Fuel economy, ugh. It’s the most unsexy of all the car-number-things to care about, but since miles per gallon is really dollars per mile, we generally care a lot – especially when it comes to a daily driver. Thankfully, the government is pretty good about enforcing legislation that ensures manufacturers don’t give us numbers that are overly optimistic, and with a couple of miles wiggle-room per gallon depending on your lead or helium foot, most cars tend to deliver the efficiency claimed on the window sticker.
However, some cars may deliver significantly different results than the expected mpg numbers, if only based on the sample-of-one survey data generated by you or I and our individual test examples. Hopefully any discrepancies you’ve experienced were on the greater efficiency side of the fuel gauge, but these things can very much go either way.
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As for me, the car that surprised me the most, and pleasantly, was my Mustang GT. It’s the one genuinely high-performance car I’ve owned, which I purchased new in 2012 when the lure of the then-new Coyote V8 and its 412 horsepower (not to mention X-Plan pricing via my employer at the time) proved too much to resist. The official EPA fuel economy numbers were 17 city, 26 highway, and 20 mpg combined, but I was surprised to discover the GT could manage darn near 30mpg when my travels called for a long stretch of flat and straight driving across Texas, perhaps with a tailwind. As for my daily commute, well, I wasn’t exactly easy on the gas and so the Mustang wasn’t either, and I was happy if I got 15 miles out of a gallon. But hey, that was on me.
When it comes to gas guzzlers, I’d have to say the Jeep J10 Thriftside I drove in high school was probably the most surprisingly thirsty. Not that I (or my Dad, to whom it belonged) expected it to be some kind of economy machine, but the mere nine or ten miles its AMC 258ci inline-six managed to eke out of a gallon of gas seemed super low. I’m sure the truck’s short gearing (it sure felt short, anyway) and the extra rotating mass of the 4X4 system adding to the oomph required for each acceleration took a toll, and let’s not get started on aerodynamics, but man, that truck liked to drink.
Now it’s your turn: what car or truck have you owned that got way better (or worse) fuel economy than it should have?
I think the best I have gotten with the Lexus IS 300 is 23 or maybe 24 on the highway. Although about what the car was rated at, it is pretty abysmal for a 3300 pound car with modern EFI and good aerodynamics. Our Crosstrek, about the same weight, much worse aerodynamics, and 4wd gets 34-35 on the highway, of course it is also 20 years newer with a CVT.
Note mine, but a former boss’s car. A Pontiac Grand Am V6 Auto. I rode in it with him from Toronto suburb Etobicoke to Sudbury Ontario on a business trip. He had me fill the tank as we left and then fill it again as we entered the Nickel. I calculated the consumption at exactly 6.0 litres/km. That’s just a hair under 40 Miles per US Gal. Note that we exceeded every speed limit by a lot as he had a very heavy foot.
I always wondered how many people got bitten by the 4.8 versus 5.3 setup in the GMT800’s. for whatever reasons the Flex Fuel 5.3’s were rated the exact same fuel economy.
2014 Mercedes GL350 Bluetec, completely stock nets 600 miles +/- 10 out of a 26 gallon tank, that works out to about 23 mpg. this one is mostly driven in the city, with maybe 30% freeway
2012 BMW X5 Diesel, deleted and tuned, nets 550 miles out of a 22 gallon tank, and that works out to about 25mpg. this car is also mainly driven in the city, but on occasional drive from Raleigh to NY, i can eek out 620-650 miles from a full tank with cruise control.
the EPA estimates for both vehicles are the same 19city /26hwy
I had a 2012 Ford Focus rated at 27 / 37 and would get 21 city / 44 highway.
I mostly drive an urban cycle with shorter highway jaunts.
2012 Ford Focus – 24 MPG
2013 Ford Escape – 20 MPG
2000 Lexus LX 470 – 12 MPG
2014 Lexus IS 350 AWD F-Sport – 16 MPG
2016 Lexus RX 350 AWD – 17 MPG
2017 Lexus IS 200t F-Sport – 19 MPG
2022 Toyota Tacoma TRDOR – 18 MPG
2022 4Runner TRD Pro – 17 MPG
My 2024 Lexus GX 550 has never crested 14 mpg in any scenario ever for a full tank… It gets about 19 highway, but somehow if you drive in the city at all your average ends up 12.3-13.9 MPG.
My Chevrolet Bolt would actually beat its MPGe sometimes, but that’s boring to calculate. Then you look at miles per KWh. And then you realize you only live once and you’re already driving a Bolt.
The new Cadillac Optiq looks tempting.
Around the time I bought my first house, I drove a 2002 Silverado W/T with the 4.3L 6 cylinder and a 5 speed. It got 16 MPG.
I babied it for a month, it got 16 MPG.
I beat on it like a rented mule, it got 16 MPG.
I hauled with the bed so full that the rear suspension sat on the bump stops, it got 16 MPG.
I drove it with no attention to fuel mileage, it got 16 MPG.
On the upside, it had a 34 gallon tank which meant that, given the relatively static distances I was driving at the time, I fueled up once every two weeks from the time I bought it to when I sold it three years later.
95 Buick LeSabre, got a legit 30mpg on the highway
This is an easy one. My old 84 Camaro Z28 with the 305 in it would get close to 25-29 MPH driving cross country on the freeway. It would get a very respectable 17-21 around town.
That was until in my infinite wisdom I decided to replace the 305 with a 350. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made. I got like 15 more HP on a good day and less than half the gas mileage. You could only feel the difference going up a hill, and couldn’t hold a candle to my 82 that had a bigger carburetor and a mild cam.
The worst (not due to my meddling) was my Isuzu Rodeo. That thing was geared so low I thought it was full time 4WD for the first month I owned it. Dang 3 liter V6 would get 11 around town and possibly 17 freeway driving. The worst part was it was SO SLOW! Also 2nd gear was just a hair too tall to start out in from a stop. It was a thoroughly unenjoyable experience to drive.
Years ago I was an engineer at Chrysler, and regularly spent a lot of time driving company-owned cars. I knew a few people who controlled the keys to loaner fleets, and one weekend I was given a Chrysler Aspen (fancy Durango) for the weekend. I was driving to Devil’s Lake, WI to go climbing and camping. I made it my mission to get the indicated-mileage number up to 20mpg by the time I got back home, and I just managed that. Not bad for something big and thirsty.
When I drove my Fiat (‘81 Spider Turbo) from Detroit to Chicago when I moved here, I got 30mpg on the trip. Never expected that, very impressed.
On the disappointing side, my primary car for about nine years was a 2004 Accord, four-cylinder and automatic. I could not break 30mpg on highway trips unless I took the roof rack off and didn’t exceed 70. Not impressed.
My C-Max Energi somehow gets much better AND much worse for real world, claimed MPGs.
Around town, with the plug-in battery assist, we get upwards of 52mpg in the winter and seen over 55 consistently in warmer weather. That’s help because we live in a mountainous area and I love seeing the regeneration of the battery on the downhills.
With that said, California highway cruising see’s very poor MPGs for what it is. 32-35mpg. We now just use our AWD crossover because it has triple the room for only a little worse mpgs.
My 2005 CTS-V and my 2017 Raptor both get around 15 mpg which is a few less than I would expect for either.
Good: 2006 BMW Z4 3.0si Coupe 6MT – 33mpg (highway @ 80mph avg)
Bad: 2022 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro (HYBRID) – 15 mpg highway (pretty similar in mixed driving, as well)
I’ve been incredibly impressed with my Regal TourX. This is a 250hp 3,800lb AWD turbo car and I can routinely get 34-36mpg out of an all-highway tank without trying too hard. It’s not a one-off either, people in owners groups are constantly posting similar numbers, some even in the upper 30s.
Everything I own gets better fuel economy than it should. I’m not an extreme hypermiler, but I have hypermiler tendencies. My diesel truck rated at 21 or 22 combined got around 27, and I did well over 30 on a few tanks that were mostly highway.
My Corvette has done over 30 also, even though I do my darnedest to ruin the MPGs every time I pull away from a stop sign. I think one tank where I hit 30 was mostly with the top off too, which has to just ruin the aerodynamics on the highway.
My Prius is actually one of the few that gets what it’s rated for, but then it is 18 years old and has nearly 200k on it.
My new truck so far is averaging over 22, despite being a big gas V8. It’s rated at 17 combined. Admittedly, that’s without having completed a winter season on it, which will pull the overall average down, but that’s also including a lot of 75 MPH interstate on a long road trip I took not too long after I got it. I’ve actually been kind of shocked how well it’s doing even though it’s barely broken in at this point.
My ’05 Pontiac GTO has greatly exceeded expectations. I’m rarely below 20 mpg and have had a few tanks above 25. It is the manual but with estimates at 15 city, 23 highway and 18 combined, I’m regularly 10% above if not more. It’s barely worse than the V6 accord.
1994 Infiniti G20, low 20MPG and a total dog. What a terrible car that was.
I drove a ‘96 G20t for about seven years and I loved that car. If I had room and money for another inexpensive car and found a nice one, I’d buy another in a moment. I got 31-33 highway the whole time I had mine, same as my Sentra SE-R. If you were getting low 20s, something was wrong with yours.
I think there may have been something wrong with it, it only had mileage in the high 30k range when I got it, but it came from Shreveport, LA, may have been flood damaged or something. I managed to break the front axle. I also drove it into the pacific ocean later on, since I hated the car, it actually went into limp mode after caning it on the beach. Feel sorry for whoever got that one used…
The Infiniti G20 was the only entry level Japanese luxury sedan worth a damn in the early to mid 90s (ES 250?!). It had the vaunted SR20 engine and excellent handling with a sophisticated suspension. It didn’t look special enough and to the average dumb dumb it looked like a luxury Sentra SE-R, which it was not, but kind of was in spirit, but that was a good thing not a bad thing, but was perceived as bad. You could get it with a stick shift!
One of the lightest clutches I have ever felt, an Infiniti G20 manual was the first car I ever got to drive.
I still think about how good those were. Surprised you didn’t like it.
Imma say my GTI, I get significantly better gas mileage than all the long term tests I have read. If I behave myself I can get 40+ MPG..
Better: Had an 89 Mustang 5.0lx, 5spd, that regularly got 22-23mpg. Upper 20s on interstate trips. Never got below 17mph, and I was trying hard :). Mustang had replaced my 77 302 maverick (car) that avg. 12mpg and maybe 16mpg on interstate trips. Huge improvement in all ways!
Worse: Had a 07 Ford Freestyle, 3.0/cvt. It was advertised as mid/upper 20s mpg. Not! Joke was no matter what, it always got 20mpg on the nose. Maybe if we lived in really flat midwest, but live in hilly east TN.
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI. While I did have larger wheels and tires on this car (18″ Golf R wheels), I was never able to get better than 36-38mpg, even with stock wheels and winter tires. This, combined with the CP4 fuel pump issues and problematic emissions equipment is why I ultimately sold it. Wild that a stock 1.4T/1.5T Jetta will do much better on 87, not expensive diesel.
My 2016 Silverado CC, 4×4, 5.3L, 8 speed really surprised me when I bought it. In factory specs I was consistently getting 20-21 mpg on highway trips at 80-82 mph.
Since then, I removed the front air dam, leveled the truck and put larger AT tires on it. It gets about 16-17 mpg at those speeds now.
The family Pacifica can hit over 30mpg at <70mph on the highway. Surprising for such a large box with a 3.6l engine.