Trying to figure out what's wrong with my gas mileage...

So I've only owned two subies (one of them an Impreza 2.5i and now my Legacy 2.5gt) and in my Impreza I never dropped below 20mpg. Now I get the gt and I expect to see a drop in my miles to the gallon but not the drop that I have seen...I'm almost scared to drive this thing it's guzzling through so much gas! During a VERY conservative drive I am able to get at most 18-19mpg but my usual average is around 16, if I'm having some fun and doing some pulls I get like 12-13mpg tops and at all out "I'm driving like a ****** maniac get the **** out of my way" I am lucky to get 10mpg. So then here I am reading through the forums and I'm seeing numbers like 26 or higher for conservative highway driving and maybe 18+ for city and I don't like the sound of that. I by no means know much about cars...I can name a few pieces in the engine bay so I'm not a total cartard but I don't know much.

So peoples...what could be wrong with my car? I am bringing it back to the dealership to get a few small things fixed that they didn't have time to fix before I went to pick it up but they said that if something is wrong within 60 days that it will be fixed free so what should the dealership look at to try and fix this problem? Or is there even a problem in the first place, is this what a LGT will get when it's bone stock??? I really hope not because then I won't be able to upgrade much in fear of having to fill the tank every 50 miles LMFAO...

Any help would be greatly appreciated and if there are mods that will help improve my MPG then by all means let me know !

are you calculating the mileage when you fill up or just using the mpg indicator? (i know it shouldn't deviate that much, but still)

but yeah, i'm getting like 21mpg @ 300whp (or so) and 23 if i drive REALLY conservatively

I average 19 mpg according to the cars gauge.

I'll get 250ish miles per tank.

12mpg would cause concern.

You drive in Boston? If so, I think I'm qualified to speak when I say that stop and go traffic will absolutely destroy your fuel economy. 16-18 "real" city driving like you and I see doesn't sound far off. That's about what I get when I'm not driving like a maniac.

Pull a LearningView (search to see how) just to be safe though.

I average 19 mpg according to the cars gauge.

I'll get 250ish miles per tank.

 

12mpg would cause concern.

Exactly...it is causing concern, I didn't make this post to ask you what mileage you were getting because I have already seen threads that are about how much mileage people get (or have become about it anyways lol). I made the thread in order to find out the different factors that could be affecting MY gas mileage enough to make it so abnormal because I will then be able to bring up the things that could be wrong when I am talking to the Subie dealership and have them check the car out. Or should I have them check it top to bottom or what?

I'm not a big car guy although I would like to start learning as I am only 21 so there's no reason I can't read and learn and figure out what's actually going on under the hood but for now I wouldn't know a BOV from fuel injectors if you were pointing things out...well those two I could probably figure out lol but you get the picture. I want someone who knows what they are doing to be able to look at the parts that could be causing this gas mileage issue so I would like this thread to stay on topic if you guys wouldn't mind as I am bringing the car in on Wednesday.

Get the car tuned, the factory map is not perfect. Read more here, you'll learn a lot.

Do you in fact spend a lot of time in stop and go traffic, say, I don't know where New Boston is.

even my buick powered leggy gets 16 mpg at the worst city driving sitting in traffic and fast getaways when ever i get the chance.

is the op's car auto or manual?

i would assume your check engine light is not on?

Question was asking the OP, just trying to say that the MPG computer can be highly inaccurate

but if it takes that much effort for you to do a simple calculation, then I think you should've went to a better elementary school.

If I believed the MPG computer now on 740cc injectors it looks like I have a 300whp Prius. I do the heartbreaking miserable and soul destroying calculation when I fill up and divide my meager trip miles by the gallons of dinosaur juice I just remortgaged to pay for.

 

Then I pull out of the gas station, there's a sort of odd burble from the exhaust and a gentle push from the back of the seat, a connected sensation between me, the car and my large right toe and I forget why I'm crying until the fuel light comes on again...

23-26 here.

Is your car still stock? Maintenance up to date? Tire size and pressure correct, Ac on/off

My wife manages 24MPG overall with easy driving in stock 05 LGT. This is either highway at 80mph or stop/go around town. AC never off.

Something is really wrong or modifications gone arry.

Sorry I forgot to say that in my most recent post, I was searching around and I have seen bits and pieces of learningview in random posts but I haven't found anything that will tell me how to "pull a learningview". I see many posts with others giving data from their learningviews but nothing on how to do one myself. If you could give me a link to somewhere that would help me figure it out that would be greatly appreciated and then I could give you the information needed to hopefully figure out what's wrong here...

EDIT 1: Ahhh well that would help...I thought I was supposed to be looking for threads on the forum /facepalm. I'm assuming that this is what you mean by learningview as it is the only thing I could find: http://www.romraider.com/forum/topic2772.html so yea I just wasn't looking in the right place if that is the right software. Now I can figure out how to use it and give you the info you need

EDIT 2: And now I find out it's only for Windows...anyone know if it will run on a mac running Windows via bootcamp or using a virtual machine or do I need to find someone with a Windows laptop to use the software?

EDIT 3: Ok sorry for all the editing but since I know that I will need to learn to use learningview and be able to read and understand the values that it will spit out so I will be doing some searching into that but while I am and until I figure out how to use learningview, I am bringing the car into the dealership again to get a couple loose ends tied up (backup sensors aren't working, the motor on one of the windows seems to be getting stuck at times, and other things like that) anyway is there anything I should tell the people doing the service to check out without me having to do a learningview. If not then I guess I will do my best to get the learningview done by the time I take it into the dealership...

My wife manages 24MPG overall with easy driving in stock 05 LGT. This is either highway at 80mph or stop/go around town. AC never off.

 

Something is really wrong or modifications gone arry.

AC never off...what's the matter, she doesn't like the smell of low tide ?

So I run learning view on parallels desktop for Mac.

Since you have an 05 legacy u can buy a vagcom cable from eBay. It will cost you the least. Go to the tuning sub-forums to see how u can use the vag-com with learning view.

Now if u get into more open source tuning, u might want to get a tactrix open port 2.0 cable. Cost almost 10 times more than the vag-com from eBay but u get more out of it.

It's really irrelevant to your current problem and way too complicated for a quick discussion. Moreover, it seems like you might not be too interested in squeezing every last ounce of power out of your car. So If u are taking it to the dealer anyway I think u should simply bring up your concern and see what they say. (if they claim that the gas mileage is normal for a turbo car... Drive away as fast as u can....

Hope u get an answer soon.

Sorry I forgot to say that in my most recent post, I was searching around and I have seen bits and pieces of learningview in random posts but I haven't found anything that will tell me how to "pull a learningview". I see many posts with others giving data from their learningviews but nothing on how to do one myself. If you could give me a link to somewhere that would help me figure it out that would be greatly appreciated and then I could give you the information needed to hopefully figure out what's wrong here...

 

EDIT 1: Ahhh well that would help...I thought I was supposed to be looking for threads on the forum /facepalm. I'm assuming that this is what you mean by learningview as it is the only thing I could find: http://www.romraider.com/forum/topic2772.html so yea I just wasn't looking in the right place if that is the right software. Now I can figure out how to use it and give you the info you need

 

EDIT 2: And now I find out it's only for Windows...anyone know if it will run on a mac running Windows via bootcamp or using a virtual machine or do I need to find someone with a Windows laptop to use the software?

 

EDIT 3: Ok sorry for all the editing but since I know that I will need to learn to use learningview and be able to read and understand the values that it will spit out so I will be doing some searching into that but while I am and until I figure out how to use learningview, I am bringing the car into the dealership again to get a couple loose ends tied up (backup sensors aren't working, the motor on one of the windows seems to be getting stuck at times, and other things like that) anyway is there anything I should tell the people doing the service to check out without me having to do a learningview. If not then I guess I will do my best to get the learningview done by the time I take it into the dealership...

It's really irrelevant to your current problem and way too complicated for a quick discussion.

I'm not sure if you mean pulling a LV is irrelevant, but if that's what you meant, it most certainly isn't irrelevant. Getting a look at those LTFTs will be fairly telling of his fueling issues. If the car is running rich and using up more fuel than it should, it'll show up there.

Sorry for not being clear

I mean getting a tactix op 2.0 or vag-com is really irrelevant. All the OP needs is SOME way to get LV data on the screen of his computer, so either cable will work. It just depends on whether he wants to spend more or not.

But if he is going to the dealer anyway then why not tell them the situation, see what they think and if they don't care (which mostly they will not care or will charge u a hefty diagnostic fee) then pull LV.