How to Calculate Gas Consumption in Miles Per Gallon

With the high price of gasoline today, many people have become more conscious about how much gas their vehicle uses and just how efficient it really is. Commercials may brag about high gas mileage, but those are geared toward selling the vehicle and may not provide a truly accurate estimation. Calculating the actual miles-per-gallon (MPG) of your car is a simple process if you make the effort to record the right data.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator
• Trip odometer or notepad

Instructions

1. Fill your fuel tank all the way to full.

2. Reset the trip odometer on the dashboard. For older vehicles that do not have a resettable trip odometer, make a note of your car's mileage shown on the main odometer at this time.

3. Refuel your vehicle at a later time, after a substantial amount of gas has been used. Fill the tank again to full and note the amount of fuel it takes.

4. Check your trip odometer and make note of the miles driven since your previous fuel stop. With no trip odometer, note the total mileage at this time.

5. Divide the number shown in the trip odometer (or the difference in total mileage between fuel stops) by the amount of fuel needed to fill the tank. This will be your MPG for this period of time.

6. Repeat the process whenever possible to provide a broader estimate over time, especially when driving mostly highway or city miles to know the difference in mileage between the two for your vehicle.

References

• EPA: Fuel Economy

Resources

• Your MPG