Planned stops (in same direction of travel)ĥ). (At 50-mph I can be above 30-mpg in my four ton pickup).Ĥ). The operator is always more of a problem than the vehicle. Other traffic will have a safe overtaking margin of speed (that you don’t have to cancel cruise to get them around you faster and avoid traffic building up), as it’s close enough to average to not be an outlier. The “sorta economical high speed” will be 64-66/mph dependent on traffic. Managing overtaking traffic is the only challenge. Constant use of cruise control is the predictor. No acceleration or deceleration past entry & exit, per seģ). Highway travel is about steady-state cruise.Īs the iron rule is vehicle spacing (hundreds of feet NEVER any traffic next to one) finding a cruise control set speed is ALWAYS just below most other traffic.Ģ). With that in place I think they would see routine 30 mpg highway and 40-45 with a good hypermiler, especially if you start to fix aero. They should have a 3-position AWD like the Suzuki SX-4: 2WD, standard AWD, and AWD Lock, manually selected on the dash. Which is a shame because the boxer engine has good potential to be efficient. They are appealing to the off-road, faux rally crowd, who don't really care about fuel economy. Also, I find it funny that they lower the center of gravity by using a boxer engine, and then jack the whole thing up to increase ground clearance. Subaru has got to drop the mechanical AWD and start implementing it in a hybrid electric way. Sold it a month later for $1k more than I paid for it and continued driving the '96, which averaged 28 MPG. I had briefly owned a 2007 Outback auto 2.5L, but was dismayed that my gentle driving returned 24 MPG.
#GEN 1 SUBARU FORESTER FORUM FULL#
33 MPG is probably the best I ever got out of a full tank in my '96 Legacy 2.2L manual.
Subaru's are very difficult to hypermile. Otherwise, 185 was average and is the same temp with no grill blocking. Oh, the grill block held up and I never saw temps past a rare 205*F (hill climbs, mostly). On the return trip, with some of the tank being city and the highway was 75mph (didn't have the time for going slow, sadly), I still nailed a 29mpg! but knowing that I've never been able to get this close, I'm happy. I used the cruise control for most of this, but sometimes accelerating some down hill if it was steep enough to warrant.Īfter arriving and after refueling, I nailed a 33mpg.Ĭoming from my insight that's starting to creep into the 90's, it's little. I decided to do 50mph to give me the best shot at my 30+ goal. Removed the windshield wipers, the cross bars on top, used packing tape to do a 2/3 grill block, and aired the tires to 40+psi. I had never had the chance to dedicate to much of a trip with her, so figured it was her time. It's an auto, it's got 260,000 miles on it, and it clearly isn't aerodynamic. So one thing that's bothered me is that my Forester hasn't been able to break 30MPG.