Calculate Your Fuel Economy

Sure, you may know what the label estimate on your auto says, but how many miles per gallon (mpg) does your car really get? You can calculate your fuel economy in four simple steps, which we adapted from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Web site:

1. Fill your gas tank completely and write down your car's odometer reading (mileage).

Example: The last time the tank was filled, the odometer reading was 32,645.1 miles.

2. When it's time to refuel, fill the tank completely again, then write down how many gallons it took to fill the tank, as well as your car's new odometer reading.

Example: The next time the tank was filled, the odometer reading was 33,001.3. It took 13.5 gallons to fill the tank.

3. Calculate the distance driven by subtracting the previous odometer reading from the new one.

Example: The distance driven would be 33,001.3 minus 32,645.1, or 356.2 miles.

4. Finally, divide the number of miles driven by the number of gallons it took to fill the tank. The result if your car's mileage for that driving period.

Example: 356.2 miles divided by 13.5 gallons equals 26.4mpg.

Think you car could do better? Check out our tips for how to get better gas mileage.

Difficulty level: Easy