08 Legacy 3.0R Spec.B

[ericmcn]

My Spec.B legacy, granted not the best looker on the roads but the handling is sublime. Quite a rare car on the roads now what with sky high tax band and equally sky high running costs (fuel!)

[Speed addicted]

I've just picked up a 2005 2.5 Legacy wagon for utility car duties. I've only had it a few days and I'm really liking the old bus.

It's making me wonder just how much more fuel the spec B uses?

[ericmcn]

I fill up once a month roughly, brim it. I get about 160 or so miles on a tank give or take. On long runs its a different story, can get over 30mpg

[rm89]

Excellent cars. Parents had a black 05 plate manual for 4 years from new, traded in against an 09 plate blue auto, which 60k miles later they still have! Lovely cars to drive, and I do actually think they look quite nice in an understated way.

[_Nathan_]

ericmcn said:

I fill up once a month roughly, brim it. I get about 160 or so miles on a tank

Is there a hole in the tank?!

[philmots]

I like these, very nearly bought an estate until I discovered it didn't have esp.

[Mr Tidy]

Had a lift in an estate one of these on a business trip - lovely car!

But I couldn't live with the running costs sadly.

[ericmcn]

_Nathan_ said:

Is there a hole in the tank?!

not really, its a 3 litre flat 6. I never ran it down to the absolute empty but city driving (start stop) kills most big cc cars, take it onto an open road and its a whole new ball game (literally)

[BuzzBravado]

I loved my GTB. It done everything so well. Highly underrated cars. An Impreza is a downgrade in many ways.

[shalmaneser]

ericmcn said:

I fill up once a month roughly, brim it. I get about 160 or so miles on a tank give or take. On long runs its a different story, can get over 30mpg

WTF?!

Do you just drive it in the city? Seems a bit of a waste! Get a bicycle!

[ericmcn]

Why get a bike? Find me one that gives the famous boxer rumble and I might be tempted.

I think this mentality of saving money on petrol is rife all across the UK which is what has lead to the implosion of people buying filthy manky diesel.

This Subaru on hindsight is only a bit worse on juice than my previous is250 and its a hell of a lot more fun to drive, If I drove this to completely empty I could probably squeeze about 180 miles from the tank on city driving which is not a whole lot worse than I saw on my Lexus.

[ericmcn]

FYI

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1104225_that-su...

Better than the rattle of a diesel anyday IMO.

[sam1176uk]

160 miles to a tank sounds like something is wrong. I've got a 2006 legacy spec b manual, and average 25mpg or 280-290 miles per tank, with mostly short journeys and the odd motorway trip - I'm not dawdling either.
Great cars though, massively underrated.

[ericmcn]

sam1176uk said:

160 miles to a tank sounds like something is wrong. I've got a 2006 legacy spec b manual, and average 25mpg or 280-290 miles per tank, with mostly short journeys and the odd motorway trip - I'm not dawdling either.
Great cars though, massively underrated.

Nah, nothing wrong. This is pure city driving (when the light goes on so add about 20-30 miles to that if you want to stall the car) if I mix it up with a few long runs economy shoots up, 32mpg was about the max I seen on a long run. I use the fill up app and my fuel mpg since about July i think i started using it was 25mpg average, with a bias on town driving.

[ericmcn]

sam1176uk said:

160 miles to a tank sounds like something is wrong. I've got a 2006 legacy spec b manual, and average 25mpg or 280-290 miles per tank, with mostly short journeys and the odd motorway trip - I'm not dawdling either.
Great cars though, massively underrated.

if you drive in Southampton ever day try it, the ECU is going to learn the driving style and adapt mpg accordingly, likewise if you change routes or do long runs. All the stupid traffic lights not helping in the SE

[Speed addicted]

25 sounds about right, 160 miles sounds like a total pain though! So far I seem to be getting about 28 with the 2.5.

I agree about the obsession around fuel consumption. My other car is a BMW 645 and it does about 18mpg. I'm doing my bit for the oil industry!

[ericmcn]

Speed addicted said:

25 sounds about right, 160 miles sounds like a total pain though! So far I seem to be getting about 28 with the 2.5.

I agree about the obsession around fuel consumption. My other car is a BMW 645 and it does about 18mpg. I'm doing my bit for the oil industry!

Have you a 2.5 or a 3.0 as mine is the latter.

A 645 sounds nice but would dread anything going wrong. The Legacy is actually good for economy when you look at combined mpg, the handling is fantastic and the hydraulic ps with the bilstein shocks means it has real character to go with the unique drivetrain.

[Anatonic]

ericmcn said:

I fill up once a month roughly, brim it. I get about 160 or so miles on a tank give or take. On long runs its a different story, can get over 30mpg

I know others have said it but are you absolutely sure only 160 miles?! I'm certain the fuel tank is 60-65L in size, so if you are brimming it and assuming you use say 55L before you fill up and only get 160 miles that's close to 13mpg - I almost get better out of my current E92 M3 when hammering it!

I've had a Spec B on towing duty before and the worst I could ever achieve was around 17mpg

Great car though OP - I'm looking at getting another as a second driver for tip runs and general family duties as they're brill! Just look after it with the oil changes and the engine will go on forever.

[ericmcn]

Anatonic said:

I know others have said it but are you absolutely sure only 160 miles?! I'm certain the fuel tank is 60-65L in size, so if you are brimming it and assuming you use say 55L before you fill up and only get 160 miles that's close to 13mpg - I almost get better out of my current E92 M3 when hammering it!

I've had a Spec B on towing duty before and the worst I could ever achieve was around 17mpg

Great car though OP - I'm looking at getting another as a second driver for tip runs and general family duties as they're brill! Just look after it with the oil changes and the engine will go on forever.

relax lads.

I done a full service on this last June and since then it has not used a drop of oil, impressive with 95k miles and all that city driving.

I am getting similar-ish economy from this over my previous is250. Its not a problem basically on mix of long runs and city driving i get 300 miles or more on a tank, I think 370/380 miles was about the best i got.

In the city its drastically reduced but to be expected, 160 is a bit harsh, at 160 miles its down near the last marker so about 40 or so miles to empty.

Like I said i had this fuel log app and got my average mpg of 25 i think, i have since changed phones so lost all my data. This app had all my fuel logs for several months.

And yeah, its a superb car indeed, I am aching to get the hell out of Southampton and take it up country to some winding country roads.

Edited by ericmcn on Thursday 16th February 19:52