my wife and i left ma at 4pm on friday may 21 and after 1 nite in a motel we arived local time in oakland ca noon on monday may 23, and we were not putting along. the xt ran great once on the interstates down shifting was not needed no matter how steep the grade was. we averaged 23 mpg even with some of the weekist gas. 91 octane is the highest you get at gas stations in the west. in the twisty mountain passes i was happy to have spent the 75.oo for the soild 20mm swaybar, from 1stsubaruparts.com, it was one for a wrx an as such was about an inch narrower then the stock xt the link a slightly angeled but after 9,000 miles there has been no problems. the car is not even a year old and it has over 20,000 miles on it. itmay not have the best mpg but it sure gives the best spg (smiles) of any thing you can buy for under $28,ooo.