How can you tell if the Subaru’s mileage is not correct?

[toosuave]

I just purchased a Subaru 2002 from a reputable dealership. The car had 23k miles on it, the tires were not the original..they are Cooper tires ...this threw up a flag but...any way to tell if the mileage has been tampered with? I know the odometer could be correct by a tool called DP3 Digiprog3 Odometer Correction.Any other tools？

[TSi+WRX]

^ I can't really help you with your direct question, but in all honesty, the tires could have been changed for any number of reasons - including dry-rot.

Other reasons? Maybe the previous owner(s) neglected tire-care, and ran the tires with pressures too low and caused excessive wear. Maybe they suffered damage to one or more tire, and chose to follow correct tire replacement procedures - to replace all four - due to wear. Maybe the previous owner returned the vehicle with summer-specific or winter-specific tires that the dealership took off and re-sold for a profit?

[Dookie]

It sounds like either the car sat too long and the tires became old and crusty, or there was some damage to the tires or rims.

In general, the average life span for tires are right around 5 yrs. After this point the rubber starts to harden and crack from the environment.

[blackfang]

Tires should be replaced if they are older than 5 or 6 years anyways.

[Helmihenna]

The factory displayed mileage can be increased or decreased by 10+. Only the dealer can do it so don't waste time on a scavenger hunt.

Don't think the car is doing things to confuse or rip you off. It depends on the gas blend and where in the world the car is sold. IIRC, the displays are essentially the same 'round the world.

Here in the US the displayed mileage is about 4% higher than hand calculated. So I went to my dealer and ask them to reduce it by 4% and they did without cost.

Now my mileage is just about spot on. I think it reads about .2 mpg within the calculated amount. Some tanks it's off by more if I do more city ot stop and go but on a blended trip it's about perfect at -4%.

If the mileage annoys you, like it did me, try -3 or -4%. You can always change it back. I was getting around 28.5 displayed which simply isn't possible on my car so I wanted it to be correct.