How To Calculate Gas Mileage For Your Car or Truck

With gas prices higher than ever, it can be a beneficial thing to know how efficiently your car or truck is using this precious commodity. Knowing the gas mileage your car is getting will help you determine how effective the measures you are taking to improve your gas mileage are.

The first step to calculating your current gas mileage is to fill the gas tank. I know you may be a $10 at a time driver, but the easiest and most accurate way to calculate gas mileage is to fill the tank all the way.

Take note of your current odometer reading. You can write it down and keep it in your glove compartment. You can also just reset the tripometer, but just remember not to reset it again until you finish this process!

Go about your normal business. Drive where you need to and as much as you need to. Do not stop for gas until you have used at least a half a tank or more. The more you drive the more accurate this test will be since you will be driving in a variety of different conditions.

Now that you have used at least a half a tank, stop again for gas. Fill the tank to the top again, but this time make note of the number of gallons it takes to fill the tank. This is the amount of gas you have used since starting this process.

Now figure how many miles you have driven. Take your current mileage and subtract the noted mileage from the last time you filled the tank. You now know how many miles you have driven and how many gallons it has taken to drive. Use the following formula to figure you mileage.

miles driven ÷ gallons of gas used = gas mileage

So, for example:
216 miles driven ÷ 7.5 gallons of gas = 28.8 miles to the gallon.

Now that you know what your gas mileage is you can determine if your car is efficient enough to be worth your hard earned dollars. Keep an eye out for a future hub revealing tips to improving your gas mileage.

And make a game out of it. The current best score for my SUV is 23 miles to the gallon.