2005 and newer Subaru Legacys. Whats are best mods for hypermiling.

[drewbabich]

I have done a search of subaru owners on here and can't find anyone with 2005 or newer subaru.

I've read some great tricks that people have done to get their late 90's to early 2000's AWD subaru's up to 32 mpg, but my 2005 legacy already gets up to 32 mpg stock by driving like I don't have breaks and doing 55-65. I'm not sure if my MPG inefficiencies are the same or as bad as the older subaru's.

I never wanted a big AWD car cause of the weight and AWD i figured would kill my MPG. But my 2005 3300 lb Subaru Legacy wagon is rated at 30 as apposed to 2004 and before which were 25. I want to make it the most efficient AWD vehicle i possibly can.

I have no idea where my major efficiency losses are on the car and what to target. I 'm hoping someone has some knowledge and experience with subaru's from the last 9 production years. Although I don't think the 2.5 engine hasn't change much at all from its inception.

All I do is :
Synthetic motor oil.
KN air filter.
Tires at 38 psi.
Coast down all hills, (Sometimes with engine off)
DWB as much as possible
Minimize weight.
Try to keep it as tuned up as possible
(check engine light is on for a P0420, but subaru catalytic converters are crazy expensive and my MPG's are too good to want to spend the money on new Cats when I'm guessing mine are around 95% efficient.

I can get over 44 mpg driving 55 drafting two seconds behind of semi trucks... but i know how illegal that is.

[Frank Lee]

its da same az for udder cars

[drewbabich]

Fair enough. Can I retitle post, 'Has anyone ever hypermiled a subaru 2.5L with AWD?'

[redpoint5]

I had a '98 Legacy 2.2 L manual, and it averaged 28mpg. Some tanks saw as high as 34, but only when doing a lot of very steep mountainous driving. I then bought a 2007 Outback 2.5 automatic thinking I could get similar economy, but even driving as conservatively as possible I averaged 24mpg.

Your 32mpg is phenomenal. I'm just shy of that in my 2-wheel drive 2.4L 6-speed Acura with a much lower CD.

I'm in the market for 3 more cars, and recently have been thinking how much I loved my Legacy. If I could get it to approach 30mpg, I'd probably get another one. The CVT Outbacks are supposed to get good mileage. What transmission do you have?

[drewbabich]

Its a 2005 legacy wagon with a 5 speed manual.

The outbacks are the same car with same engine and transmission, just beasted out with bigger tires, roof rack and higher suspension.

Its amazing out much those factors knock down the fuel efficiency. EPA they are 28 on the highway i think, and my car is 30. Suprised you only were getting 27. Maybe my manual 5 speed gives me an advantage.

Looking at the wagons they look really aerodynamic so that supports their efficiency.

If this 3300 lb AWD car was rated at 30 mpg, I wish they made a front drive verson for even better mileage.


In city driving it can drop to 22 mpg, but my lifetime average is around 28 mpg. I do mostly highway.

I have a trailer hitch on it to. I can tow a flatbed pop up frame trailer with a motorcycle and still get in the high 20's.

I'm hoping to find someone who has modded their 2005 and newer subaru for mid 30's mpg's.

[drewbabich]

Nice race bike btw. Thats got to be so fun racing motorcycles on a track. It kills me that motorcycles don't get much better gas mileage then cars. I wish I had my old ninja 250 that got in 70 mpg and could be riden at 14,000 rpms like you were trying to blow it up.

My drz400 sm can get into the 60 mpg.

My full dresser 1981 suzuki gs850 gets about 38 mpg... Its comfy as anything on the highway... but doesn't get much better fuel consumption then my car. Tough to justify using it for any road trips.

[Fat Charlie]

Hey, neighbor!

Until a few months ago I was quite successful with mine (it's a turbo, rated 17/23(19)). In warmer months I could count on 32 and 26-8 in the winter. The engine is quite unhappy with me nowadays, I think it's a fuel problem. My lifetime average (since May 2011) recently dropped below 30 mpg. I've had two tanks over 34 mpg (one of 538 miles and another of 518) and last summer I had a string of I think 10 tanks in a row over 500 miles.

Do you have an SG or UG? That's the most important hardware mod. The Subaru mpg display is really accurate, but you need more than one number to get a better picture. You can probably go higher on the tire pressures. At tire time, get LRRs, and 215/50/17 fits mine just fine, getting 1.034% farther with every revolution.

[drewbabich]

When you say sg are you talking about scan gauge? UG? Not sure what that is.

Yea my orginial michelin exalto tires were shot so I ended up getting a set of brand new kuhmo exsta tires on rims balanced for 450 from someone locally. They are slightly smaller then stock at 205 50 16 and so I know its throws off my MPG by about 3% making it seem better then it really is cause each rotation is less then stock.

I'd rather I had slightly larger tires then stock like you but couldn't find any.

32 out of a turbo'd legacy thats rated at 24 is amazing.

Maybe I need to look more into my P0420 code and see if the cats are really costing me fuel efficiency.

[Fat Charlie]

Scan Gauge or UltraGauge. Being able to have instant mpg, trip mpg and tank mpg displayed at the same time really helps you see what you're doing.