MPG Calculator - from Miles & Litres
(or your last fill up cost.)

"Calculate your MPG (Miles per Gallon) in UK Imperial Gallons."

Please bookmark this real world MPG Calculator and try again after using our fuel saving tips (we bet you get another 50 miles or so out of a tank)!

MPG Calculator tool.

Enter Mileage and Fuel used since last fill-up:
Use your trip counter and reset when you fill up ensuring that the tank is full then when empty fill up to full again noting the mileage covered.

TorqueCars top fuel saving tips:

See our YouTube Hypermiling Video link to get the top techniques and tips for hypermiling and potentially double your fuel economy.

How to calculate MPG

Take your total distance travelled and divide it over the number of gallons of fuel you have used.

As most fuel stations sell in litres, it requires calculation and conversion, so we built the handy MPG calculator above to do all of the complicated calculations for you.

The illustration above shows how to manually calculate your car's MPG from Litres of fuel.

The steps to calculate your MPG are.

1. Reset your trip computer when you fill up.
2. Record your distance travelled
3. Note the number of litres to fill up
4. Multiply litres by 0.21997 to get Gallons (imperial)
5. Take your total miles and divide it by the number of gallons

Is 40mpg good?

It is reasonably good but depends on what you compare it to really, personally I would choose a car that does at least 45mpg because I drive many miles.

I've compiled a list of typical MPG figures so you can easily compare and see if you are above or below average.

Your annual fuel cost is quite important which we calculate in our app above for you if you enter a cost per litre.

MPG Calculator rankings table

See where you come compared to the average, and follow the tips below to see if you can get a better MPG calculator result next time.

Interestingly few cars achieved "Excellent" as little as 10 years ago, now few achieve the "low" rating.

Miles	Litres	MPG
250	50	22.73	Low
300	50	27.28	Low
350	50	31.82	Low
400	50	36.37	Average
450	50	40.91	Average
500	50	45.46	Good
550	50	50.01	Good
600	50	54.55	Excellent
650	50	59.1	Excellent
700	50	63.64	Supreme

After you've checked your MPG, let's see if we can improve it, so we've compiled the following fuel saving tips.

See our YouTube Video about our MPG calculator.

Improve your MPG

1. Allow the car to coast in gear the last 700 yards up to a junction rather than accelerate all the way. Look out for junctions and ease off the throttle as soon as you can.
2. Drive with a maximum 1/3 to 1/2 throttle - if you get the revs right for the engine load you will not notice much of a loss of power, adjust your style for each fill up and check this mpg calculator regularly to see which style gives the best MPG.
3. Avoid braking and stopping (2 of the biggest fuel wasters) - anticipate the road ahead and roll up to roundabouts. (If you're good you can avoid using your brakes on a typical journey!!!)
4. If it's hot open the window rather than turn on the air conditioning, if it's really hot open another window and turn the blowers on, if your steering wheel starts melting then turn on the air conditioning. (At speeds over 30mph there is an argument for using the air conditioning to counter the drag from an open window!)
5. Avoid using things that drain the battery - because extra pull occurs on the alternator requiring more fuel (aircon is very noticeable). The big drains are the rear window heater, blowers & heaters, headlights.
6. Inflate your tires to the correct pressure. (Fully laden pressures or just under seems to give the best MPG but more pressure can increase the mid tire wear if it's too extreme so don't overdo it.) Check your pressures monthly or more frequently - if you calculate your MPG and it is lower then your tire pressures are usually to blame.
7. Try to maintain a constant speed - 75 mph uses far more fuel than 65 mph. A distance of 50 miles at 75 mph takes 39.6mins but at 65 it takes 46.2 mins So is 6.6 minutes of your time, the increased risk of being killed, the extra damage to the environment, and the extra wear on the engine really worth the extra 25% fuel cost!

See our YouTube Video link based on this article.

Avoid idling the engine for long periods of time - turn it off at railway crossings etc... If there are long traffic delays pull off to a motorway service area and grab a coffee until the traffic dies down.

Improvements to better your MPG results

Use TorqueCars MPG tuning articles for some practical tuning tips to improve your cars MPG and check this mpg calculator regularly to keep an eye.

Empty the boot of tools you've use and haven't got round to taking out, the camping equipment from last year, and the box of junk you have kicking around - less weight = more fuel economy so if you went on a diet that would help as well.

Hotter engines are more economical than colder ones - changing the thermostatic control or partially blocking the radiator MAY help on SOME cars. (Run the engine too hot and you will break it - you have been warned.)

Keep the car well serviced - change the plugs, oil, filters and check the bearings and ensure that the brakes are not dragging. Fully disengage the hand brake as well when you drive off!

Take off the roof rack as the drag this creates really does increase your fuel consumption.

Put some injector cleaner like BG44K Petrol engines or BG244 for diesels in - it really does help keep things at peak efficiency and in my car added 2 mpg!

Fuel magnets did not work for me I wouldn't bother with them!!! The science would dictate that you'd need a powerful electromagnet to make any difference to fuel.

Keep the car in a garage overnight, it will keep out the damp and as you'll be starting at a higher temperature it will warm up more quickly, you will also use less battery wiping the windows, heating them and demisting them so it's a win all round.

Don't be lazy. Walk to the corner shop - it's only 3 minutes away.

Record, Calculate MPG, repeat

Use this MPG calculator again - it will remember your last 4 results to enable you to track your success!

We will be very interested to know your results and how much of an improvement you can make to your fuel consumption with our mpg calculator.

We find that most people who follow our tips save between 20% and 30% in fuel between each fill up. Remember also that a drop in MPG may indicate a problem with your car so it's a good idea to track your MPG regularly. Onboard trip computers are not always that reliable so you can't beat a brim it and read off the miles calculation.

Compare Annual Fuel Costs between 2 Cars

You do not have to enter the MPG for a second car and you will only need the second fuel cost if you want to compare a different fuel type (LPG,Petrol,Diesel).

 

Improve your MPG calculator results

Efficient tuning With the growing cost of fuel, TorqueCars is regularly asked how a vehicle may be adjusted for best efficiency.

There are a few changes that can be done to enhance fuel efficiency besides having the family push the vehicle.

First, check to determine whether your automobile is running normally.

Factors to examine first.

1. First, we must eliminate trouble areas that drain us of fuel efficiency.
2. A strong spark is required to achieve efficient fuel combustion.
3. Clean plugs, clean electrode tips, clean leads, and clean high-tension electrics are required.
4. The gasoline system must also be flawless. Injectors, the tiny nozzles that spray gasoline into the engine, become clogged up with time.
5. Instead of a thin mist of fuel entering the combustion chamber, it squirts a jet of gasoline into the cylinder, wasting fuel.
6. Adding an injector/carb cleaning and using high quality gasoline can assist, but older cars may need new injectors.
7. A simple compression test may tell a lot about an engine's health and efficiency.

An inefficient engine ruins your MPG.

Tuning suggestions for better MPG

Now for the tweaking advice. Less power implies greater economy, but you must maintain the most efficient engine.

Things we do to level up power in our engines may also be utilized (and reversed) to save money.

The ultimate goal should be to raise the engine's efficiency, while performance tuning increases the engine's ability to burn gasoline while increasing efficiency.

Because each engine is unique, no one solution fits everyone.

Getting the head gas flowed and ported and optimizing the combustion cycle of the engine will make the automobile more economical.

• The greater the engine's capacity, the better especially if it is turbocharged as it makes it more efficient.
• Adding 3 or 5 stepped angles around the intake valves may increase efficiency by increasing airflow into the engine and improving fuel/air mixing as it reaches the cylinder.
• A lighter flywheel will lower the engine's rotational mass and improve efficiency on lengthy highway trips and slopes.
• Remove/reverse modifications that add power
• Larger fuel injectors and valves generally result in more power than efficiency gains so you want the engine to run towards lean rather than rich.

While some performance tuning is designed to increase fuel consumption, others are designed to enhance efficiency.

Problems with your MPG results from wider wheels

1. Wide tyres and huge wheels cause a greater spinning mass, which means heavier wheels need more energy to accelerate.
2. Wide tyres also have increased rolling resistance, reducing fuel efficiency, therefore go back to the manufacturers' basic estimates.

Particularly in lower capacity European automobiles (1.0-1.6), reversing changes for power improvements is a good idea.

You should consider replacing your huge bore (read MASSIVE!) sports exhaust with a somewhat smaller bore exhaust that is close to or slightly greater than the manufacturer's standards.

This will restore the air flow to the intended characteristics - back pressure is good!

Changing the spark timing will also improve the engine's burn cycle efficiency. The only method to do this in current automobiles is to remap the computer.

Try Hypermiling

This is a great way to go for higher fuel economy figures, but it takes some discipline in the way you drive and the way you maintain your car.

Please see our video guide to Hypermiling for the lowdown on getting the best economy possible in your car.

See our YouTube Hypermiling Video link to get the top techniques and tips for hypermiling and potentially double your fuel economy.

Other easy ways to save money

Your automobile certainly gets greater MPG in the summer than in the winter, yet it appears quicker and more responsive in the winter.

This is due to the hot air intake and the hot engine. Hotter engines use less gasoline, so adjusting the thermostatic valve that regulates the cooling system by a few degrees may help. It may assist boost power and minimize transmission loss by replacing the clutch.

Installing a warm air supply instead of a cold air feed behind the radiator, or better yet, right beneath the exhaust header/manifold branches, would greatly improve city fuel efficiency at moderate throttle levels but power will be reduced.

If your automobile has two cooling fans, you may link one to a switch that you can manually activate when the engine temperature rises.

It is feasible to tune/remap the ECU and save a lot of gasoline on turbo vehicles, although few people ask for it.

Some firms provide tunes or remaps that improve efficiency at low rpm while increasing power at higher revs, but we prefer the latter.

Some of our members shut off part of the radiator in the winter to save money.

In the winter, automobile engines heat up slowly and run somewhat colder than optimum, so drivers mask off part of the radiator to speed up the process. (Newer engines are less affected by this and are designed for a faster warm up cycle.)

This is best done with strong foil, but always allow space behind the fan or the vehicle would overheat and die.

Use our MPG calculator to discover how you are performing.

Join our friendly forum to discuss more detailed fuel saving suggestions with other members.

 

This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Fuel Calculators, Tools. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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