Thinking about buying a Subaru for my wife to commute in, probably mid 90's.What are some real-world figures? Legacy wagon and sedans, manual vs standard. l have heard 28 in mixed city/hwy driving but it is nice to hear from owners and not just salesmen. Thank You

l have a 1997 Outback 5 Speed Manual.love it getting between 27 and 29 MPG on highway around 22 MPG around town. Compared to other 4-wheel drive, The All-Wheel drive Subaru (in my opinion) can not be touched for the gas mileage, or performance. As for the choice of Manual vs Auto. The manual seems to do just a little better on mpg the auto gets around 25 to 27. Either one gets better than most of the others out there.

you save on a lot of gas with the gas prices being almost $4 bucks a gallon

We have had 4 Subaru Wagons over the last 25 years, getting 23-25 with the 4 cylinder and 20-21 with the 6 cyl.

Anyone that is getting 28 mpg is going downhill both ways

We have been on the road when no one else could deal with the ice, honestly, the AWD is miraculously efficient. Our maintenance cost for all 4 of these cars was;

One muffler, torn out during off road
One battery
One set of tires

All were automatics.

l have an 02 Legacy (2.5L H4) with Automatic. The engine (and the rest of the car) has been well-maintained by me since it was new. l get 21 mpg overall (in the U.S.).

I've made about 45 fuel economy measurements over the last 12,000 miles (10 months) with a 1996 Legacy L wagon automatic:

25 mpg overall (about 2/3 highway, 1/3 city)

25-27 mpg summer mixed driving
28-31 mpg summer highway (31 mpg = best recorded)
22-24 mpg summer city

22-24 mpg winter mixed driving
25-28 mpg winter highway
20-21 mpg winter city (20 mpg = worst recorded)

The manual transmission will likely not give better mileage--newer Subarus actually get marginally better mileage with the automatic.

The weight difference between the sedan & wagon is only 90 lb, so they should get equal mileage.

Edit: mpg is in US gallons.

l have a 2005 Subaru Impreza 5 spd std.no turbo. If l drive it with a 'happy foot' l get 20-21 city & 24-25 hwy. If l drive it nicely l get 28-30 mpg city & 34-35 hwy. It all really depends on ur driving habits. Mind u the better gas mileage is with me accelerating at a very gradual speed.basically hitting 60-70 mph (highway) in 15-20 secs rather than 0-60 in 8 or 9 secs by pushing the pedal to the floor. Its not for everyone but if u want good gas mileage thats the way to go :)

Hope this helps!