I did a cooper euro lager and the OG was a disappointing 1038. I got an fg of around 1008. So around a 4% lager. I quite liked the final result, compared to your average commercial Ale. It tastes something like a carlsberg / Heineken to me. I like that slight skunk taste on a lager.
In all my extract brews, I find the OG have been a little low. you could improve that by just adding less than the recommended 23 Liters of water. 5 gallons. Conversely, use a little more fermentable sugar. Perhaps experiment with adding a little DME or LME which may also give variation in the final taste. Someone more experienced than me can comment on whether that is worth while.
Still, even though I have lower ABV beers, all my home brewed beer is as good as, if not better than anything I buy at the store.
I just did a red ale extract kit and used a little more DME to get an OG of 1048. Kit aims for a 1042. I had 1.8 extract, a little left over glucose syrup, and a KG bag of a Muntons starter kit. It all added up to 3.25 kg of fermentable, which elevated my OG. I should also add that I made sure my DME and starter kit where completely dissolved when I mixed them together. My fg is now around 1010, so I will have around a 5% beer. Interested to see if it tastes much different than my other reds. I might try reduce my water to 20L in future extracts to see if I get a fuller taste. Will surely get a higher ABV when I do.
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