Before you call a Subaru a gas hog you have to make sure you're comparing simular vehicals. My buddies Civic gets a lot better mileage then my Legacy but it's also much smaller inside, 2 wheel drive and a 5 speed. My neighbours 93 Accord with an auto trans gets about the same as I do. My in-laws Volvo S60 is about the same size, same performace and only 2 wheel drive but gets slightly worse mileage then I do.

 

The trick is to find out what people actually get day to day, not what they once got when the car was new, on a warm summer day, with a tail wind..etc. People will always use the extremes depending on what point they want to make. i.e. When you hear that a diesel car gets over 50 mpg but an SUV will only get 10 mpg. Both statements may be true but not under identical circumstances. My sisters 97 Yukon could get 10 mpg city driving in the winter but it could also beat 20 mpg on the highway.

 

When Edmunds.com did a long term test on a VW TDI, their mileage ranged from 21.5 to 48 mpg (average 36). http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/LongTerm/articleId=44033

 

 

I get 25 mpg with my Legacy so I could argue that my 25 beats their 21 so my car gets better mileage then a Diesel. Misleading perhaps but it is true.

 

Anyhow, enough rambling on for me... have to get back to work before someone notices I'm not running test scripts now

Before you call a Subaru a gas hog you have to make sure you're comparing simular vehicals. My buddies Civic gets a lot better mileage then my Legacy but it's also much smaller inside, 2 wheel drive and a 5 speed. My neighbours 93 Accord with an auto trans gets about the same as I do. My in-laws Volvo S60 is about the same size, same performace and only 2 wheel drive but gets slightly worse mileage then I do.

 

I used to get a hair over 20mpg in my supercharged 5.0 mustang.... only on long trips with mostly freeway cruising when it had stock gears and I could float around 80mph at 1800rpm. It got about 15 around town... but I drove it like a jerk. I had a Jeep that got about 18 around town and 15 on the freeway (big tires, stock gears). My parents have a 99 4cyl Accord that gets about 30 around town and 35 on trips. I even have a friend that sold his Ford F-150 5.4 ltr 4 door short bed 2x4 that got 25 on trips (no idea what his around town was). I think it's because of the tall gears and the fact it was a 2x4, not to mention this friend drives like he's a 90 year old woman.

I usually get 24 or 25 mpg under normal to aggressive driving conditions, and I can milk out 30-31 mpg when I drive for maximum economy (like an old lady.)

 

I have not seen any substantial decline in mpg since I bought my vehicle in 2001, but I take good care of it.

 

 

Matt

I must say I'm not especially happy with my mpg, especially driving 150 mi/day. However, I suppose 26.x is not completely unreasonable for avg ~70 mph. Another to consider is 1.8T Jetta, FWD, but still really peppy with a 5MT at 30+ mpg.

 

-Heikki

Hi all, I'm new.

 

I've been keeping an excel spreadsheet for my 2002 Impreza RS's gas consumption since day one. I usually get around 24-25 mpg these days, driving from home to school and back. About 30 miles each day, 6 miles spent on local, the rest highway. I don't drive like a crazy person or anything, 60-70 mph on the highway, hardly ever rev above 4K rpm. On longer trips during summer I could get around 27-28 mpg if its all highway. I guess thats expected since the EPA estimates are 22/28. I did hit 29 mpg a couple of times when the car had only 10K miles but if I recall correctly I was using the cruise control at the time and I was on NY Thruway, so relatively flat and straight. Major overhaul coming soon, so hopefully with new filters and fluids I can get it up a little higher still.

heh, glad i got my 90' camry.. 2.2 automatic.. gets 34+ in mixed town and highway (65 and uder) driving.. i usually see 360-380 miles per 11 gallons of gas

 

:-p and its got 204k on it with the original trans and motor..

 

my svx has been averaging about 23 mpg since i got it..

dunno about the old wagon its prolly around 23 or so as well..

 

now my 94 yota pickup gets 24 back and forth to work.. and its 4wd with 235k on its ticker.

 

 

as far as the forester handling like a rally car.. i bet it does compared to a citroen, ROFL...