Hello all,

 

I'm new here; we purchased a new Outback Wagon a month ago. I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea on gas mileage to expect - it's rated 22 - 28. We've been getting high teens to low 20's with about 1/3 hwy and 2/3 city driving. We rented one out in WA state recently and got high 20's on a trip from Seattle - Vancouver - Whistler and back. Love the Outback (automatic), but a little disappointed on gas mileage so far.

 

Thanks, drgolf.

hello, welcome , we had a 2000 and we got 23 city and 27 hi , we also had a headgasket go also

Your mileage sounds too low even for an automatic. I would take it into the dealer and let them look things over since this is brand new.

I second the motion on taking it back, your MPG is way too low.

we bought a 35th edition outback and it gets about 24 in town with a small increase to 26 on the long hwy trips with long periods of 75+ mph. About what i expected.

Hello all,

 

I'm new here; we purchased a new Outback Wagon a month ago. I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea on gas mileage to expect - it's rated 22 - 28. We've been getting high teens to low 20's with about 1/3 hwy and 2/3 city driving. We rented one out in WA state recently and got high 20's on a trip from Seattle - Vancouver - Whistler and back. Love the Outback (automatic), but a little disappointed on gas mileage so far.

 

Thanks, drgolf.

I don't know about 04, but my 00 gets similar MPG. I took it to a dealer with the same complain, no avail. I tried all the usual: synthetic fluids, high tire pressure, checked air filter, etc. I even bought an OBD2 interface to make sure O2 sensors were working. My Sub lifetime highest MPG: 25.1 (sustained hwy, 80 mph) and lowest: 14-15 (boat towing). Short-trip only city errands can put me as low as 15.5-16.

I have an 04 Legacy Anniversary Edition, I get around 21 city, 26 Highway...it is an auto and I run on Caifornia gas, that oxygenated gas really pulls down the mileage, when i am out of state I get way better mileage.

I have had my 2004 outback for 5 months and find the fuel consumption pretty poor. Most of my travel is city driving and I barely get 18 MPG and thats trying to be very light on the gas. If you drive the car normally without looking at the displayed fuel use the consumption goes down to 16 MPG.Fuel in the land down under is currently at $4.72AUD per gallon.

 

What happened to the notion of modern fuel efficient cars?

 

Apart from that its a very nice car

I don't know how to convert to MPG, but my Outback auto gets around 11.5 L/100km in city driving (driven hard).

I don't know how to convert to MPG, but my Outback auto gets around 11.5 L/100km in city driving (driven hard).

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=123912&postcount=7

I don't know how to convert to MPG, but my Outback auto gets around 11.5 L/100km in city driving (driven hard).

Using the formula posted above 11.5 L/100km~20.5 MPG.

Not bad for city driving.

I suspect that a recipe for poor MPG in city is lots of starts and driving short distances on cold engine. 2.5L engine warms up slowly (even in hot weather) and runs very rich in cold. This is also a recipe for gas dilution in oil and lots of engine wear (especially with high sulfur gas). This is IMHO.

Thanks for the link.

 

 

Over the time I've owned my Outback (almost 2 years) fuel consumption has ranged from a best of 8.92 L/100km (26.4mpg) on a long highway run, to a worst of 13.76 L/100km (17.1mpg) in city driving. Note, although my Outback is a 1999 model, it's the SOHC 2nd generation Outback model that arrived in Australia in late 1998 (our Legacys / Outbacks are imported from Japan).

I have a 2000 OBW Ltd., automatic (with the 2.5L H-4). I have had it 15 months since March '03 and have put 17,000 miles on it. My overall fuel mileage during that time is 19.8 MPG, mostly suburban driving, some highway/long trips. The best it has done was on a long trip, all interstate, was 26 MPG. Around town it is in the 18 - 19 range.

 

Somewhat disappointing but not surprising when you consider:

 

-It is a relatively heavy car for its external size -- 3600 lbs. (due to lots of features, heavy duty components as part of AWD/offroad function)

-Automatic tranny

-Laws of Economics (relatively low gas prices in U.S. compared to rest of world and U.S. public demand for big, heavy, feature-laden vehicles with fuel economy being of minimal concern, and regulatory climate of diminishing federal pressure on automakers to improve overall MPG) resulting in automakers not making fuel efficiency a priority in R&D

 

But it is better than the Explorers, Durangos, and Trailblazers that all my neighbors and coworkers are driving. And it does pretty much all the same things and holds all the same passengers and cargo, but is safer in addition to being more fuel efficient.

 

Life is a series of compromises.

 

--K9Leader, Newark DE