 MospawWhat, too soon?Hawaiian Jellyfish
join:2001-01-08
Mile High
kudos:1
All Things Macintosh
Automotive
Rants, Raves, and ..
| reply to taurean98
Re: [Help] How can I determine my gas mileage? If the vehicle has a "trip" odometer, simply reset it when you fill your tank. The next time you fill up, divide the miles on the odometer by the number of gallons of gas put in the vehicle.
For instance, 300 miles traveled and 15 gallons put in is 20 MPG (300 / 15 = 20).
If the vehicle doesn't have a trip odometer, then you will need to record the mileage on the regular odometer and do a little subtraction.
Just remember to reset the trip odometer when you fill up and to fill the tank fully (but not over full) each time.
This technique will give you a very good idea what you mileage is. Factors that make this a bit less accurate are the accuracy of your odometer. If your tires are the correct size and properly inflated, this shouldn't be much of an issue.
Also, don't sweat the math too much. I used to calculate to the thousandth of a gallon when I realized that 17.885 MPG is pretty much the same at 17.880. The difference is less than a teaspoon. 
Don't worry about one tank, either. Mine fluctuates. What this does give you is a good average. Sometimes you might short fill a tank or other factors that might appear that the car's mileage has changed when it hasn't. Different drivers, conditions and styles will affect it, too. |
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 HallPremium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH
kudos:1 | said by Mospaw: I used to calculate to the thousandth of a gallon when I realized that 17.885 MPG is pretty much the same at 17.880. You're kidding ! You used to calculate it to 3 places ?? Damn... To me, 1 place is good enough. Is it an estimate of course. Too many other variables that influence it.
Don't worry about one tank, either. Mine fluctuates. What this does give you is a good average. Sometimes you might short fill a tank or other factors that might appear that the car's mileage has changed when it hasn't. Exactly. The one tank that you measure/calculate may or may not be "typical" driving. You may have done more city driving or more highway driving than usual. One time I wanted to get an idea of what kind of highway mileage I get so I filled up at a station right next to the highway on-ramp and filled up again within an 1/8 mile from the highway off-ramp. I wanted as much highway (steady) speed as possible, no stop light or stop signs, stop and go or slow traffic, etc, etc. |
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 CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | I calculate it to see if there are any wild fluctuations that might signal a big problem. I know my range and if I get out of the typical range then I know to start looking at things. |
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MospawWhat, too soon?Hawaiian Jellyfish
join:2001-01-08
Mile High
kudos:1 Host:
All Things Macintosh
Automotive
Rants, Raves, and ..
| reply to Hall
said by Hall:said by Mospaw: I used to calculate to the thousandth of a gallon when I realized that 17.885 MPG is pretty much the same at 17.880. You're kidding ! You used to calculate it to 3 places ?? Damn... To me, 1 place is good enough. Is it an estimate of course. Too many other variables that influence it. No joke. Actually, I had a spreadsheet set up for the car that calculated fuel costs on a per tank and ongoing average basis. That really did give me a good overview of how much fuel the car consumed.
I also had calculations for insurance, maintenance and other operating costs like payment. I broke them all out on a per-mile and per-month basis along with the requisite averages.
It was fun to see the different numbers, and how an oil change affected the total cost per mile of the car and so on. Maintaining the spreadsheet it was a bit of a pin, so I stopped.
Yes, I'm a geek. |
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 CheesePremium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
kudos:1 | said by Mospaw:said by Hall:said by Mospaw: I used to calculate to the thousandth of a gallon when I realized that 17.885 MPG is pretty much the same at 17.880. You're kidding ! You used to calculate it to 3 places ?? Damn... To me, 1 place is good enough. Is it an estimate of course. Too many other variables that influence it. No joke. Actually, I had a spreadsheet set up for the car that calculated fuel costs on a per tank and ongoing average basis. That really did give me a good overview of how much fuel the car consumed. I also had calculations for insurance, maintenance and other operating costs like payment. I broke them all out on a per-mile and per-month basis along with the requisite averages. It was fun to see the different numbers, and how an oil change affected the total cost per mile of the car and so on. Maintaining the spreadsheet it was a bit of a pin, so I stopped. Yes, I'm a geek. Geek!   |
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 jrs8084Premium
join:2002-03-02
Statesville, NC
kudos:1
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to Mospaw
Darn-I thought I was accurate. I am not a worthy geek.
Do you evaluate your payrate to determine the lost productivity for every sip of coffee from the mug?
That sort of info is fodder to HR freaks when evaluating who is "important" to the company during "challenging times".
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512Ke, LC, Classic, Qudra 605, Centris 610 AV,Performa 6112, PM 6500, Cube, iMac G4 17", iMac 24", PB 5300, PB 3400, PB G4, and a few PCs |
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| reply to Mospaw
said by Mospaw:said by Hall:said by Mospaw: I used to calculate to the thousandth of a gallon when I realized that 17.885 MPG is pretty much the same at 17.880. You're kidding ! You used to calculate it to 3 places ?? Damn... To me, 1 place is good enough. Is it an estimate of course. Too many other variables that influence it. No joke. Actually, I had a spreadsheet set up for the car that calculated fuel costs on a per tank and ongoing average basis. That really did give me a good overview of how much fuel the car consumed. I also had calculations for insurance, maintenance and other operating costs like payment. I broke them all out on a per-mile and per-month basis along with the requisite averages. It was fun to see the different numbers, and how an oil change affected the total cost per mile of the car and so on. Maintaining the spreadsheet it was a bit of a pin, so I stopped. Yes, I'm a geek. And I thought I was the only one that 'a***'! good job, you're not the only one! |
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