Higher Mileage And Your Vehicle

Written by admin on July 28th, 2008

Fuel Mileage Calculations

Fill 'Er Up!

I remember back when I took Driver’s Education (30+ years ago) the focus was strictly on passing the test and completing a few hours of behind the wheel instruction. My son just completed Driver’s Ed and I still did not see where they teach students how to manage their driving skills.

I feel it is safe to say that from all walks of life there is a measurable amount of drivers that do not know how to calculate their mileage when filling their tanks at the pump.

In order to get the true mileage there are a few simple steps to take that will never fail when done properly.

• Start by Filling the Tank to Full
  It is imperitive to fill the tank completely full. This does not mean to fill it until it runs over and on to your pretty dress shoes and the ground. When filling the tank it is always a good practice to stop filling the spout when the nozzle shuts off. At that point it is ok to pump until you have rounded the price to where you want it. 
  Keep in mind that the routine that you use when topping the tank off needs to be consistent at every fillup when trying to calculate your mileage.
• Log Your Milage   A very critical step this is!
  Logging your mileage before you leave the gas pump is very critical so you have a base number to start with later when you fill up again.
  There are several ways to do this and it does not take a scientist or a great mathematician to figure it out.
  Do you have a trip meter in your car? This is the simplest way to start at zero. 
  It’s Simple! Push the button in and hold it until the mileage returns to zero!
  Most vehicles are setup that way unless you have a super fancy electronic version or a really old, like me, car.
  Another good way to track this  is to use a log book and simply write down the car mileage when you fill up.  Either way you need to know how many miles you drive between fillups.
• Drive Your Vehicle Normally
  Now it’s time to put some miles on the vehicle. Drive to work, school, grocery store or anywhere else you normaly go. You are interested in sticking to your normal schedule and driving as you normaly do. Unless you are going on a trip your not going to just drive to check the fuel mileage.
  If you are interested in finding out the difference between your milage now and your mileage after you make changes to your habits or your vehicle then try to drive very similar to how you have driven for many years.
  Drive until your gas tank is below 1/4 of a tank, thats near empty!
  (My son tells me the tank is 1/4 when he has used 1/4 of a tank)
• Refill the Tank
  Now it’s time to refill the tank and calculate the “Miles per Gallon” driven since the last fillup. Remember to be consistent with how you complete the fillup. It is unlikely you can change the result with a half gallon of gas.
  Once you have refilled the tank it is time to do some very, very simple math. You can even cheat and use a calculator. I’ll bet you have one on your cell phone too.
  So now your tank is full. You know how many miles you drove since the last fill up. You know how many gallons you used to fill up the tank this time.  That’s all you need to calculate the mileage or MPG (Mile per Gallon)!
• Do The Math
  Are you ready? Here’s the simple formula to calculating your MPG.
  Mileage / Gallons!
  Ok! for some there may be some confusion here…
  The milage is the actual miles traveled since you filled up last. The gallons is how many gallons it took to fill the tank up after travelling these miles.
  Sample:  320 miles traveled!  Fillup with 18.5 gallons!
                 320 divided by 18.5 = 17.29 or 17.3MPG
  
• Project Your Long Term Fuel Cost
  That was simple! Now you can use a fun little tool I found on the internet that will help you understand how much your long term fuel cost really are. With gas getting as high as it is lately it really makes sense to know how much it actualy cost to drive your car. Or! Maybe not!
  I used this calculator to analyze a friends car recently, after it was purchased. The interesting fact that came from this exercise was mind boggling. The car is a new Saturn that gets mileage around 28-30mpg. The cost calculator projected a fuel cost over 5 years equivalent to the cost of the car.
  Try this if you dare on your car or if your really gutsy and you have a fleet you may want to know your projected outlay over the next several years.
  Try It!Fuel Cost Calculator

  I can only hope I have enlightened just 1 person to begin checking the mileage in order to start saving by changing habits.