My '02 WRX wagon (MT) has averaged 19.4mpg over the last 13,000 miles. (I'm up to 46,000 now) With an EPA rating of 20/27, I was disappointed my average was not somewhere between those numbers. Not enough to drive
65 all the time (I'd be a safety hazard going that slowly on some roads in greater Boston). Plus if I was
_that_ concerned with fuel economy, I'd have bought the similarly-handling 2.5RS instead.
I've had tanks as low as 13.53 and as high as 27.07mpg. My best tankful was on interstates through New Hampshire and Vermont at a pretty constant 71mph. Most of my trips on those same roads give me about 23mpg.
I don't drive it any differently than I did my '95 VW GTI with a 2.8L VR6 engine - that was EPA rated for 18/25, and I averaged about 23 with that car. I'm surprised my stock WRX mileage is that much lower. My GTI mileage improved about 1 mpg when I installed a new engine chip from TT, and it gave slightly better upper rpm power. Performance of my old GTI didn't feel too much slower to my "butt dyno" than my WRX does. The VW has less power (172hp) but it also weighed less and was two wheel drive. The larger engine did have more torque down low, so I didn't need/want to downshift as often in city driving. But 4mpg?
I thought one of the two main advantages of a turbo engine over a larger displacement engine of similar power/torque was efficiency - especially when not at WOT. I do accelerate rather briskly in the Subaru, but I also get into 4th or 5th gear pretty quickly, where the car spends most of its time. I do appreciate the far superior handling of the WRX, partly due to less weight ahead of the front axle. GTIs with the big iron 6 plowed through corners