Introduced in 1992, the Subaru Impreza has been, and continues to be, a faithful compact sedan and hatchback offered around the world. Soon after conception, the WRX performance variant charmed youths in all markets with it’s turbocharged boxer four-cylinder power plant and practical all-wheel-drive clawing between stoplights. Unfortunately, the current generation WRX comes in sedan only, but at least a manual is still offered (along with a CVT!). We recently had one on loan and wanted to know how what sort of mpg we could expect out of the 6-speed manual WRX.
To start, the EPA claims a guzzling 27 mpg on the highway for this sedan when equipped with a manual transmission; surprisingly, they only predict 24 mpg for the CVT. When Car and Driver performed their Subaru WRX mpg test with a similar protocol to ours, they returned a much more believable 30 mpg at 75 mph. So which is it going to be? After our loud and tiring 100-mile test, we ended up returning 28 miles per gallon. This car is a little difficult to take on longer trips due to tire and wind noise and also because it’s a bit of a tin box.
However, if a consumer were to road trip this japanese treasure (pack earplugs), they should expect to refill every 440 miles thanks to the fuel tank barely holding 16 gallons. Subaru must’ve known it wasn’t very good on mileage because the base Impreza’s fuel tank holds only 13.2 gallons. Read about our 2020 Subaru Forester mpg test here!
How We Test
This Daily Motor real-world highway-fuel-economy test consists of over 60 miles of consistent highway driving. We fill the car using the “three-click method,” meaning running the gas pump on high flow until it clicks, waiting 10 seconds, running low flow until it clicks again, waiting another 10 seconds, then running low flow one very last time. The lowest-octane gasoline accepted by the vehicle’s manufacturer is used. We then drive about 50 miles on public highway in one direction and then back in the opposite direction, attempting not to draft or drive aggressively. We set the cruise control at GPS-indicated 72 mph in an attempt to achieve a moving average speed of 70 mph over the entire test. Upon return to the gas station, we refill at the same gas pump as the initial fill using the same fueling method. Miles per gallon is determined by dividing total miles traveled by fuel used. In cases where our observed figure differs greatly from the vehicle’s indicated figure and/or EPA’s estimate, we may recommend a number in between or plan to retest the vehicle.
See our complete Subaru WRX mpg test here!
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