You can perform the same calculation with kilometers and liters as well. The best time to record is right after you fill your car with gas.
Your trip odometer will say “0 miles. " If you don’t have a trip odometer, record the number of miles on your car as “Starting Mileage. " For example, if your car has 10,000 miles on it when you fill your tank, write “10,000. "
If you do not have a trip odometer, subtract your “Starting Mileage” from your current mileage to find out how far your traveled. If your odometer now says 10,250 for example, subtract 10,000. You drove 250 miles on that tank of gas.
You must refill your tank completely for this to work, otherwise you don’t know how much gas your car used since your last tank.
If you measured in kilometers and liters, you should instead divide fuel used by kilometers traveled and multiply the result by 100 to get “liters per 100 kilometers”. You have to start from a full tank and return to a full tank to know exactly how much gas your car consumed.
Fuel Consumption = (Final Mileage - Starting Mileage) / Fuel Usage Fuel Consumption = (23,889mi - 23,500mi) / 12. 5 gallons Fuel Consumption = 389mi / 12. 5 gallons Fuel Consumption = 31. 1 mpg
Cruise control can help you get better fuel consumption. Fuel consumption gets worse the faster you drive. Since AC uses gasoline, using it will diminish your fuel consumption. [1] X Trustworthy Source FuelEconomy. gov Official source for the U. S. government for fuel economy information Go to source
Say, for example, that you calculated your fuel consumption one day as you drove up into the mountains. Because climbing uphill takes more fuel, your fuel consumption would look much lower than it normally is.
You do not need to fill your car all the way up each time. As long as you record the number of gallons you put in you can calculate fuel consumption.
If I bought three tanks of gas, 12 gallons, 3 gallons, and 10 gallons, then my total gas usage would be 25 gallons.
For example, if you used 25 gallons of gas, and drove 500 miles during that time, then your average fuel consumption would be 20 miles per gallon (500 miles / 25 gallons = 20 mpg).
If your calculation is drastically different from the suggest average, you may need to bring your car to a mechanic.
Running AC on max can decrease your fuel economy by almost 25%. [3] X Trustworthy Source FuelEconomy. gov Official source for the U. S. government for fuel economy information Go to source
Try not to brake or accelerate harshly. Brake early instead of slamming on the pedal. [5] X Trustworthy Source Consumer Reports Nonprofit organization dedicated to consumer advocacy and product testing Go to source
Some cars list the proper tire pressure on a sticker in the driver’s side door or the glove compartment.
For newer cars, replacing the air filter will not help fuel efficiency very much. It will, however, make it easier for your car to accelerate without issues. [9] X Trustworthy Source FuelEconomy. gov Official source for the U. S. government for fuel economy information Go to source
