How to Find the Actual Gas Mileage of a Car

The gas mileage on a model of car can be found using many different published sources. In reality, the gas mileage of your specific car may be drastically different. Maintenance, tires, gas quality and terrain are just a few of the many things that could influence the gas mileage. Use this simple way to find the actual gas mileage of your car.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pen
• Calculator
• Working odometer
• Gas
• Notepad
• Vehicle

1. Fill the car up with the type of gas you normally use. Try to use the same grade and gas station that you normally fill up with. Different grades will yield different results and sometimes the quality of gas may vary from station to station.

2. Reset the trip odometer to zero by pushing the thin, black button next to it. If it is digital, sometimes the button needs to be held down for a few seconds.

3. Do your typical weekly driving until the gas needle gets down to empty.

4. Drive to your gas station and fill up the tank again. Write down how many gallons it took to fill up the tank and the mileage shown by the trip odometer.

5. Calculate the gas mileage by taking the total number of miles driven and dividing it by the number of gallons used to fill the car up the second time.

6. Repeat these steps several times and compare the results to get a more accurate reading. Remember, you will get better gas mileage on highways than city streets. Use this method during road trips to measure the highway gas mileage.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure regular oil changes are done, proper treads and air pressure on the tires are kept, and other routine maintenance is done to achieve the ideal gas mileage on your car.
• Always be sure the trip odometer is set properly on miles or kilometers.
• Never assume that the car is okay if the car is getting way below the gas mileage. Take it in to get checked out.

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