Fuel efficiency, also known as fuel economy, measures how far a vehicle can travel per unit of fuel. Do you know how fuel efficient your model is? How can you calculate your car's gas mileage? Our St. Charles Nissan team has put together this comprehensive guide for St. Charles, St. Louis, O'Fallon, and Saint Peters, Missouri, drivers below.
Why Is Fuel Efficiency Important?
Fuel-efficient cars are a necessity where global warming is concerned. Cars with higher gas mileages require less fuel to drive a given distance. When less fuel is burned, cars emit less pollution into the air. This can drastically cut down on global warming emissions!
On top of helping the earth, fuel-efficient vehicles allow people to cut oil consumption and save money at the pump.
Tips for Improving Fuel Efficiency
There are several tips and tricks you can put into practice to improve your model's fuel efficiency, including
- Removing extra weight from your vehicle.
- Keeping your tires properly inflated.
- Practicing steady acceleration and gentle braking.
- Avoiding excessive idling.
- Practicing predictive driving.
Keeping up with maintenance can also help. Oil changes will keep your car's engine sludge-free, which will help you achieve your car's estimated mileage.
Which Nissans Get the Best Mileage?
Nissan has an impressive vehicle lineup, but which are the most fuel-efficient? If you want to ditch the gas pump for charging stations, choose the Nissan LEAF or the Nissan ARIYA. These electric models require no gas and produce zero emissions. They can also travel far on a single charge!
Of those that require gas, these models provide the best efficiency in their body style class:
| Body Style | Nissan Model | EPA-estimated MPG |
| Sedan | Up to 32 city/40 highway MPG 1 | |
| SUV | Nissan Kicks | 31 city/36 highway MPG2 |
Truck | Nissan Frontier | 18 city/24 highway MPG 4 |
What Is Good Mileage for a Used Car?
On average, most cars travel 10,000 to 12,000 miles per year. So, when evaluating a used car, you can check to see if its annual average is lower than that. If it is, you're looking at a pre-owned car with good mileage!
How can you calculate this yourself? Divide your used car's odometer number by the car's age. This should tell you its annual average mileage.
How to Calculate Gas Mileage
If you're currently driving a used car, and you want to know how efficient it is, you can crunch some numbers yourself! Here's how to do it:
- Fill up your gas tank.
- Reset the trip odometer, if possible. Mark down the master odometer mileage, too.
- Drive your car like normal, letting the tank get to about halfway full.
- Refill your tank again.
- Record the amount of gas (gallons) it takes to fill up.
- Record elapsed trip miles or the new odometer mileage.
Here comes the math portion! Take the miles traveled during your trip or subtract the original odometer mileage from the new mileage. Then, take that number and divide it by the number of gallons it took to refill. The result is your car's average miles per gallon yield.
Have More Questions About Fuel Efficiency?
If you any remaining questions about your car's fuel economy or about fuel efficiency is general, direct them to our St. Charles Nissan team! We're more than happy to help St. Charles, St. Louis, O'Fallon, and Saint Peters, MO, drivers learn more.
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