Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

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TheSubaruJunkie
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Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by TheSubaruJunkie »

Im lucky to get 200 miles to a tank. That cant be normal is it?

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Post by wiscon_mark »

How do you drive? What kind of miles?

It is a turbo, and they're not known for being particularly economical.
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Post by DLC »

My 93, with 5MT swap, JC Sports intake, catless exhaust and DIS-2 would get 19-21 city, all while passing the sniffer test. I have a feeling that this is exceptionally good, but it's a good illustration of how well these cars can do on gas.
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Post by Fishy »

My 94 turbo wagon automatic(stock) is good for 25mpg on the highway and about 21 in town.
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Post by Legacy777 »

It all depends on how you drive the thing.

I think in stock form I could get low 20's 21 or so around town. But if I got on it, 17's was not uncommon.

With the TD05, I'm getting much worse mileage, however I do think something is not right....
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Post by tonflo »

I have gotten 18-19mpg (lead foot, mostly back roads) since day 1. I can get 21.x on long highway trips but rarely drive them. I think I run 180-190mi per tank in winter (snow tire diameter may be lowering that some) and ~230 per tank in summer. These are not economical 4 cyl cars. Boost+ AWD+ auto trans= ca-ca mpg. When you are on the boost for long stretches you almost see the gas gauge go down.
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Post by Matt Monson »

On my '94 touring wagon I used to get 16mpg around town and 22mpg hwy. That was with just a turboback exhaust as the only mod.

For comparison, my '91 SS 5spd gets low 20's around town and mid to high 20's hwy...
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Post by Fishy »

tonflo wrote:These are not economical 4 cyl cars. Boost+ AWD+ auto trans= ca-ca mpg. When you are on the boost for long stretches you almost see the gas gauge go down.
You forgot the "wagon" part in there. Beautifully useful but aerodynamically rotten. :-D
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Post by thefultonhow »

I get about 18/24 in my NA wagon...
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Post by TheSubaruJunkie »

Im getting about 180-200miles to 13 gallons. By my calculations thats 13/15mpg which is HORRIBLE.

Ive burned through about 4 tanks since ive owned the car. 207 miles was the best ive gotten, worse was 160.

And im not driving with a lead foot.
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Post by BSOD2600 »

My 94 turbo legacy with a dying 4EAT got 15/24 mpg when I first got it. Now it's getting 10/21 mpg (has some major issues). Anyways thats mostly driving around 4300ft and no lead foot.

I'll be seeing what it gets with a 5MT next week :-).

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Post by Imprezive »

I estimate that I am getting around 20mpg, I travel mostly rural country type roads, so there are hills I have to go up, more accelerating/loads than freeway.

I have to fill my tank every week, but I travel a lot of miles going to school, then to work, then home.
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Post by TheSubaruJunkie »

BSOD keep me updated after your 5spd swap. Thats definatly something I will be doing... not soon, but its on the list (i think #3 after suspension).

My tranny doesnt seem to be dying. It shifts strong, and the car accelerates like mad so I dont think there are any problems with it. I was advised to check/replace my O2 sensor, so that might be something i'll try. I think before I do that, im going to perform an oil change (it needs one anyway) and replace the air filter.

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Post by jp233 »

my 94 AWD n/a wagon (all stock, even tire size) gets about 22-24 in the city and i just went on a 2,200 mi trip with her and got 26-28 mpg on the highway. The highest i recorded was 28.8 mpg (through flat-as-a-board Indiana). right before i left on the trip i replaced the air filter, oil change, and put the tires up to 33 psi.

of course this data is gathered using the highly-scientific method of using the gas pump stop as the marker, and dividing the miles on the odo by the number of gallons put in - but hey its probably good enough.

what is strange with this car is that it wont get all the way up to F when i fill it up. and it will get wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy below E before the idiot light comes on. my old 93 wagon did not do this (i think).

anyways if i cant get a stock diameter crank pulley this week to put in, i'll prob be getting an underdrive one since they are easier to find. since i'm leaving on a 2500 mi trip this weekend, i'll be able to have an apples-to-apples gas mileage comparison with the pulley being the only change to the car. we'll see !
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Post by head2wind »

My 94 5MT turbo wagon, (no rack, no spoiler, flowmaster muffler, de-snorked intake, stock boost) gets 21 on average if I am boosting w/ mixed freeway/surface street driving. I have my winter 225/65/15 Blizzaks on it so I am sure when the WRX 16s go on in the spring and we start getting summer fuel that it will go up to mid to high 20s (maybe high 20s is dreaming) cruising freeway.

BTW, I think the wagons have better aerodynamics than sedans, that is if they don't have a rack or skis or a top box or or extra cool lights mounted on top.... :-D
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Post by georryan »

Brian, reset your ECU if you haven't. Maybe it has learned something from the previous owner when the car was running bad. You've fixed some things since then, so it probably couldn't hurt to reset it and have it relearn how things are going.
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Post by Legacy777 »

head2wind wrote:BTW, I think the wagons have better aerodynamics than sedans, that is if they don't have a rack or skis or a top box or or extra cool lights mounted on top.... :-D
Not so sure about that. The back area that cuts off is larger on the wagon then it is on the sedan. That's going to cause more turbulence and drag. A spoiler at the top may help...
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by legacySSman »

i just got 26.9 mpg's on my last tank with mostly all short rural drives. my mileage has ranged from 26.5 to 28.5 mpg since i have started recording it. it's a standard and stock. Better gas mileage than i got in my old 2 wheel drive 1.8T VW's.
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by evolutionmovement »

Wow, this old and I can't seem to find the reference now, but the CD on the wagon (BJ roof, no rack) was only .01 worse than the sedan (IIRC, .35/.34 or .36/.35). Frontal area would be the same.
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by cj91legss »

on my 91 wagon with an SS swap i got 210 miles a tank + or - so... 200 seems right.
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by __TT__ »

the best I ever got was about 219 on a full tank in my 94 tw with the 4eat. That was all highway too. with the 5mt its MUCH worse. but I'm used to driving a jeep on 33's so its still better lol. Driving style is a killer for sure, basicly I've learned that once you spool the turbo your mpg suffers
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by 206er »

im getting 22mpg pretty solid DD-ing on highway 99 and around town with medium to heavy foot and got as good as 26 all highway. but the car is 5mt swapped and motor is good condition and mostly stock + AWIC.
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by kimokalihi »

My 91SS with EJ20G swap, 520cc injectors, Rob Tuned ECU, TD05 16g, 3" TBE and 4.444 trans got 23.4 on the worst tank and 25.5 on my best tank so far. I think I could possibly get it up to 30MPG if I drove 50mph everywhere and didn't get into boost at all. Easier said than done.

I know it's not a touring wagon but just to give you an idea.
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Re: Gas Mileage for Turbo Wagon Drivers???

Post by beatersubi »

I regularly average high 23's mixed and have gotten as high as low 25's on the highway in a mostly stock 22T.
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