I’m at a gas station pumping in the rain as I start writing this. I’m dying to figure out my cars fuel efficiency. I’ve been wondering what you can do to improve fuel efficiency because my gas bill is killing me! But it occurred to me that I drive a 4Runner and maybe it’s performing as the manufacturer expected it to. Maybe I’m just overpaying at the pump because I drive a truck and maybe I need to suck it up.

But before I swallow my pride and openly throw away hundreds of dollars per week on gas, I need to figure out what my mileage is and how that compares to the manufacturer’s rating.

So here’s what you do to figure out how many miles per gallon your car gets:
1. Go get your car filled up right now.
2. As you leave the gas station, reset your trip counter.
3. When you get to 3/4 of a tank or lower(the lower the more accurate), go get the car filled up again. Make sure to keep your receipt and make sure the recipt has the number of gallons that were put into your car. Fill it up all the way! This is very important because it will tell you how many gallons you burned since you filled your car last.
4. Look at your trip counter and write down the number of miles since your last refill on your receipt.
5. Do the math. Grab a calculator if you want. Divide the number of miles on your receipt by the number of gallons. So if you went 20 miles and you put 4 gallons of gas in your car, that’s 5. What’s this number? It’s your fuel efficiency! In otherwords, you get 5 miles per gallon. God bless you if you get fuel efficiency this low.

Do this process a few times and take an average to account for any mistakes or inconsistencies.

Now what? If you’re above 20MPG, you’re in decent shape. I’d personally want better. Above 30 miles per gallon, you’re in excellent shape. If you’re below 20, you’ve got a certifed gas guzzler. Consider trading it in or getting a tune up like I’ll be doing.

Good luck!

-MG