I have inherited a 2001 Legacy Outback from my wife. This car gets surprisingly low gas milage and downshifts in order to conquer almost any grade. The car is an automatic, and has a trailer hitch and roof rack. It is unmodified. Does 19mpg sound low to the rest of you or am I just unreasonable? The engine is otherwise smooth. Is there a chance that I am not getting spark to one of my cylinders? Any advice will be appreciated. I am taking it to my mechanic an a couple of days, and would like to be able to talk intelligently about it to him.

 

-Neil ‘01

I would assume its on its original spark plugs, they are platinum and would last this long but would be overdue to be replaced.

Also have them check the air filter, fuel filter, O2 sensor, and any codes that come up on the scan tool. 19MPG is way low for this model year, and your tranny shifting so often is not a good sign. . .