jschrecke Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum but not the car forum or repair world. I recently replaced my 2001 Outback with a 2.5/auto trans to a 2007 Outback with an auto trans/4speed. I have to say, that I am pretty dissappointed in the economy and assumed the newer model would at least be the same as my old. Summer on old car was 25-26MPG, new car is 22-23MPG. Old car in winter 22-23mpg, 20 minute warm ups, run in drive. 75 on highway and moderate accelerations. New car in winter 18-21mpg, 5 minute warm ups, manual short shifting in sport mode. 60-65 on highway and slow accelerations. Basically I noticed that the new car has worse economy when driven the same as my old car, even at lower speeds and RPM so I've changed driving habits to granny-like and it's better but not as much as one would expect. Car runs well, no misfire, recent tune up, all new synthetic fluids in trans-engine and both diffs. Curious if there are any flash tuners or respectable mods that would give me a few MPGs. I do not expect 35-40MPG of most 4 cylinder vehicles but a consistant 25-26 would be nice. Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subnz Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 (edited) Try manual shifting it in economy mode for a tank then in auto for a tank to see if that makes a difference. Got about a 10% improvement in economy manually shifting my 06 3.0R Outback mainly running in intelligent (economy) mode (even with its fancy 5 spd SI drive with 3 different shifting modes. eg in auto average 25mpg (1400km - 2 tanks) manual shifting 27mpg (1400km- 2 tanks) ie 1 to 4 hour trips (not short running). short running 20 mpg If doing short running and winter as well economy not going to be good. - Perhaps car needs new spark plugs - were these replaced?, new air filter, injector cleaner additive in fuel throttle body, inlet manifold, upper cylinder foam cleaner. Tyre pressures, roof racks, dragging brakes, wheel alignment are other ideas, perhaps some obvious. Another idea is perhaps to disconnect battery to reset ecu so it can relearn your driving style? Edited January 7, 2016 by subnz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jschrecke Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 (edited) As stated I do use sport mode and manually short shift, It yeilds the best econ for sure. Tune up is recent as I just bought this car. it does have high miles but so did my last car. I'm wondering if I need to reset the KAM (keep alive memory)? If so, will simply disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes and touching terminals together to drain the capaciters work?. I am a Ford tech and we see this one higher mileage vehicles, so I'm wondering if this is partial cause. No dragging brakes, alignment is perfect and the roof rack would be grasping at straws. My 8,000 pound Ford pick-up gets 18mpg and the drag on that is much more than the Subi. I appreciate the reply subnz Edited January 9, 2016 by jschrecke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jschrecke Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 I thought of cleaning the throttle body but I don't have any driveability concerns and most late model manufactures recommend not adding cleaners to the bodies as we use to back in the day. I did runs some injector cleaner in the first two tanks though. I pull the hoses and inspect for coking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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