The Importance Of A Good Gas Mileage Rating

Whenever someone thinks of buying a new car, the first thought is about the make of the engine along with the looks of the car. The gas mileage rating is a second consideration. It is as an afterthought that we go through magazines and advertisements trying to figure out which model would be most fuel-efficient. In fact, gas mileage ratings should be the prime concern because of increasing fuel costs and growing environmental considerations.

Different magazines give different opinions regarding the mileage ratings of any given model and this leads to confusion amongst the buyer. Advertisements also do not help much because they often give a different rating of the fuel mileage. The fact is that these ratings are based on average gas mileage and this can be illustrated with an example.

For instance, one advertisement will say that Toyota has come out with a model which gives 28miles per gallon mileage and another will advertise that the Ford model gives 29miles per gallon mileage. This makes the choice confusing. The reality is that the mileage of either of them will be based on an average mileage rating which will be close to 28/29miles per gallon. If you look carefully, you will notice that an asterisk mark always accompanies the fuel mileage rating and at the bottom the asterisk clearly states that the mileage is only an average mileage rating based on various tests experimented with in different situations. It may come as a surprise to many that according to the National Highway Traffic safety administration (NHTSA) that new cars launched in USA give only an average of 23.1miles per gallon.

A simple way of calculating your current gas mileage is by using a gas mileage calculator. Gas mileage calculators are readily available in the market and the various types are Gas dandy/'99 calculator, MP Gomatic Gas Mileage calculator, Road Trip Fuel cost calculator and many more. These calculators help in the calculation of the gas mileage history of vehicles efficiently.

Ascertaining the gas mileage ratings of your car is relatively simple. You can just download a mileage calculator. This is software specifically designed for calculation of the mileage along with retaining important data which we tend to forget like the last date on which gasoline was filled, tire rotations, odometer readings, when to change engine oils, business mileage and other data. Gas mileage calculators are available online and many sellers often allow a free trial before purchase. They can be downloaded on your PC or other systems and their features are more or less the same with slight variations depending on the model or the programming used.