2012+ Subaru Impreza Real World Fuel Economy
Share your fuel economy notes here on the 2012-generation Impreza.
kcram - Pickups/Wagons/Vans+Minivans Host
kcram - Pickups/Wagons/Vans+Minivans Host
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4,000 miles to date
Typical around-town average in suburbia has averaged 28 mpg calculated, with the computer +/- within 1 mpg of calculated. Highway runs have been 38 to 40 mpg at 70 mph, rising to as high as mid 40s at 60 mph.
Driving location: 95% city, 5% highway
Temperature: mid 80s to 100s
roughly 1500 total miles on the car
MPG for this fill up: 22.5
MPG for the lifetime of the car (includes a 500 mile road trip): ~30
nevertheless, the hand calculated fuelly numbers are underestimates since i see a consisten ~3% underestimation of miles traveled by the odometer when compared with Google maps and other vehicles. so in reality, the car readout is close to reality.
the worst part of my driving is my 4mile drive to and from a train station where the car barely warms up. very roughly speaking, those trips only yield about 24mpg.
i have calculated just ~41 mpg on an all highway trip with a solo driver and minimal AC usage and keeping the speeds to 65mph or below.
AC is one most of the time these days for me too. that takes off 1-2 mpg roughly (although i haven't done a super accurate comparison for that)
Miles = 9678
Gallons of gas = 369.679
Avg MPG = 26.179
$ on gas = $1498.75
Avg $ per gallon = $4.05
Avg $ per mile = .1548
I will have had my car for exactly 6 mos on 7/21.
My only disappointment is that I wish I got slightly better gas mileage but I am pretty happy.
My commute changed in April when it was made much shorter BUT is now made in traffic. I do not think it has changed the gas mileage much though to be honest. I have consistently been at the 26/mpg range since tank 1. I have not gone on too many long highway drives and when I did, I did hit 31mpg on that tank so I know my Subie is definitely capable.
It has been a fun car to drive and I am pleased with my purchase. This is my first Subie but will not be the last for my family.
Its been a fun car to drive.
Don't know what climate you are in, but I find my AC makes a significant difference.
More importantly, my on-board computer has been wildly inaccurate. In my case it is telling me I am getting about 5 mpg better than I actually calculate. (Although I'm still taking the car's word on the distance traveled and just inputting the actual gallons used).
My real world numbers are about 29 in mixed driving, using AC about half the time.
Yours isn't a WRX? That maybe get about 19 mpg...
No noises from the drivetrain, implying extra drag?
As for your substandard fuel economy, there are many possibilities:
- Are you using A/C? (1 to 3 mpg drop.)
- How much stuff in the car (additional passengers?)
- Tire pressure? I believe suggested is rght about 30psi. Try just a bit higher like 32 or 33. I believe the last I checked mine it was around 33 or 34.
- Check your odometer. This probably won't make a big difference but many have found it off by about 3%. Example: odometer reads 30 miles, but you really only went 29. Its off in the right direction for the warranty!
The longest highway trip I've taken with my Impreza Sport returned some of my worst mpg at 32mpg. I had 4 passengers and luggage, plus we used A/C. Otherwise I'm happy and getting 34 to 36 mpg hand calculated. My commute is mostly highway, but has some stop-n-go traffic and construction nighmares this summer.
My car has around 3600 on the clock and i drive mainly in the city, i get an average of 20 to 21 mpg if im lucky and i drive 10 miles to work and 10 miles back.
I also do some highway trips and decided to let my wife borrow the car for a week to commute to work about 1 hour driving on the parkway to and 1 hour back.
The most we got out of the car is 27mpg which is 8 mpg lower than the estimate mpg for highway driving. The sad thing is my 2002 for focus which was old tired and had 115,000 on the clock was getting better mpg than my new car.
I honestly wish i had kept it now. Anyone have any suggestions or tricks or anyone having similar problems please feel free to post.
I got a freephone number to see what the buy out is on my lease and also if i can trade in my lease with someone else so they can take it over because im getting less mpg than my previous car and the reason i got this was for more mpg.
Before I bought my Sport Limited, I didn't realize there were so many hills in my area.
I've taken two 700+ mile round trips from Philly area to Boston area.
1st trip (2 people) - started with 1100 miles; PA/NJ turnpike, GW bridge, various NY parkways to Merritt Parkway to I-84. Drive up MPG = 36+ until the GW bridge, then continued to drop and ended at ~32 MPG (hills on the NY/CT parkways kill MPG). Return trip average = ~33 MPG. IIRC, A/C was on the entire trip.
2nd trip (1 person) - started with 5100 miles; mix of back roads, highway, back roads to I-84. Drive up MPG = 36+. Moonroof flipped up for 1/2 trip, A/C on other 1/2 trip. Return trip average = ~35 MPG. Heavier traffic, higher speed, A/C on more, back seats and cargo area full.
Normal commute = congested highway = ~30-32 MPG.
For comparison, my 2003 Outback 2.5L 4EAT averaged 28-30 MPG on highway trips and 22-24 on my commute.
I'm sorry that the original poster's fuel economy is so much lower than expected. I think he said a Focus was replaced by the Impreza... ? If so, it is entirely unrealistic to expect the Impreza to perform better on fuel economy in city driving. Heck, if it did better in the highway in identical conditions, I'd be quite surprised. You gave up some FE for the AWD. If you don't want or need the AWD, as in that was not a major consideration when deciding on the car, you did indeed lease the wrong car for your needs. The good news, though, is that you leased it.
Also, as I drove on the freeway, I left the mpg function/monitor on and played an mpg game by adjusting my accelaration to get the maximum fuel efficiency. My goal was to reach an average 40 mpg. However, to do this I had to develop thick skin; fellow freeway commuters showed great impatience by purposely tailgaiting so that I could speed up or they would look over at me in disgust as they passed by). The highest mpg I ever got was 39.6 and I stayed at the 39 mpg mark for about two weeks.
But then it happened. My wife starting complaining about how she did most of the driving errands and wanted me to help. I agreed and started doing most of the city driving from then on. For the last two months, my driving is about 65 to 70 percent freeway driving and about 30 to 35 percent city driving. As a result, my mpg has dropped down remarkably: it now ranges consistently between 27 and 29 mpg. I never realized how bad city driving was on a car's mpg and now loathe driving through residential streets. And I believe that what keeps my mpg numbers this high is how I continue to play the mpg game on the freeway (I try to adjust my accelaration to raise my mpg numbers on the monitor; but of course, I try not to go lower than 5 or 7 miles below the speed limit.)
Though I am disappointed, I could only imagine what my mpg numbers would be if I had purchased a car with lower EPA estimates. If my average mpg was to go below 26 and my city driving increased, I would seriously consider selling or trading in the Impreza to purchase a Prius. Or to purchase a mini-cooper, which cost less than a Prius, but looks way hipper and cooler, and gets better gas mileage than the Impreza (but then again, the mini-cooper presents the space issue, especially if one has children).
But, that, in a nutshell, has been my 4 to 5 month mpg experience with the 2012 Impreza.
I drive more or less speed limit (55, 60, and 65) or stay with the flow of traffic, not slower than the flow, but I'm seldom the guy in the left lane going faster than the flow. I use a really light foot. Typically I've been getting around 36mpg with my sport premium. I have a 70 mile round trip commute. With construction I have a few miles of stop-n-go to deal with as well.
Yesterday with about 150 miles on the tank and the MPG display over 39mpg (which equals about 36.5mpg) I ran some very short trip errands. Car was already warm from my 30+ mile commute home. Highest speed was 35mph. Stop signs or lights every 400 yards. 3 trips and only 15 miles later the display average was at ~37mpg.
If the engine is cold when doing the same short trips, the mpg drops much faster.
I have just over 7000 miles on the odometer. My average MPG did creep up from 32ish at first to the now 36ish during the first 5 to 6000 miles.
Regarding oxmead's comment, "I am taking it very easy until I get to 1000 miles", I just want to say that it's my unproven theory that taking it overly easy on an engine during the break-in period can cause issues. The manual states not to exceed 4k RPM, but it's my opinion that during break-in, you should work the car up to 4k RPM moderately aggressively (75% throttle) after the engine has warmed up. Not doing this can prevent the piston rings from seating correctly, and could result in a car that consumes oil.
Don't overly baby your car during break-in!
I check tire pressure, use different gas stations, am carrying no extra weight and get passed by little old grannies. I drove faster in my 2009 Nissan Versa S and average 33 mpg, with highs in the 37 range.
I blame a crappy CVT tranny that actually slows the car during downhill decents and switches constantly between gears, again on downhills. I have read other complaints about this same transmission issue. This is not a 'CVT is different' issue, I've driven other CVTs and never felt the car slow when you step off the gas because of engine breaking.
No, I haven't had the car to the dealer yet, but I am putting a sign in the back window warning people off the Impreza. I should have bought a larger SUV for the $ spent upfront, and now on gas. Yes, very disappointed.
Do check the tranny issue before considering the Impreza CVT.
I can't drive the thing any more carefully.
" So, why don't you use the paddle shifters downhill if you don't like the higher revs?"
Um, if I wanted a manual I would have bought one. Paddle shifters are useless around turns.
"It IS an AWD, so what do you want?"
How about mileage as advertised. Those mpg calculations are for 'normal' driving. With my easy hwy driving I expected AT LEAST the advertised mileage. And Freddy, check the estimated mileage on the Versa... then come back and you can excuse that uninformed comment.
Careful driving can't overcome a poorly designed transmission . For those who are don't experience this in their Impreza CVT, imagine your driving 58 mph on the highway and you reach a long downhill - when stepping off the gas a little the car downshifts and the engine is actually breaking the car. I've never ever experienced this in any other car... and my parents have the Outback cvt.
I just checked fuelly for the SX4 and you're doing a lot better:
http://www.fuelly.com/car/suzuki/sx4
They tend to get mid 20s.
CVT didn't bother me on a test drive, but it wasn't a hilly area.
Is it adaptive, i.e. notice any changes over time?
Now I'm driving a car rated at 28 - 36 and I'm getting under 30, and I'm driving it even more carefully than the Versa.
"Is it adaptive, i.e. notice any changes over time? "
Not sure. I have noticed the tranny shifting back and forth more on some hills - though I know I'm more attuned to the shifts now than I was during the first few weeks. I don't know if the tranny is adapting, or I'm just more sensitive to it. Perhaps both.
The Impreza is AWD and has a bigger engine, I wouldn't expect it to match the Versa's numbers.
The Impreza is much quieter, are you sure you're not inadvertently driving at higher speeds on the highway?
Our Forester will do 33 if you go slow, and that plunges to mid 20s if you go real fast.
Try this - drive on a flat road at constant speeds. Zero the odometer each time, and try 55, 60, 65 mph etc. I bet it does best at lower speeds.
"The Impreza is much quieter, are you sure you're not inadvertently driving at higher speeds on the highway? "
I wouldn't say that the Impreza is much quieter, but regardless this isn't a speed issue. I wish this was the case. I'm driving slower, no doubt about it. I am familiar with hyper-mileage techniques and the impact of speed on economy.
It's the transmission. I filled up today and will use the paddle shifters - now I don't want to make this a habit, but I bet the mileage jumps up if I stay in a higher gear on the downhill.
Google this tranny problem - I'm not the only one.
If you're in a hilly area and have to offer throttle input to hold speed on a downhill slope, you will surely get poor mileage. What's more, with an automatic transmission (CVT included), you should never have to do that.
Are those PZEV? Other models have been known to hold on to revs even when you let off the throttle.
I agree with the suggestion about writing a letter, BTW.
When the Outback came out in 2010, it didn't have folding mirrors. Enough people complained that it was fixed before the next model year.
I had Hertz make a note, so I wasn't going to fill it up all the way when I put gas in it. Imagine my surprise after 205 miles, mostly 65mph interstate and 55mph upstate NY back roads, but bits of city here and there, it only took 6 gallons before the auto-shutoff on the pump! That's 34 mpg if I had burned all that gas, which I didn't! I'd have to guess the car was getting at least 40mpg for what I drove it.
Yes it's on the short list for when my wife gets a new car early in '13.
IIRC, build dates up to Jan 2012 had different CVT mapping (even more pronounced engine braking than later builds) and there is a flash available for those cars.
If your build date is later, you should have the updated mapping ... unless they came out with another update.
My March 2012 build does have annoying engine braking at highway speeds but that same annoyance is nice going down hilly local roads.
BTW, I get ~30 mpg on my congested local/highway commute with my 2012 Sport Limited CVT. Got ~22/23 mpg with my 2003 Outback 2.5L 4EAT.
7000 miles now and I don't think I've gotten less than 28 mpg and I've gotten 36+ mpg on trips to New England (Boston area).
Here's the basic info:
Service Bulletin # 11-113-12: TCM Reprogramming Files for Improved Drivability
Bulletin Description: This is to announce that TCM reprogramming files are now available to address a concern where, on light acceleration from a stop, the customer feels a sensation that the vehicle’s rate of acceleration is trailing off, requiring more throttle input to maintain a constant level of acceleration. Note: TCM reprogramming files were sent to all SDS users in the January 2012 SSMIII Update Version 1.31.45.7.
Service Bulletin # 11-115-12: ECM Reprogramming Files to Improve Drivability
Bulletin Description: This is to announce that ECM reprogramming files are now available to optimize engine drivability while cruising and during engine braking. Note: ECM reprogramming files were sent to all SDS users in the January 2012 SSMIII Update Version 1.31.45.7.
I will certainly communicate concerns to Subaru, and appreciate that you further narrowed the cause of my issue.
I have been testing the car by using the paddles (on the hwy). The computer is showing much higher averages so far... day three. This suggests it is the shifting behavior of the transmission.