Every tank of gas tracked for 2 years -- real world MPG analysis

[hemlockz]

It's been 2 years already, and 44 tanks of gas. How close was the EPA estimate to my real-world mileage? (Pretty damn close)

• 6-speed manual transmission
• kept it in "normal" mode (no eco/sport)
• city-dweller
• occasional road trips
• off-roading about 10 times
• 92 octane / top tier gasoline only

Overall MPG (Tire-Corrected) - 19.0 MPG Combined
Using the correction from 265/70R17 → 285/70R17 (+3.49% diameter):

Metric	Value
Total Fill-ups	44
Total Miles (odometer)	12,523 mi
Total Miles (corrected)	12,925 mi
Total Gallons	685.18 gal
Total Fuel Cost	$2,843.82
Overall MPG (weighted)	18.99 MPG
Average Fuel Price	$4.15/gal
Fuel Cost per Mile	$0.225/mi
Summer Blend MPG	19.97 MPG
Winter Blend MPG	18.48 MPG
Summer Advantage (fewer short trips, and different fuel blends)	+1.49 MPG (+8.1%)

My best tank was 22.4 with tire size correction. (This was all freeway, 6th gear driving with a fully loaded truck of gear and passengers though.)

Raw Data (raw is not corrected for tire size)

Date	Odometer	Gallons	Cost	MPG	Station
9/14/2024​	342​	16.99​	67.26​	20.0​	Chevron
9/27/2024​	591​	13.60​	53.83​	18.3​	Chevron
10/4/2024​	900​	16.30​	53.61​	19.0​	Chevron
10/29/2024​	1183​	15.60​	56.29​	18.1​	Chevron
11/10/2024​	1472​	16.54​	62.01​	17.5​	Chevron
11/22/2024​	1746​	15.34​	55.98​	17.9​	Chevron
11/29/2024​	2046​	16.01​	54.41​	18.7​	Space Age
12/7/2024​	2320​	16.80​	53.76​	16.3​	Fred Meyer 92 + Techron
12/21/2024​	2567​	15.61​	45.35​	15.8​	Fred Meyer 92
1/4/2025​	2859​	15.97​	47.89​	18.3​	Chevron 92
1/19/2025​	3161​	16.12​	62.06​	18.7​	Fred Meyer 92
2/15/2025​	3416​	15.26​	59.50​	16.6​	Chevron 92
3/9/2025​	3709​	16.09​	72.05​	18.3​	VP Racing 92
3/29/2025​	3995​	15.38​	56.29​	18.6​	Fred Meyer 92
4/16/2025​	4277​	15.50​	61.99​	18.2​	Fred Meyer 92
4/28/2025​	4590​	16.14​	62.13​	19.2​	Chevron 92
5/17/2025​	4864​	15.31​	60.74​	19.5​	Fred Meyer 92
6/1/2025​	5182​	16.33​	60.42​	20.6​	Fred Meyer 92
7/4/2025​	5515​	17.04​	61.35​	20.3​	Chevron 92
7/13/2025​	5857​	16.59​	71.30​	20.6​	Chevron 92
7/31/2025​	6074​	10.61​	50.13​	20.3​	Chevron 92
8/8/2025​	6370​	15.17​	60.65​	19.5​	Chevron 92
8/14/2025​	6626​	11.83​	50.39​	21.6​	Chevron 92
8/16/2025​	6917​	14.61​	56.96​	19.9​	Fred Meyer 92
8/19/2025​	7247​	17.09​	61.49​	19.3​	Fred Meyer 92
8/31/2025​	7557​	16.55​	76.69​	18.7​	Chevron 92
9/26/2025​	7786​	13.57​	62.99​	16.9​	Fred Meyer 92
10/10/2025​	8050​	13.64​	64.09​	19.4​	Fred Meyer 92
10/17/2025​	8347​	15.41​	71.49​	19.3​	Chevron 92
11/16/2025​	8601​	16.10​	68.32​	15.8​	Chevron 92
11/29/2025​	8915​	16.47​	73.89​	19.1​	Chevron 92
12/20/2025​	9177​	15.37​	62.08​	17.0​	Fred Meyer 92
1/8/2026​	9468​	15.92​	47.74​	18.3​	Chevron 92
1/29/2026​	9751​	16.01​	60.02​	17.7​	Chevron 92
3/1/2026​	10012​	16.70​	78.48​	15.6​	Fred Meyer 92 + Techron
3/20/2026​	10295​	15.30​	79.48​	18.5​	Fred Meyer 92
4/6/2026​	10585​	15.80​	82.25​	18.3​	Chevron 92
5/7/2026​	10833​	15.30​	70.00​	16.3​	Chevron 92
5/24/2026​	11086​	15.00​	91.53​	16.9​	Fred Meyer 92
6/14/2026​	11365​	16.27​	84.56​	17.1​	Fred Meyer 92
6/29/2026​	11658​	16.24​	73.05​	18.0​	Shell 92
7/18/2026​	11950​	16.20​	83.26​	18.0​	Chevron 92
8/1/2026​	12246​	16.00​	82.56​	18.5​	Fred Meyer 92
8/20/2026​	12523​	15.50​	73.50​	17.9​	Fred Meyer 92

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[MrB4D]

Great work!

I will post my results around Oct 4th (my 2 year mark)

 

[O.Hernandez]

Very informative and detailed I don't even want to look at what I spent on gas in the past year

 

[aaudiholic]

Now that your study is over put it in Sport.

 

[Sagebrush]

I beat you on mileage and total spent. Ouch.

I can't wait to go fuel up with these prices.

 

[Backcountry1]

Very impressive data, thank you

 

[SoCal]

wow...great work

 

[GSPHerder]

That was a lotta work, thanks for your efforts. Definite improvement over previous gen.

 

[trailhunger]

Very interesting…assuming you’re not hauling any substantial loads/ empty bed?

You’re one of the few here who drives less than I do. ~6K a year damn

 

[Turbo2Pete]

Damn....my dash shows an average of 15.4mpg..... im hoping that improves with breaking, only have 6k miles on it...

 

[MrB4D]

Damn....my dash shows an average of 15.4mpg..... im hoping that improves with breaking, only have 6k miles on it...

Here is a teaser for my '24MY with 35k miles, average calculated MPG 17.8 (I wasn't recording dash MPG for the first while).

 

[ColoradoBoo]

Wow very detailed but I'm surprised you didn't compare the various modes to see if there's much of a difference.

In my 21 Prius, I experimented quite a bit and I get around 45 mpg driving like a bat-out-heck in Sport mode but when I use the hybrid "pulse and glide" method, in ECO mode, I can get 66 mpg on the 45 miles into work.

Y'all got it made...my 2014 Tundra with the 5.7L V-8 gets 10-12 mpg when we tow our camper and only around 16-18 otherwise. (She's a thirsty girl!!) She's laughs at me if I try the pulse and glide! ;-)

 

[hemlockz]

Wow very detailed but I'm surprised you didn't compare the various modes to see if there's much of a diff…

I have been trying them out more recently but they do very little on the manual transmission from what I can tell, all it changes is boost levels and throttle response I think. Driving style has much more effect on mpgs

 

[Berfs1]

I genuinely feel like you don’t need premium fuel unless it’s tuned, I’ve gotten as high as almost 24 mpg at the pump in my TRD Off Road 6MT, and I actually may start to beat it now that I deliver auto parts between dealerships (lots of highway driving). I’ve only once used premium, didn’t notice a single difference in MPG.

 

[hemlockz]

I genuinely feel like you don’t need premium fuel unless it’s tuned, I’ve gotten as high as almost 24 mpg at the pump in my TRD Off Road 6MT, and I actually may start to beat it now that I deliver auto parts between dealerships (lots of highway driving). I’ve only once used premium, didn’t notice a single difference in MPG.

I definitely appreciate your point, and I think you're right for many use cases. I am not doing it for the gas mileage but for the performance and longevity. IDK if its true but after a couple of tanks of premium the theory is the ECU will be advancing your timing more becuase of less knock. There was a post somewhere from a vendor who was dynoing some Cold Air Intake, and they showed stock was getting more HP with the only difference being 92 octane. But for me when I really need to mash it I feel better about preventing knock. I mean we were doing donuts in the sand this weekend having fun on the beach. Pedal to the metal for about 10 circles in 2nd gear the front wheels were pushing a lot of sand... and the boosted 4 banger was working its ass off.

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