Disappointing mileage

I have a new Subaru Outback with the H6 3.5 engine with just 900 milles on it when I picked up the 17B on Tuesday. The 130 miles to Chilliwack was moderately flat, and I recorded 25.6mpg. driving home, the mileage dropped to 19.5. I didn't expect it to be that affected. We may have had a headwind going home, or some other factors. I realize that was a very short distance to do a mileage check. It will be interesting to see if that gets any better.

[GoCougsKev]

The numbers look right to me....those are not bad numbers...I would be happy to get 19 without towing anything!

[Jim Bennett]

Yep, pretty much the same for me, towing the trailer through varied terrain (lots of hills) I only get about 75-80% of the fuel efficiency than without it.

[escape artist]

Hi: All... Fuel mileage on a brand new vehicle is never that good. Takes at least 20,000 km's to break 'em in. Trouble is by then you'll have the trailer loaded with more STUFF!!!
My 4.3 ltr V6 Sierra pickup gets around 22-25 mpg not towing and 18.5 towin' a 5.0. Go Figure!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[JeffZ]

I actually think you're getting great mileage.. wait till you load it up and start towing up hills.. also who knows, you might even had a tail wind..

[cheryls]

So far we're getting only about 13.5 mpg towing with the Tundra (5.7L), but the truck is new and hopefully will get a little better as it breaks in.

[donwesen]

Numbers look fairly normal by my experience. 19 to 20 towing anything is pretty good.

Don

[Donna D.]

Every motor vehicle has a sweet spot where it gets the best mileage. You weren't trying to tow the trailer at the same speed you would normally drive would you? With my 2500# Scamp, being towed by a 2000 Ford F-150 that's got over 100,000 miles on the odometer, I get the best tow mileage at about 57 mph. At that speed, the mileage isn't much different than driving at non-tow speeds of 75mph.

Slow down, enjoy the scenery. It's the trip, not the destination.

If that doesn't make you feel better or help the fuel mileage, just remember you've got your "hotel" with you. The money you save by NOT checking into a hotel, you can trade for buying fuel.... and NO BED BUGS!

[Roger C H]

Well, with our 2000 Subaru Outback with 2.5L 4, we got overall, city and country about 21mpg. Towing our 13'er, we get 19.8mpg. Of course, towing we slow down, 50 ish or maybe the posted truck speed. (In CA ALL vehicles towing trailers are limited to 55.)

[cpaharley2008]

I get 13 mpg whether towing or not, it is always 13 mpg!!

[JeffZ]

OK.. just so everyone feels better..

We just got back from our trip and after I implemented the tow-haul feature after talking to a guy who was a retired mechanic and had the same engine (in BC).. So it's good to talk to a mechanic to see how efficient your engine is under load..basically we were better off in climbing and windy roads at a lower gear & higher RPM's than just keeping it at a certain RPM range.

So on the 24ft RV from Tofino BC back to SF Bay Area ( we took the ferry to Port Angeles) we got... drum roll please.. 8.96mpg

So obviously we would be ecstatic with 13!! But it could of been worse, there was a ton of hill climbing and winding roads ( 101 coast & Tofino) .. So better off with the tow-haul feature that basically kept the transmission in gear longer (instead of shifting)..


On a side note - I have an Andriod phone and used the free Fuelpro app to track my mileage and costs.. very easy, just enter in the odom gal & price/gallon at fill-up.

[captmath]

Frontier 4wd. 19.8 w/o tow and 14.9 for the trip home. 60 - 65 mph most of the time.

Dick

[dpsmith]

Another consideration when figuring out gas mileage is the difference in size of Imperial vs US gallons. An Imperial gallon is approx. 4.5 litres, whereas an American gallon is only about 3.78 litres, so 1 Imp gal. = 1.2 US gal. This may explain why mpg seems lower when traveling in the US. Just thought I would throw that into the conversation!
Pam

[hippo]

Just returned from a trip to Glacier NP over 600 miles. Driving a Tundra 5.7V8 pulling our 19ft Escape in head winds at 65 11.5MPG, tail wind 13.6, little wind on mountain roads 12.5 using tow/haul I think this is good mileage with Ethanol. If we could buy real gas the MPG would be higher.

[digger57]

Pulling a 19 with a silverado 5.3 I was averaging 17 mpg at 60 mph. No head wind of course.

[escape artist]

Hi: All... Just got home from a trip up Lake Huron to Pt. Elgin Ont. Lots of ups-n-downs and the mpg's are in... 19.6 miles/Imperial Gal. That's 16.8 miles/U.S. Gal. of 87 octane/ ethanol!!! Speed range 55-60mph. I'm very happy with these figures. Now I just have to work on "My Figure" Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Vermilye]

My average over my trip so far (17,500 miles) is 17.4 mpg (US) with about 90% towing. The RAV4 gets around 24 solo, and I estimate the towing mileage is around 15 mpg US. This includes quite a bit of mountain driving. I generally stay off the interstates & tow at around 57mph.

[JeffZ]

When we had the 17B & the Highlander.. We pretty much got the same, just a tad lower as we made the mistake of getting the High Axle lift (when we really didn't need it). I think it created a bigger wind profile and reduced the mileage a tad.. But 15 sounds right to me.. We also kept it around 60mph..as there wasn't any big rush nor any need to go faster..

[Roger C H]

Whoa! Did I read you are towing with a brand new car? Look at your owner's manual, most cars prohibit such heavy use until you have 1000 miles on the clock!!

[Roger C H]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Every motor vehicle has a sweet spot where it gets the best mileage.

Hey, Donna, how do you find that 'sweet spot'? I thought that it would be keeping the engine rpms at about the max torque, but our Subaru doesn't publish those figures.