How to Determine Gas Mileage

Fluctuating gas prices may make if difficult to determine how much it really costs you to operate your car. When you pay more to fill up your car than you are accustomed to, you may make the assumption that problem is poor gas mileage. Although this is certainly a possibility, the only the only way to know for sure is to calculate your gas mileage. Unfortunately, many people do no know how to calculate gas mileage correctly and end up with a number that does not reflect the true performance of their vehicle.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Fill your gas tank. To determine gas mileage, it is important that your tank be on full before you begin. Although some attempt to determine gas mileage by filling with a specific number of gallons once the vehicle is empty and noting the miles traveled when the vehicle is on empty again, this can be deceiving. It is difficult to tell how much gas is actually in the tank when it registers empty. A difference of one gallon can throw the calculations off.

2. Write down the mileage on the odometer or reset the mileage counter located near the odometer. Drive your vehicle as usual until ready to refuel, Keep in mind that mileage varies according to the driving conditions. Driving a long stretch on a highway will result in better gas mileage that city driving.

3. Write down the ending mileage before you refuel. Fill the tank and write down the number of gallons it required to fill the tank.

4. Divide the number of miles driven by the number of gallons used to find the gas mileage for your vehicle. If you drove 200 miles and used 6 gallons, your gas mileage is 33.3 miles per gallon.