Growing tired of the Spec. B.... Crazy to trade for a WRX?

[covertrussian]

The decent mileage is all scam, unless you drive like a total grandma.

 

You know, I hear this all the time too, but it's a really unfair argument. A bigger block eats more fuel ALL the time, even when you are driving it like grandma. Now I drive like a grandma during my MPG tests, because it's much easier to just drive calmly then try to calculate around or replicate aggressive driving on every test .

 

Now in the past turbo motors ate a lot more fuel even off boost, but this was mainly due to crappy tunes, low compression, low temp thermostats etc. With modern cars and direct injection all of that is now onpar with NA motors.

 

Another exception will be trucks that tow a lot, they would have to be in boost all the time, which does require richer then NA AFR's. But that's not a big concern for most people shopping for family hauler SUV's even.

[Guest]

Of course they are improved compared to ancient turbo plants like in LGT, but still the gap between claimed and real life numbers is not insignificant.

[covertrussian]

Even ancient turbo plants like EJ255's and SR20DE's, I've always gotten above EPA ratings even with old rating system (pre 2008). 2005 LGT pre-2008 rating is 25mpg hwy, 2008 revamp got it down to 23mpg, 2017 EPA revisions would get it down further but EPA decided not to retrofit numbers this far back. Bone stock I got 26-27mpg hwy when I got the car.

 

Anyway, I find EPA numbers to be more then fair nowdays, some manufactures still cheat the system though. This is why I like car reviewers, like Car and Driver, who do a real world MPG tests at 75mph. For example here is a 2018 WRX test.

 

EPA 2018 WRX 6MT is rated at 27mpg highway, but they observed 30mpg with their 75mph test. Notice how all, but civic, did better then EPA ratings and all are turbo cars:

[BoozeRS05]

My cousin's 2012(?) 328i isn't slow, and with a 6mt he gets about 34mpg highway. 4 cylinder turbo, which he had to replace the turbo before 120k miles for around $4k I think.

[TrashyMG]

Well, it was fun expensive experience with my 2005 Legacy GT, but I ended up trading it in and my 2015 Impreza 2.0i Hatch for a 2019 WRX Base a few months ago.

 

Did a TGV + EGR Delete and AOS install and a professional tune on it. getting decent power with it.

 

Have a few pics including dyno results post modification on a Vermont Subaru enthusiast facebook group (should be public).

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156194325738192&set=pcb.2194958034094442&type=3&theater

 

Have to say after getting it tuned, it's real nice to drive. Do miss the Legacy a bit, loved the sound of the rumble and it had a lot of personality.

[covertrussian]

That's really good from just TGV delete and tune. Do you have before and after boost curves?

[TrashyMG]

That's really good from just TGV delete and tune. Do you have before and after boost curves?

 

I wished I did as I get that question a lot, the TGV delete was just a simple mod the tuner suggested while they were doing things. I was mostly aiming for longevity of the engine modifications.

[covertrussian]

Gotcha, knowing how much the tuner is pushing the turbo is good to know for reliability reasons. You could generate you're own log with Cobb AP (assuming that's what you used to tune) and doing some WOT pulls on the street.