Poor Gas Mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX Wagon

[jsand1108]

Hi everyone! I am getting poor mileage with my Subaru and am becoming
very frustrated. Any suggestions are welcome. I just read an old
forum discussing gas mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX's, and most were
getting 20-30 mpg. I am getting about 15! I drive almost entirely in
the city, and am getting just over 200 miles/tank. This is really
frustrating considering I traded in my Jeep to get something with
better mileage. Any suggestions on how to improve this? It has about
80,000 miles on it, and I just got it serviced in November. Although,
I haven't had the plugs/wires changed. I just bought it last March,
so I haven't even had it a year yet. I keep the tires aired, and I
don't think I drive it too hard. Just looking for some ideas.

Thanks!

 

[Mike]

Have the plugs ever been changed ? Should be done at 60,000. There are no
wires.

 

[Clive - Selectron]

Hi everyone! I am getting poor mileage with my Subaru and am becoming
very frustrated. Any suggestions are welcome. I just read an old
forum discussing gas mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX's, and most were
getting 20-30 mpg. I am getting about 15! I drive almost entirely in
the city, and am getting just over 200 miles/tank. This is really
frustrating considering I traded in my Jeep to get something with
better mileage. Any suggestions on how to improve this? It has about
80,000 miles on it, and I just got it serviced in November. Although,
I haven't had the plugs/wires changed. I just bought it last March,
so I haven't even had it a year yet. I keep the tires aired, and I
don't think I drive it too hard. Just looking for some ideas.

Thanks!

No one buys a WRX for economy and I
think your MPG round town is about right,
particularly if the plugs are shot...I get around
18 MPG (UK gals) in town driving and 25-28
on a run with good plugs.
Wrong car for the job IMHO.

--
Clive P Norris
Managing Director
Selectron (UK) Ltd
Musical Equipment Distribution.
www.espguitars.co.uk
www.emgpickups.co.uk
www.tube-shop.com
www.coreoneproduct.com
www.whirlwindusa.com
www.espshop.co.uk

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Hi everyone! I am getting poor mileage with my Subaru and am becoming
very frustrated. Any suggestions are welcome. I just read an old
forum discussing gas mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX's, and most were
getting 20-30 mpg. I am getting about 15! I drive almost entirely in
the city, and am getting just over 200 miles/tank. This is really
frustrating considering I traded in my Jeep to get something with
better mileage. Any suggestions on how to improve this? It has about
80,000 miles on it, and I just got it serviced in November. Although,
I haven't had the plugs/wires changed. I just bought it last March,
so I haven't even had it a year yet. I keep the tires aired, and I
don't think I drive it too hard. Just looking for some ideas.

Thanks!

I suppose there is a possibilty the Engine Temp Sensor is bad - at least
older models would have them fail and NOT throw a CEL with resultants
poor mileage. 80K miles COULD also mean the front O2 sensor is getting
old/lazy. And yeah - you're overdue for plugs if they are original
copper units.
But, surface street/stop-go driving, in winter, will be unlikely to
yield much better than 20mpg IMHO.

 

[Pixie]

No one buys a WRX for economy and I
think your MPG round town is about right,
particularly if the plugs are shot...I get around
18 MPG (UK gals) in town driving and 25-28
on a run with good plugs.
Wrong car for the job IMHO.

--
Clive P Norris
Managing Director
Selectron (UK) Ltd
Musical Equipment Distribution.www.espguitars.co.ukwww.emgpickups.co.ukwww.tube-shop.comwww.coreoneproduct.comwww.whirlwindusa.comwww.espshop.co.uk

I didn't get the car for gas mileage. If that's all I was looking
for, I would have gotten a Honda. But I figured this was an all-wheel
drive that I could get better mileage than my Jeep. And I'm not
looking for miracles -- 15 mpg is just the lowest I've seen out of
anybody. 20 is my goal. 20 is what I was expecting when I bought
it. It does pretty good on the highway, just not in town.

 

[isquat]

Hi everyone! I am getting poor mileage with my Subaru and am becoming
very frustrated. Any suggestions are welcome. I just read an old
forum discussing gas mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX's, and most were
getting 20-30 mpg. I am getting about 15! I drive almost entirely in
the city, and am getting just over 200 miles/tank. This is really
frustrating considering I traded in my Jeep to get something with
better mileage. Any suggestions on how to improve this? It has about
80,000 miles on it, and I just got it serviced in November. Although,
I haven't had the plugs/wires changed. I just bought it last March,
so I haven't even had it a year yet. I keep the tires aired, and I
don't think I drive it too hard. Just looking for some ideas.

Trade in for an impreza with no turbo. I doubt you'd like the pig,
but I routinely get 23 mpg on mixed cycle and I have a lead foot.
15 city mpg on a rex sounds about right. One reason I did not get
one was low range per tank just like you indicated. A taller gas tank
would
have helped to raise the floor of the cargo area and make it flush
with the
hatch opening just like on legacy. Dunno why FHI did not do it.
It must be even worse on STI. How many miles per tank do people
get on STI?

 

[bandit40356]

Hi everyone! I am getting poor mileage with my Subaru and am becoming
very frustrated. Any suggestions are welcome. I just read an old
forum discussing gas mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX's, and most were
getting 20-30 mpg. I am getting about 15! I drive almost entirely in
the city, and am getting just over 200 miles/tank. This is really
frustrating considering I traded in my Jeep to get something with
better mileage. Any suggestions on how to improve this? It has about
80,000 miles on it, and I just got it serviced in November. Although,
I haven't had the plugs/wires changed. I just bought it last March,
so I haven't even had it a year yet. I keep the tires aired, and I
don't think I drive it too hard. Just looking for some ideas.

Thanks!

02 WRX, just turned 60K. City driving I get ~22-23 MPG and ~28MPG
Highway. Every time I fill up the tank, I check the mileage on Trip
Odometer A then reset (I use Trip B for the oil change). Usually I
get about 290 - 310 miles per tank in city. This past summer I drove
all highway miles (adverage speed was 74 MPH) and was at 352 when the
low fuel light came on. Fill it up with ~13.5 Gallons. (352/13.5 =
26MPG, If I slowed down I could have got better MPG). I'm happy that
it!!!

 

[-rick-]

I didn't get the car for gas mileage. If that's all I was looking
for, I would have gotten a Honda. But I figured this was an all-wheel
drive that I could get better mileage than my Jeep. And I'm not
looking for miracles -- 15 mpg is just the lowest I've seen out of
anybody. 20 is my goal. 20 is what I was expecting when I bought
it. It does pretty good on the highway, just not in town.

I've been averaging about 22mpg and 300 miles/tank doing
about 2/3 highway driving. 2002 wrx wagon stock 42k miles.

 

[isquat]

Hi everyone! I am getting poor mileage with my Subaru and am becoming
very frustrated. Any suggestions are welcome. I just read an old
forum discussing gas mileage in 2002 Subaru WRX's, and most were
getting 20-30 mpg. I am getting about 15! I drive almost entirely in
the city, and am getting just over 200 miles/tank. This is really
frustrating considering I traded in my Jeep to get something with
better mileage. Any suggestions on how to improve this? It has about
80,000 miles on it, and I just got it serviced in November. Although,
I haven't had the plugs/wires changed. I just bought it last March,
so I haven't even had it a year yet. I keep the tires aired, and I
don't think I drive it too hard. Just looking for some ideas.

Did you get it used? If so the ricer who had it before likely did some
shitty "upgrade" and the car is running rich now or something.
Did you check with the boy if he's to be found?