They say that you could only rely on two things in life -
taxes and death. Not true. There's more things you can rely on these days, One
of which is the cost of petrol spiralling upwards forever. So how can you cope
with this bad reality? You should be able to improve your mpg - miles per
gallon, That is, the distance your car can travel per gallon of fuel you use.
So why not go for a car with a better mileage. This is a real financial move
because better fuel economy = more money in your bank account. But how can you
know your car’s mileage per gallon of fuel you buy?
It seems obvious but a lot of people just don't know how to
measure their average gas mileage. Fuel economy is a total mystery to them. So
bear with me.
A lot of cars nowadays have an mpg readout that you can
select from their onboard computer. Whilst these are useful, they do tend to be
a bit optimistic. I've found over the past 6 to 8 years that on-board mpg
displays tend to over-read by about 7%. Not much but enough to give you a
skewed view of reality. So how do you measure your average mpg? It's easy.
first - fill up
You need to
start with a full tank and always fill your tank to the point where the pump
cuts off. It's painful to your wallet, especially at today's prices, but it's
the best chance you have.
Fill your car to the point where the pump cuts off and zero your trip counter. I say full because each car has a different amount of dead space at the top of the tank and in the fuel filler neck, but if you let the pump cut off on its own each time, it will generally fill to around the same level each time.
Fill your car to the point where the pump cuts off and zero your trip counter. I say full because each car has a different amount of dead space at the top of the tank and in the fuel filler neck, but if you let the pump cut off on its own each time, it will generally fill to around the same level each time.
Next time you fill up and take note
Next time you fill up, again fill the tank to the pump cut off and importantly,
make a note of the number of litres or gallons you put in, and the trip counter
reading. Divide one by the other and you get either miles per gallon (mpg) or
km per litre. Zero the trip counter again and keep a note of the mpg
calculation.
Each time you fill up, fill it to the pump cutoff, and make a note of the amount that went in and the trip counter reading, calculating your mpg or litres per km each time.
Once you have four or five calculations, you can start to figure out your running average using some simple maths, or an online mileage tracker like mymilemarker.com or trackyourgasmileage.com.
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