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Sorry to see you're still having mpg issues, Kidali. I'm way behind updating my spreadsheet on my '97 but I'll try to do that soon. Last April I was getting 23.10 lifetime. Got a bit over 78,000 miles on it now.
I've had about 5 tanks that have held over 13 gallons, but this week I set a (dubious) record, thanks to some poor planning. The Outback held 13.797 gallons. Hard to believe the tank really holds 15.9 gallons - I was sweating it a bit.
Steve, visiting host
Worst tank so far this year was 19.28. Best was 33.03 on a road trip. Lifetime average is up to 23.31.
I'm only driving ~6,000 miles a year.
Your lifetime average is a little under mine (had the car about 19 months now).
I'd still say mine is around 21. Though lately I've been having terrible mileage, even with 94 octane gas I'm around 20. Maybe it's the air conditioner running in this heat.
Still trying to figure out my throttle response issue right now. Maybe I'll start a new forum. As stated in earlier posts, check engine has been on for months. My guy decoded it as an 'engine knock' sensor. Reset it. It went out. But a week later came back on. That was in the winter. I'm just living with it. Some days though, it goes out, and the car feels like a rocket. It will come back on after 10 miles or so, and once it does, I almost have to floor the gas for the a/t to drop a gear or kick in at all.
Anyone else have this problem? My untrained analysis is there's a faulty computer on the car. Anyone?
PS> Anyone have an issue with spider cracking in the paint on the hoods of these 97's? Mine looks horrible, and worse after waxing. No real way to resolve it, just curious if others also experience this with the 97 outbacks.
Most of my driving is around town or 50 miles RT up to the ski hill in the winter, and those are the 21ish tanks. Worse tank ever was 13.16 one January.
Mine's red btw, and the paint looks pretty good. Dings and chips, but no spidering.
Since December though, I keep getting between 13 or 14 litres / 100k
(16.8 - 18 US MPG) !!! Horrible. 50/50 Highway/City, which means my CITY mileage has got to be atrocious.
Tires are inflated. Used injector cleaner. Rarely used my heated seats. (Obviously no AC this time of year in Canada). Use full synthetic oil. Often try the 91 Octane gas, and sometimes, stupidly, even the 94 Octane! No, I'm not made of gold. Just trying to make a perfectly fine car last longer.
Any suggestions? Can my mechanic (not a Subaru specific guy) diagnose if it's a PCV issue without taking the car apart?
Dom
Another possibility is that the oxygen sensors are giving poor feedback so the car is not trimming the fuel/air ratio as efficiently. I noticed my fuel economy taper off somewhat once I was north of 150,000 miles on my '96 Outback. It used to give me between 22 and 28 mpg (or better!) except during periods of extreme cold (< -25F). In its later life (I had it to 220,000 miles, and it still ran great), the low dropped to about 17 with the tops at about 25. During periods of extreme cold, it would drop as low as 13-14 mpg.
I wish I could say I replaced the oxygen sensors and it made a marked improvement, but I planned to replace them in spring of 2007... yet fate had other plans.
Highway is about 36 MPG @ 55 MPH Cruise Control according to the dash computer. (To clarify, this is what's displayed after getting fuel and pulling right back out onto the highway. It actually goes higher - above 40 MPG - but because I typically only drive on a stretch of 5 miles of highway to/from work, it starts to go down when I idle at a light pretty rapidly)
Combined over the last 1k miles in the last month between about a 50/50 split of highway & city driving shows me between 26 and 28 MPG, depending on traffic. Not bad at all. Better than my 4AT 09 Legacy 2.5i.
I use Trip A for my current tank of gas, and Trip B for the time since last maintenance.
I was a big proponent of diesel-based Subarus coming over here and probably would have been one of the first to get them, since the MPG is significantly higher. We'll see what time brings.
I'll see if I can do the PCV valve myself, and ask my mechanic if he has a test for the O2 sensors before determining if they are the issue.
Anyway, again, the 36 MPG is skewed because it doesn't take into account idling and things like that. For example, the day after when I turned the car on, I gave it about a minute to idle before I put it in gear, and the MPG decreased to around 32MPG. Granted, this also increases once I get the car back out onto highway.
I'll have to pen-and-paper some MPG next time I fill it up, since I use the same gas station on my way home from work and we'll see if it corraborates what my trip meter says.
Who needs a hybrid, just use your damn cruise control and try driving close to the speed limit!
On the highway yes. But in daily city driving, I'd take a hybrid any day. That's where they shine.
At any rate, when I have a chance I will add up all the gas I have purchased for this vehicle since new (I keep good records) and I believe it will come out to just about 27 mpg, actual. Yes, everyone's statements about mileage indicated on trip comuters being optimistic is correct. I have had many vehicles past 20 years or so, and every one of them is "optomistic, and this includes a 2005 outback, 2006 Tribeca, 2009 Forester, as well as my current vehicle. I would say the actual mpg usually 1 to 1.5 mpg less than computer indicates.
That being said, I have averaged, per trip computer around 31 to 32 mpg on a few occasions, but the best actual mpg I have ever attained (on mostly highway driving) has been 30. If, near the end of a long trip I must fill up, then continue home for another 30 - 40 miles, I have seen the computer go as high as 34 mpg. I think that's because the previous many miles were all highway, as well as the portion of the trip back home.
However, if I start up following morning & it still says 34 mpg, after just a few miles, it will drop very quickly.
That's right on the button for my trip computer. My 2011 Legacy 2.5 has been in the 25-26 MPG range lately (30/70 city/highway - calculated as miles driven/gallons to fill up), and always about 1 to 1.5 mpg lower than what the trip computer says for that tank. I have been getting better mileage since the weather warmed up, but not as good as I expected based on EPA MPG figures. And I've been babying it, trying to get the MPG number up. I'd say the MPG is my biggest disappointment with the car.
Recently took 2 long road trips, Colorado to Cincinnnati and Colorado/Austin TX. The first was with 2 adults, suitcases, one set of golf clubs etc, 2 tanks were above 34. The second was one adult, tools, golf clubs etc and the worst tank was 32 and a fraction. That's at 75 MPH with the cruise control.
Turned over 31,000 miles on the Austin trip.
My MPG is much better this summer than last winter, which may be due to some combination of a) better efficiency in warmer temps; b) summer gasoline and c) more miles on the car. We'll see how it does this winter. Disappointment is too strong a word as of now, but last winter I was getting only 23-25 MPG with the same 30/70 country/highway driving. We'll see if it is better this winter with more miles on the car.
I really believe the winter gasoline was horrible last winter, as everyone I talked to complained about poor fuel mileage, as in substantially worse than during previous winters.
I don't rely on the built-in computer for this data. I run out each tankful of the cheapest "no name" Regular gas and zero the trip odometer each time. I'm writing this entry after getting 31.16 MPG - 561 miles on 18 gallons of Delta Regular.
By the way, after these 561 miles the MPG mid-dashboard computer said I had averaged "33.0" miles per gallon for this tank of gas. Having tracked dozens of tankfuls, the Outback's MPG computer makes sense only if you subtract 6% from its number. ("33.0" x .94 = 31, the actual mileage I was getting.) For the Outback owners out there, after filling the tank the Range computer displayed 620 miles which computes to 33.5 mpg. (Maybe one of you wants to attempt that?)
I drove as conservatively as possible to get my 31 mpg. I also run on Mobil 1 Synthetic oil and had the emissions software update that came out last year. Though some bloggers said the update hurt fuel efficiency, it has had no effect on mine.
I've had some great cars in my life - at least a dozen - and this one is my favorite. I test-drove all the small SUVs and wagons - from Cayenne to TSX - and I made the right choice buying the Outback. At 35,000 miles it's been a pleasure to own and drive.