My friend has one and is very careful about tracking gas milage and she swears she gets close to 30mpg on the back roads.

She is yanking your chain there is no way that an Outback gets anywhere near 30 miles per gallon. The only chance of that is if she is going down hill and not even using the gas pedal, but then her gas mileage would definitely be changed when coming back up the hill. So, the answer is no.

Sounds like she does not really know how to calculate exact mileage. l mean she could possibly get 26 to 27 but l doubt 30. l get about 26 mixed in my WRX and it is lighter and more power so l doubt her car can do better.

l own a 2008 Outback 5 speed. So far l have not had any fill ups with a calculated fuel efficiency less than 22 MPG. That is mixed highway & urban driving. On back roads, l am getting 28-30 MPG as long as it is not mountain roads, then the fuel efficiency drops to 25-26. On interstate with the cruise set at 70, l get 27-28 MPG & with the cruise set at 78, l get 24-25 MPG. l live in Athens, Ga & most of the interstate driving l have done is south of here into Florida, so not very hilly.
l expect a slight improvement when l change to synthetic oil.
FY l - l have never owned a Japanese or German vehicle that l did not do better than the EPA highway estimates, when l tried to drive for mileage. l have only driven a few big 3 vehicles that consistently met or exceeded the EPA estimates & they were all GM vehicles. l drive approximately 80k miles per year, & currently own the Outback, an 08 VW Jetta SE & an 07 4x4 Nissan Frontier Nismo KingCab. Only the Outback is a manual. l get 1-2 MPG better than EPA on the highway on both the Nissan & the VW, but neither is beating the urban EPA rating. Highway efficiency is very dependent on driver habits, city efficiency has more interactions, but driver habits can be a big factor there also.

The 08 Outback is averaging between 26-31 MPG on average based on customer feedback, if u look at the new window stickers they r ranged from 16-24 city & 21-31 highway as the 08 is have new EPA ratings that actually dropped from previous years on the sticker, but r higher in actual driving. There r alot of factors such as how u drive, & where, but the actual mileage can be better than the sticker suggests. At 173 HP & similar tourque, full time AWD out of a flat 4 cyl engine to hit even the high 20 is is unmatched at this time, not to mention they r a very low emissions vehicle. Plus they run on regular octane & r very cheap to insure. She probably is getting that range

l averaged 32 mpg in my 2006 Impreza Wagon in mixed (but mostly highway) driving. It was the 2.5L engine with automatic transmission. Keep the speed around 55-60 mph & try to let the transmission shift at around 2500 rpm.

Here is an easy way to find ur ACTUAL mpg- Zero ur trip odometer when u fill up with gas. When u fill up the next time & before u drive away, divide ur trip mileage (on ur cell phone calculator) by the exact amount of gas u just put in. 345 miles / 10.8 gallons = 31.94 mpg.

l just bought a 2008 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport (bought it slightly used with 7500 miles), I've had it for about 4 weeks now and l average 22-23mpg with mixed city and highway. l hardly go over 65mph (gas is way too expensive to be barreling down the highway at 80 like l used to) and l never floor it. She is yanking your chain!. l wish l got 30mpg! Besides regular cars are far less efficient in the city than the highway.

If its the turbo than l would say those numbers are fairly close the 19/26, but there is no way you're getting 30mpg l can assure you that. ( l personally own an 05' Legacy GT)