46.88MPG in a Subaru, and 35mpg at 70mph!

[RobertSmalls]

<--- *points excitedly at his fuel log*

46.88 or 50.00mpg at the AMEC Economy Run III, depending on whether you believe the pump or the ScanGauge.

I've never hypermiled that hard before. My engine had two settings: full throttle at low revs, and off. Although it was slower than I like to drive, it wasn't incredibly impractical driving. If you find yourself in a Subaru with no gas money, 800 miles from home, it should be possible to make it home on one tank of gas, if you can take it slow.

The second item is more interesting. 35mpg on the interstate is a new record for me. I credit the grille block, and the extra air I forgot to remove from my tires.

[bgd73]

tis the season for subarus. The electrical physics of a tropical storm zapping the east coast is energizing the flux capacitor.

I gave up measuring my own for accuracy, I leave ut underestimated, after a sure 48mpg, I only have gas bills and google maps and odometer. a scanguage would put my little sube at 52 or more (haven't met my 60s mpg since 2004- that requires a natural hho maker). I could guess with an imperfect friction filled boxer, you got a perfect head leak.
Is the oil pan nice and glossy...a tip for you...

[Wonderboy]

Definite props for that, Robert. I've owned two subies, and I know that is not easy to do - awesome job. You are a good driver.

[RobertSmalls]

Thanks, Wonderboy. But you were at 216% of EPA this weekend, and the Legacy was at 208% of EPA. So I guess your mods and driving are pretty good too.

[RobertSmalls]

Oh, and bgd: Yes, my oil pan is rusty and greasy. Either there's a small oil leak from it, or above it, but yeah, it's glossy.

You can't get a Scangauge on a pre-1995 Subaru, so you should either drop in the fuel-injected 1.8L EJ18 from an Impreza, or get an MPGuino.

[SVOboy]

I was also quite surprised to see you did so well in such a huge wagon. Do you have LRRs on there?

[RH77]

Great work!

I really like Sube's non-turbo boxer 4's for FE. Even a 2.5L/Auto yielded 30+ in an '09 Outback I rented recently (that was with 75% easy highway and 25% Rally madness at an undisclosed Ohio location). Plus stock tire pressure and A/C was used. I was shocked. Handling was amazing, even with the extra suspension travel.

I didn't try very hard -- just drove the speed limit on the 75% leg. Your results are excellent.

Anyhoo, I took my folks for a spin in it, and they wanted to buy one on the spot. Since their 2003 Trailblazer literally melted down (no joke), they're looking for a comfortable highway cruiser with some ground clearance, efficiency, AWD, and cargo capacity.

RH77

[RobertSmalls]

Nope, they're actually rather boring "affordable, all-season" tires from Firestone: Primewell PS850's, with 37psi sidewall max. I got a flat tire a few years back and bought them without doing much research. Not that I even knew you could get LRRs in my size back then.

Yeah, I have a number of good things to say about Subarus: reliable, capable, comfortable, fun to drive. If you think of the Legacy as a mini-SUV, just as the Mazda5 is a mini-minivan, you could even make the case that Subarus save gas. However, if you don't need a mini-SUV, if you can get by with a FWD wagon or hatchback, you should do so.

I loved my Subaru, but it is no longer aligned with my priorities and it's time for me to move in to a Honda.

[bgd73]

Upon some spooky music theme from an unknown movie and a web search for the mysterious answer of the 47 mpg legacy...

The present study observationally addresses the role of the magnetospheric substorm in the storm-time ring current intensification. The intensity of energetic neutral atom (ENA) emission, which is measured by the high-energy neutral atom (HENA) imager onboard the IMAGE satellite, is carefully used as a guide for inferring the change of the ring current intensity. First, a storm event of August 2000 is examined in detail with a focus on a substorm that occurred at the start of the storm recovery phase (as defined by Sym-H). During the expansion phase of this substorm, the Sym-H index recovered (increased) as the geosynchronous magnetic field dipolarized. At the same time the low-energy (27–60 keV) hydrogen, high-energy (60–119 keV) hydrogen, and total oxygen (<160 keV for this event) ENA intensities increased, suggesting that the ring current intensified. The apparent recovery of Sym-H can therefore be attributed to the reduction of the tail current rather than the decay of the ring current. The substorm-related change of the ENA intensity is examined statistically by conducting a superposed epoch analysis, for which the onset of geosynchronous dipolarization is adopted as a reference time. The result reveals that the ENA intensity tends to decrease before substorm onsets and to increase after onsets, and so does the Sym-H index although its pre-onset decrease is less clear than the post-onset increase. It is therefore suggested that in the course of substorms, the change of the ring current intensity is opposite to what is expected from the change of the Sym-H index. The decay and intensification of the ring current can be attributed to substorm-related changes of the near-Earth magnetic field and convection. Another important result is that the response of the ENA intensity to substorms strongly depends on species and energy range. The variation of the low-energy hydrogen ENA intensity is not clearly organized by the substorm onset, and its relative change is less than 10%. The high-energy hydrogen intensity decreases by about 20% during the growth phase and then recovers to the initial level leaving no significant net increase. In contrast, the increase in the oxygen ENA intensity during the expansion phase overcompensates for the preceding reduction, resulting in a net increase of 20%. The net enhancement of the oxygen ENA intensity suggests the importance of non-adiabatic acceleration associated with near-Earth dipolarization. The timescale of dipolarization is comparable to the oxygen gyroperiod, and therefore the oxygen ions may be accelerated preferably by the associated inductive electric field. It is inferred that the substorm-related energization of the oxygen ions makes an important contribution to the storm-time ring current intensification.

I could agree with the net increase of 20%..but what of extreme seperation...symmetrical engine...oh my. it is only the beginning, of the end...

from legacy to honda, I suppose that is good? vtec or an oil pan burster. one way or another, the carbed boxer is better than ever.

[MetroMPG]

I was impressed with the Legacy's results too.

We ended up starting the drive a few cars apart, so kept within hailing distance of one another for a good chunk of the lap around the lake(s). I went past you on some of the downhills because of the Flea's better aero, and you'd go past me later on some other part.

I chuckled when our driving methods were synchronized for long stretches.

You'll kick butt in the hybrid class with your Insight next time.