Dean Forster

How to Figure Gas Mileage - What You Should Know About Your Car

Save money by learning how to figure gas mileage for trips on the road and reduce your fuel consumption

Want to know how to figure gas mileage? You should. Knowing how much fuel you consume can help you plan your trips and your expenses on the road. Consequently, this could greatly help you save some money. With the rising costs of fuel burning holes in our pockets, anything that can help minimize our gas consumption will certainly be a big help.

To know how to figure gas mileage, you need to be diligent in keeping notes. Having a notebook in your car where you can jot down the amount of gas loaded in your car and keeping tabs of the miles you've traveled is the first step that you should take.

The next time you fill up, take note of the number of gallons of fuel that you put in your car and the reading on the odometer. Better yet, set your car meter to zero. This can be done by pushing the button underneath the odometer. If you have an automobile with a computerized console, consult the manual to understand how the meter can be set to zero.

When the time comes for your next gas fill up, take note of the odometer reading. Subtract the figure from the first reading you recorded and then divide the result by the number of gallons you purchased to derive the MPG or miles per gallon. The resulting figure will let you know how many gallons of gas your automobile consumes for the distance you traveled.

Once you got your MPG figure, you then have the knowledge of how much you are spending on fuel and can move on to finding ways of minimizing travel or driving costs. The good thing about keeping tabs of mileage is that if it increased or decreased, then you would know what's causing the changes. You can also compare different gas stations' prices. Once you have that initial figure, you can try other stations and see if filling up from a different one will increase or decrease your MPG.

If your gas mileage fluctuated without any drastic change in your driving habits or the roads you travel, then maybe it's about time that you get your automobile checked out. If there was something wrong with the car, it will affect your mileage. Have a regular tune up to make sure that the vehicle is in good condition and is not guzzling fuel unnecessarily. Also, study the manual if the car is new, knowing the different "moods" of your automobile will help you figure out what's wrong with it and you can then address the issue before it translates into additional expenses.

Knowing how to figure gas mileage is important, particularly at this time when fuel costs are denting almost everyone's finances. They say knowledge is power, in the case of fuel consumption, it definitely is.

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