Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Thursday March 28, 2024
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
NASIOC
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC General > Warranty Issues & SOA Problems

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-03-2002, 10:28 PM   #1
JimmyOOOOO
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 12647
Join Date: Nov 2001
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: Syracuse NY
Vehicle:
2011 STi
Obsidian Black Swirl

Question Poor Mileage?

I am getting REALLY crappy mileage (15-16 cty 20-21 hwy). Peninsula Subaru keeps trying to tell me it's because of the winter gas formula. I explained that a couple other WRX owners who fill up at the exact same gas stations I do get 20+ mpg around town... and the guy told me to try running 89 octane gas in my car.

Problem is, I get the same poor gas mileage whether I drive "spirited" or "granny". Is anybody else experienceing this problem? My car also stops pulling hard (it feels like the boost is turned off and I'm back to N/A) at around 5200 rpm.

Glenn, could you make this sticky for a few days so I can see if others are having this problem?

Thanks in advance,
Jimmy
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
JimmyOOOOO is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
Old 02-04-2002, 10:26 AM   #2
Julian
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 1182
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Ventura, CA
Vehicle:
MY00 RS
BRP

Default

You should run the highest octane gas available...at least 91 octane.

There are a TON of factors involved with gas mileage, including tire type and pressure, environmental factors, method of calculating mileage, and most of all - driving habits. You can't get the same mileage driving Granny as you do driving Spirited, but if you do then just drive Spirited all the time!
Julian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2002, 12:07 PM   #3
jackwrx
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 5677
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Tallahassee Fl
Default

I think I may be in the same boat. I always use the highest grade offered at BP, I think it's 93. I use to get around 19-20 in town with mixed driving. Now I'm not getting any better than 18 and sometimes as bad as 16. I haven't been on a road trip so I can't tell you what I get on the highway. I checked the tire pressure and it's the same as always. 37 front 35 rear. I'll keep an eye on it and report back if it changes. By the way I just had an oil change which shouldn't make a difference, but you never know.
jackwrx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2002, 02:41 PM   #4
RandomCharacter
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 11963
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Chicago, IL
Vehicle:
2002 WRX Wagon
Silver

Default 14-15 city

I've been getting 14-15 mpg on my last couple of fill-ups. Almost all of my driving is city, short trips, and I'm often wide-open throttle. My best mileage was ~21mpg when I was doing my break-in with mixed driving. I usually use Shell or Mobil - 93 octane.
RandomCharacter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2002, 04:50 PM   #5
mtb_dude
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 12619
Join Date: Nov 2001
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: LI, NY
Vehicle:
02 WRX Wagon
#47 SM w/RA gears

Default

Wait till the summer. The winter gas formulas destroy gas mileage! I bought my WRX in Dec and have averaged 19-21 miles per gallon (mostly HIghway). I'm reserving judgement until the summer.

Funny how this "winter formula" gas was supposed to reduce emmisions except that you need more gas now to get the same power. Nothing is for free . . .


-
T
mtb_dude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2002, 05:10 PM   #6
jackwrx
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 5677
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Tallahassee Fl
Default

Where can I learn more about this 'winter' gas. It's the first time I've heard of it. Do they have it in Florida and if so why?
Thanks!
jackwrx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2002, 09:37 PM   #7
Rebellion
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 8069
Join Date: Jul 2001
Chapter/Region: South East
Location: Indian Trail, NC
Vehicle:
2016 Fiesta ST
Kona Blue

Default

i get about 20 mpg on mostly city driving (265-275 miles per tank, 13.5 gallons usual fillup running 93 octane)

the few times I've put a lot of highway miles I've gotten 26-28 mpg. (350-375 miles per tank)
Rebellion is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2002, 12:17 AM   #8
dwx
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 8343
Join Date: Jul 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Atlanta, GA
Vehicle:
2005 2012 Jeep
2013 DGM BRZ

Default

I get about 22-23mpg with a unichip installed. That's almost entirely highway driving with maybe 5 miles a day of non-highway. It all varies on how many days I feel like opening it up a little. If your car is dying at 5200rpm then something is definitely not right. That should be right in the range where your car is pulling the hardest.
dwx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2002, 02:07 AM   #9
JimmyOOOOO
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 12647
Join Date: Nov 2001
Chapter/Region: Tri-State
Location: Syracuse NY
Vehicle:
2011 STi
Obsidian Black Swirl

Default

right now my car pulls hardest from 3000-5000 then it feels like the boost just stops and I suddenly have a so-so 2.0 liter N/A car.

Taking it to Carter Subaru on monday. Anybody know if they are mod friendly?

p.s.- If you call SoA for any reason, it would be in your best interest NOT to mention i-club. The guy I talked to this morning had some very negative things to say about us. Here's a small example... "i-club is full of guys who think that 5000 rpm clutch drops are ok to do on a daily basis"
JimmyOOOOO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2002, 03:02 AM   #10
hotrod
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 14141
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: [email protected] @ 5800 ft on 13T
Vehicle:
2002 Impreza WRX

Default winter gas and oxygenated gas

There are actually two issues with so called winter gas.

First in the cold months of the year, they increase the volatility of the gas ( use lower boiling point blend ) that vaporizes better during cold starts. This makes it easier to start your car when it is cold, and causes a lot of people to have vapor lock problems on the first hot day in the spring before they switch back to summer blend.

Second in large areas of the country to control emissions, they add either alcohol or MTBE to the gas blend to increase its oxygen content to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. Alcohol has a lower energy pound for pound so it takes slightly more fuel to do the same work. So gas milage should drop _slightly_ during the winter.


That said, here in Colorado, (home of oxygenated fuels and cold weather blends ) I regularly get 24 mpg in general driving mostly short trips, and I don't baby the car. During break in I got 31 mpg on a long highway cruise running a lot in 5th gear.

You definately need at least 91 octane in the WRX for good performance, and higher if you can get it. If you are running a low octane fuel you could be killing your gas milage if the ECU is backing off timing to prevent detonation.

The other possibilities are things like a bad ignition coil, or fouled spark plug.

Do you have a lot of crap in the car. It only takes a couple hundred pounds of extra weight to really kill your gas milage. Are you spending a lot of time in lower gears than normal due to slow moving traffic on snowy roads ? Are you letting the engine idle for long periods to warm up in cold weather ?


Larry
hotrod is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2002, 08:37 AM   #11
lgkahn
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 9793
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: londonderry nh
Vehicle:
2002 2010 legacy gt
red

Default

I get around 18 also..

snow tires I think is my culprit.
lgkahn is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Help! Rough low rpm operation, poor mileage :( mosu Service & Maintenance 3 08-21-2006 09:09 PM
poor mileage bplaxton Outback Forum 6 12-12-2005 03:28 PM
Poor closed loop cruising mileage, recommendations? overdose Factory 2.0L Turbo Powertrain (EJ Series Factory 2.0L Turbo) 0 02-12-2004 02:15 PM
Poor gas mileage from GC8 imprezey Normally Aspirated Powertrain 13 12-21-2002 01:00 AM
poor gas mileage - any ideas? rubbersidedown General Forum Archive 12 11-13-2000 12:16 AM

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:14 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.