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Comments
I drove the nonTurbo, just waiting on a turbo to come in to test drive.
Got an 09 XT, i wanted the turbo for the extra power, i scored a deal on a demo, so I am happy with it, plus i felt that the nonturbo was just too sluggish when passing.
Averaging 21mpg with mainly city driving at this point.
Was hoping to run into snow, I really wanted to try this out. Have been all around upstate NY last few days, Plattsburg over to Massena, now back down in Lake Placid tonight. Saw a few patches of snow on the sides of the road, but not enough to driver over.
Oh well, may have to wait until next year.
For the first three weeks, mileage per trip computer 24.6. Actual mileage based on actual gas usage was 24.1. It was actually 23.9 but I know when I got the vehicle from the dealer although "filled" it was not "to the brim" and probably was at least a gallon short of being full.
That being said, pretty close, only .5 miles difference. On my trip today, Providence RI out near Brattleboro, VT and return mpg per trip computer was 26.4, and actual was 26. Did much better on second half coming home as I was mostly on turnpike going out, but more "rural roads" coming home.
Kind of hoping as this vehicle gets broken in rthe mpg will improve. Also, warmer weather will help a bit as well. I would have loved to have the "turbo" but I know the mpg would suffer, probably average low twenties, plus premium fuel. I am surprised how few turbos dealers even have in stock. Over 30 Foresters at the dealer I bought from but just one Turbo (that seems to be sitting with no takers)
Will keep the board posted as I increase mileage. I think another 500+ mile trip coming up on Thursday.
On our 2.5X Limited PZEV we've seen 33mpg and broke 30mpg for a whole trip. At higher speeds it's usually 27-28, though.
On first leg, trip computer indicated 28.5 actual was 28.1, that's a record, so far. On seconrf fill up trip computer indicated 26.7 actual was 26.5. Just got home now with a little over 300 miles since last fill up, trip computer says 28.2 to I figure actual mpg at least 27.5
Of the 1100 miles, probably 600 miles at highway speeds, averaging just about 65 - 67, most of the balance "rural roads" perhaps 50 - 55 mph average, as far as "stop and go" maybe 50to 100 miles.
Must say, so far pleased with the mpg, hope it continues to go a littler higher as I put more miles on the vehicle.
The "negatives" on the car??? The rattles are beginning.... The cabin more noisy than I would like, particularly at highway speeds. You can't balance the front and rear speakers very well -- the rear speakers cannot be made very loud, bluetooth, you can hear fine but, just like with my previous car, people on the other end have a very difficult time understanding me; the cupholders should be round, not square, and actually a little too deep. Put a certain size coffee cup in and the lid sinks a little too low.
Would love some help. Will also post on the general 2009 Forester htread.
Thanks very much,
Sylviecat
So if you reset it you may see the dashes until you drive 1 mile.
Does it reset itself at 10,000 miles? Or did I (or my sister who drive it Sunday) hit something inadvertantly? :confuse:
I had a 2006 Tribeca and, if I recall (if you have Nav) after 10,000 miles it stops recording the time used, but, it continues to show avg mpg. What I do is leave one trip odometer alone and will not reset it until I get to approx 10,000 miles. The other one I reset every time I fill up.
I have been able to record as high as 28.5 on the trip computer, actual best mpg for one tankful 27.9. It does seem to be getting better as I put on more miles, but could also be no longer using winter fuel.
18 tanks of gas
214.14 gallons
5382.4 miles
Avg MPG = 25.13
Tank high = 28.7
Tank low = 20.9
I anticipate better when it's broken in a few miles down the road but I'm very pleased with the initial results for an AWD vehicle this size.
My wife's Forester has heated seats, so I'm jealous!
I averaged about 28.5 driving it home from Seattle to Fairbanks, Alaska (about 2200 miles) going 65-70 most of the way, but once I arrived here (to winter) and settled into daily routines, the economy dropped pretty dramatically. Now, during the winter, my monthly averages are about 20 mpg, with some tanks well south of that (lowest so far is 17.5) with mixed driving, but many short trips (~ 5 miles).
This car LOVES to go 40-50 mph. Driving those speeds for 20 miles through the Whitehorse area on the drive home back in September netted me nearly 40 mpg, and a ten-mile drive through the Wasilla area a couple weeks ago increased my readout from 22mpg to a little over 30 (it had about 30 miles on it when I started the 40-50 mph stretch, which had a few stop signs/lights). Sadly, life is not long enough to go those speeds over the long haul. :P
Total average now after ~7000 miles is 24.5 mpg, though I am more interested in the yearly average as the current (just a little over three months) is highly skewed by winter driving.
:surprise:
Remind me, auto or manual? Best I've done is about 33mpg with our PZEV auto.
Naturally, it's a little better in the summer when it's not warming up for 5-10 mins, because it's -30 C outside, and we're not wallowing through snow drifts.
For comparison, my '09 STI has averaged 10-13 L/100km, (exactly the same).
I don't really care whether either car gets good gas mileage. We bought the cars for their performance, and AWD capabilities.
I have an '09 automatic X LTD with fewer than 11,000 miles on it. The deciding factor that made me buy a Forester over a RAV 4 was the safety features--I had just been in a really gnarly accident and was a bit freaked out. I drive VERY conservatively in town and non-aggressively but a little fast on the highway--70 to 75 mph. Even at that, I try to drive behind semis so that I can use their wind blockage. I drive about 3/4 of the time in-town. I have been incredibly disappointed in the mileage that this car is getting, as I'm very concerned about my comsumption of fossil fuel. Over the life of my car, I've been averaging about 20 mpg and lately have only been getting 17-18 mpg. I thought that certainly the mpg indicator was to blame, so yesterday I took it to the dealer (by the way, I have serviced my car only at Hunter Subaru in Hendersonville, North Carolina). This is what the dealer told me yesterday:
--The mpg indicator is not meant to be exact (ummm...why not? Is Subaru incapable of manufacturing more precise technology?)
--But, that said, I probably AM getting 17-18 miles per gallon and this is fine because the lowest acceptable mpg for this model Forester is 15-16 mpg. They suspect that I am getting this low mileage because:
1) That is just what my car gets;
2) We live in the NC mountains and you get lower gas mileage in mountains (aren't there mountains all over the US? Furthermore, aren't our mountains far more rolling than any of the mountains out west?);
3) I should try buying premim gas;
4) The cross bars on the roof (no bike racks or kayak gear on the bars) are causing wind resistance and so I can't expect to be getting premium mileage;
5) They recently had a woman in complaining of the same problem with her Chevy, but when the guy from the dealer drove it around for 50 miles, he got much better mileage than she does and now, "She's happy as a clam." I believe that I was supposed to take a lesson from her example and be happy with what I had and understand that my low mpg must be my own fault.
Anyway, no satisfaction at all.
I would like to make two side notes:
1) I was so angry when I left Hunter Subaru that I drove straight to Jim Barkley Toyota, which is where I got my last vehicle (I love this dealership), handed the guy my keys and asked him what he could offer me for a trade-in. He said about $18,000. Appletree Honda said the same thing. So, after owning my Subaru for little over a year and having driven it only <11,000 miles, it had depreciated over $8,000.
2) My previous vehicle was a Toyota 4WD Tacoma TRD with a V-6 engine, big tires, the Off-Road package, and a lot of giddyup. It got about 20-22 miles per gallon (As I said, I drive conservatively). This figure includes all the gravel/composting/stone hauling I did. When I totaled the truck, I received $14,000 for it. This was for a truck that was over 6 years old and had over 100,000 miles on it.
So. Could somebody please give me some feedback and advice? Am I being unreasonable? What should I do?
Thank you so much. I'm so upset that I'm crying as I write this.
Elizabeth
Having said that, the Forester is not super fuel efficient. It's very boxy and has poor aerodynamics. The 4-speed automatic is also archaic and needs at least one other gear. Subarus with the new CVT transmission get much better mileage. AFAIK, both Edmunds and Consumer Reports got about 21 MPG overall for their long term test Foresters.
I have an older Forester, and it has averaged about 20-21 over 7 years and 62,000 miles, but it's a turbo and manual transmission, so not exactly apples to apples comparison.
As far as resale value, any car depreciates the most during the first and second years. Also, I'm sure you can get better than $18K if you sold it privately instead of trading in.
The Rav-4 V6 is currently the best rated small SUV in some comparison tests, while the Forester is lagging far behind.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback. The Kelley Blue Book value of my Subaru is in the low 20s, so it appears that you are absolutely correct about being able to get more for it in private sale.
I had taken for granted that the mpg indicator on the dash would be accurate (I still can't understand why that technology isn't more refined). I am now embarking on a do-the-calculations-by-hand study. *shrug* That's the way I used to do it, so I don't see why I can't do that now.
I am very sorry that I didn't buy a RAV 4. Maybe next time.
Best to you.
E--
Good luck and keep us posted!
1) your mileage may vary, but that's nowhere near what our Forester gets (09 PZEV Limited automatic).
2) uphill you do worse, but you make it up going downhill, so the total effect should be minor
3) do no use premium fuel, it's tuned for 87 octane so don't waste your money
4) cross bars may have a small effect, you can remove them when not in use
5) each driver's mileage will vary, sure
I suspect the real reason right now is the bitter cold. I'm farther north than you but even my Miata is only getting 250 miles per tank before the low fuel light kicks on. My mileage is probably down 20% or more due to the severe cold we've had lately.
We get around 22-24 in the city and 27-30 on trips, but we're not going as fast as you on the highway (you said 70-75, we do 60-65 usually).
I'd try slowing down a bit, if that's practical, and try combining trips/errands so that the engine is already warm. During warm up your fuel efficiency is dismal.
Try this experiment - zero the trip odomerter on a cold morning. Drive off. It will tell you your mileage after 1 mile. I bet it's 12 mpg or so while the engine is still cold.
Then zero the trip odometer again, while driving on the highway. Keep your speed steady at around 55mph (safely, of course). I bet after a mile it registers 30mpg or so, if the engine is already warm.
So there is your minimum and maximum range - about 12 to 30. EPA is 20/26 IIRC but you can do a lot worse (with a cold engine, city driving) or a lot better (cruising on the highway but not too fast).
Good luck. I'm sure when the weather warms up you'll do better.
We usually hit our peak late spring or early fall, because we're not using A/C, but it's not really cold, either.
The Forester has two trip meters - A and B. Recently, my wife accidentally reset the "B" meter, which I had on running total since new. It read 24.3 mpg. My manually calc'd spreadsheet indicated 24.26 about the same time, so once the miles rack up, the trip computer is pretty much dead on. Tank by tank, it is usually optimistic. I have had a few tanks where the trip meter was lower than the calc'd economy, but I'm sure some of that has to do with circumstances (when the pump shuts off, etc).
Even now, during the cold months with winter blend fuel, etc., I have yet to have a month where our average fuel economy is lower than 20 mpg. Some tanks, yes, but not on average over a month. Mine is a 2010 Premium PZEV manual.
A couple things I have noted about my car:
1. It loves speeds between 40 and 50 mph and can get upwards of 40 mpg. Speeds under 35 (which requires a drop in gear) or over 50 are significantly worse (about 6-8 mpg). For city/suburban driving, try to maximize the amount of time you are in that sweet spot to make up for the start/stop cycles.
2. Speeds over 70 also cause a substantial drop in fuel economy. When driving it home from Seattle in September, it was giving me 28-31 mpg when driving mostly between 59 and 68 mph, but the few times I pushed it over 70 the readout would start dropping .3 mpg every couple of minutes. I did not drive a full tank over 70 so I am not sure how low it would have gone, but I was definitely taking a hit.
As for driving behind tractor-trailers, you may not be doing yourself any good unless you are riding right up behind them. By the time you are a safe distance behind, you are likely pushing through the turbulence created by their passing and may be hindering your fuel economy to some extent.
All of that said, I still think 17-18 mpg seems low unless you are making a lot of very short trips. Setting your tire pressure at 35 psi may help a little as well.
We drive from DC to the eastern shore, and the country roads have 50mph speed limits most of the way. Those are our best tanks.
We can break 30 if we're trying.
> a RAV 4 was the safety features
Then stop crying over gas mileage. You should have bought a Hybrid, if fuel economy is worth crying over.
> The cross bars on the roof (no bike racks or
> kayak gear on the bars) are causing wind resistance
You will get terrible gas mileage with the cross bars on. Take them off if you want better mileage, (partricularly on the highway ... probably gain 2 MPG just from this).
> My previous vehicle was a Toyota 4WD Tacoma
> TRD with a V-6 engine, big tires, the Off-Road
> package, and a lot of giddyup. It got about
> 20-22 miles per gallon
I seriously doubt this.
Regardless, you said you were averaging 20 MPG, and you were happy getting 17-18 MPG, (perhaps you meant un-happy?).
Let's say you drive 100000 miles. The difference between getting 17-18 MPG and 20 MPG at $4/gallon equates to $2856 extra gas. The difference between getting 17-18 MPG and 22 MPG equates to $4674 more in gas.
Assuming it takes you 5 years to drive that 100000 miles, selling your vehicle for an $8000 loss to save $2856 doesn't make much sense.
Stop worrying about fossil fuels. There is plenty to last your life time. Stop worrying about so-called "global warming". We will eventually run out of fossil fuels which will also solve that potential problem.
i would also like to get set up to load one pair of ski's and one bike on my rooftop. ive got the roof rails currently, so i look at cross bars, feets and ski/bike attachments. i will probably hold off on the ski's holder for now.
should i go with thule or subaru cross bars? the subaru bars look most aerodynamic, but would they be as sturdy and allow easy interfacing of feet/attachments with locks?
i am also concernced with the total load weight on the bars. my bike is kona mt bike, which is pretty heavy. the hardest part will be hoisting it up there (i dont like the fork mounts).
i also have the moonroof. my hope is to be able to conveniently remove as much of the rack stuff as neccesary when not in use.
Try combining errands if possible, so that you're starting with a warm engine.
Another option is the Subaru OEM engine block heater. You'd use a little electricity, but it would more than pay off in fuel savings, provided you time it properly.
The roof rack is rated for 150 lbs, FWIW.
Okay, so the battery heater is, but not for a stock (weak) Subaru battery.
A Canadian buddy told me he saw negative 20s this past week. Brr.
only 18 below today ....
my breaks suck. i cannot rely on them if i need to stop quickly. a guy ran me off the road two days ago so i could have let him hit me, or i could have gone off the road and hit a HUGE, dense snow hill in front of beaver sports. i chose the latter. i busted up my front end.
Sorry to hear about the car; doesn't it seem to happen more often that stuff like that occurs just after you buy a new vehicle?! :mad:
I was literally run off the road once (intentionally) several years ago on Chena Pump. I managed to avoid the other car but mine ended up being a total loss, which came out of my pocket even though I was able to identify and locate the other driver/vehicle. I won't make that mistake again. If another car would otherwise contact me, I'll take the contact before I take the ditch just to have physical evidence that the other car was present.
-mike