Bad MPG during new car break-in period

[magnus919]

Don't be discouraged by bad MPG on a brand new car. Keep driving it, be patient, and prepare to be surprised.

I've been keeping track of my new 2012 Subaru Forester since I bought it new with 11 miles on the odometer. My normal driving habits around Raleigh consist of a pretty good mix of city & highway miles, and I would have expected an average of somewhere over 20MPG. But it was pretty frustrating to have this car hovering around 16-17MPG all the time.

But then I went on a road trip to Philadelphia.

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/magnus9...ster/fuelchart

I fueled up in Raleigh and drove until somewhere in Maryland before fueling up again. My in-car MPG display estimated I was in the 29-30MPG ballpark until I hit Richmond, VA which is where I-95 gets dicey. Bad traffic patterns persist through northern Virginia, into D.C., and Baltimore. This brought the overall average down, but still... 27MPG overall for the trip. Not too shabby (for this car)!

You'll see a huge dip in the chart. That represents my time in Philadelphia where you're just going from traffic light to traffic light, slamming on the brakes for dumb jaywalking pedestrians, etc.

MPG shot up again, but not as sharply, for the next fillup. I had rain (often heavy) following me my whole return trip from Philadelphia to Raleigh. While the Subaru was very happy in the rain, it didn't help my MPG. Nor did the pockets of slow scared motorists who don't respect the notion of sticking to the right side. 45MPH in the passing lane in a posted 70MPH zone? Seriously??? ;-)

It's funny, how the MPG suddenly shot up after being down in the teens for awhile. The salesman did mention these cars take 1 or 2 thousand miles to train the engine computer before the MPG settles in where it needs to be, and that seems to be reflected in my fuelly chart. I wanted to point this out to anyone else who might be discouraged by the MPG they are seeing with their new car.

I think this car can probably deliver 30MPG if I do my part. I'm not the most gentle MPG-minded driver.