Car buyers interested in saving money on gas or reducing harm to the environment can compare the fuel consumption of cars. The U.S. government requires car manufacturers to conduct laboratory testing to determine the mileage of automobiles. The government releases the results of these mileage tests. Consumers can access and use the results to compare fuel mileage of different makes and models of cars.
Open the "Find a Car" page at the Fuel Economy website. The United States Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publish the Fuel Economy website to provide mileage and other fuel data.
Select a model year, car make (manufacturer) and car model to find fuel mileage data for a specific make and model of car.
Click on the "Compare Side-by-Side" link to select and compare gas mileage of two vehicles. You may choose any two vehicles in the directory and compare mileage on the same page.
Use the search navigation links on the "Find a Car" page to compare cars by class, make or MPG. The automobile industry groups cars into various classes by size or other characteristics. For example, you can compare fuel consumption of all hatchbacks or all pickup trucks. Search by make if you want to compare all cars made by a single manufacturer. Search by MPG to see all cars that exceed a specified MPG. The "Best and Worst MPG" links provide lists of the best and worst fuel-efficiency ratings within classes of cars for the current model year.
Click on the "Advanced Search" link on the "Find a Car" page to set up a search with your own search criteria. For example, you may select multiple model years, car classes and other car characteristics.
Click on the "Fuel Economy Guide" image on the Fuel Economy home page. The EPA and Department of Energy release a new version of the guide in November of each year.
Click on the individual editions of the "Fuel Economy Guide" to compare cars manufactured in the year of that edition. You may also request a free paper copy of the last three editions of the "Fuel Economy Guide." Use the following contact information:
EERE Information Center
20440 Century Blvd.
Suite 150
Germantown, MD 20874
877-337-3463
eere.energy.gov
Look at the "Fuel Economy Guide" to get mileage information on all vehicles produced in a model year. The guide does not have a search feature. However, you can visually scan it to find the cars you are looking for and compare fuel consumption.
