots and lots of traffic control devices, i am getting 17 mpg or less if it gets in single digits. This doesnt bother me as i think any car would be low at this duty cycle.

 

Multi tank also is mopre typical for a season, otherwise that one or two days of extreem weather change can easily make a tankfull look scary.

My GMC with a 5.7 gets almost that milage,

With a lot of short trips 11-14 and highway 15-17

I think if anyone watched thier mileage in winter on short trips (less then a few miles) would be alarmed. My lowest for a subaru was 13 when i was driving less then a mile to the gym every day and we were locked into single digits for a week.

I think if anyone watched thier mileage in winter on short trips (less then a few miles) would be alarmed. My lowest for a subaru was 13 when i was driving less then a mile to the gym every day and we were locked into single digits for a week.

I agree short low speed trips do suck the gas down.