How many miles does the average car get per gallon of gas?
Average Gas Mileage Relatively Flat Between 1980 and 2004 Published October 19th, 2006 in Miscellaneous According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the average gas mileage for new vehicles sold in the United States has 23.1 miles per gallon (mpg) in 1980 to 24.7 in 2004. This represents a paltry increase of slightly less than 7% over the 25 year period. In order to calculate the average gas mileage for all new vehicles sold within a calendar year, the NHTSA uses a calculation called Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE). This essentially takes the EPA estimated gas mileage for each make and model sold and weights that estimated gas mileage against the total number vehicles sold during that year. Click here for a more detailed explanation. So, with all of the technological and engineering advances over the last 25 years, shouldn’t our gas mileage have gone up more than just 1.6 mpg? One would think that should be the case, but here are three reasons why there
