Hello, I am currently driving a 1988 subaru gl station wagon with 4wheel drive and auto trans. I have never taken the time to figure what type of gas mileage I am getting but it seems to be on the low side. I do mostly hiway driving and I would guess I am getting in the high teens for mpg. I drive mostly around 75 mph and the tach usually reads around 4.5 rpm at this speed and it is not in 4 wheel drive. Is this normal? I would have thought being a small 4 cylinder engine that I would get maybe in the mid to upper 20's mpg. Thanks Doug
mpg 1988 subaru gl
Nov 15, 2003
3 Replies
I have an 89 GL SW still running fine after 211,000Km. Best car I've ever had apart from a hot Allard (way back). When I got it at 72K I tested carefully for mileage and was getting 35 mpg on a long run, usually running at 3000rpm. I don't think it has changed much although the city mileage in my hilly home town, particularly in winter, is way worse.
I have a manual. I suggest most of your poor mileage is due to a combination of automatic and high speed.
Incidentally, I really like having the extra low range gears available giving in effect 10 forward gears - my 1989 was the last year this was available on Subarus, I think.
(If you want to reply by e-mail, remove occurences of "out" in my address)
I must be doing something wrong, my 88 gl with the SEFI 1.8, 5 speed manual with hi/lo 4WD only gets 21-23 mpg, it does not matter highway or city.
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