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New Guy from IL

909 views 11 replies 12 participants last post by  IBHWRD2 
#1 ·
Hi there Forester enthusiasts, gurus and experts alike.

I just bought a Subaru 2010 Forester a couple of weeks ago as a family car. Having a new baby, I am confident that a Subaru Forester would be the best one as far as safety is concerned. We drive the car around the city, for church and other errands or pretty much city driving.

Up until yesterday, we drove on a highway and I noticed on the dash that the MPG average was reading around 16.8 to 17.1 MPG.

Is this reading accurate? I made sure that while we were on the highway, we were cruising at a moderate speed of 60 mph and not heavy on the gas pedal but it was consistently displaying 17.1 or lower.

I was looking at the specs online and found out that on paper, a Forester's Average MPG City = 20 mpg and Highway = 25 mpg. I will also try looking into the Users Manual to find any information about this but thought that this would be a good place to start.

And finally, I also asked the Sales Associate who sold us the Forester if it is necessary or required for me to Break In the car for the first 1000 miles or more to help the engine cope up and I was told that it is not necessary. Is this correct?

Any help on this would be highly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Kind regards,
Servie
Montgomery
 
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#2 ·
Clear both trip A and trip B trip odometers and this will zero the avg MPG readout. Do this when the car has been running or driven so the engine is warm, then take it out on the highway for awhile. Avg mpg should show higher. A lot of stop and go city driving especially short duration where the engine doesnt have enough time to stay at full operating temp long enough, this will cause low fuel economy in any vehicle. No particular break-in is needed but just don't baby the engine during the first few hundred miles.
 
#5 ·
Welcome and I will be joining you back in Illinois in a few months when I move back to where I was born near Peoria. as far as Break in, I believe the manual states to drive it while varying the speed for the first 1000 miles and not to take it past 4000 RPM unless there is an emergency and although I varied the speed alright, I found that my definition of an emergency varied greatly from their's because I broke 4000 RPM quite a few times for no other reason than a "need for speed," lol.

My personal preference is to drive it "normally" with a few wide open throttle runs for good measure while breaking in the engine however you will find as many schools of thought on this as there are different opinions on oil and in the end, I believe that a well maintained vehicle that wasn't "broken in" properly but hot rodded a bit will still last about as long as the one that was broken in according to the book provided is not "dogged" all the time although I have no empirical proof of this and it is just an opinion.

Here's a bit of nostalgia for the older members. One of the games my father used to play with his mechanic friends was to go to the junk yard, get a vehicle running and put in in a wide open throttle position and then go to the sales shack, drink beer and bet on when she would blow and of all the motors they did this to, an old Ford V8, a 302 to be specific, lasted the longest by far and whether it was shear luck or they were actually that strong I can't say but interesting if you are a fan of them I suppose.
 
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