What is gas mileage on a car? and what does it have to do with the weight of a car?

Question

Like if the car is large, what does that do to the gas mileage? Is there a positive or negative correlation between the two? If you can only answer what gas mileage is that would be just as fine. Thanks.

Answer 1

gas mileage is how many miles to each gallon of gas you get (MPG) the larger the car/suv or truck, the less MPG you will get because it takes more to make it move.

Answer 2

the bigger the car, the heavier it is and it takes more gas to haul it around.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Mileage also depends on engine type. A Corvette is smaller than a Honda Accord Coupe and weigh just about the same. The Corvette needs more fuel to power the big V8 under the hood. Where as the very efficient 4 cylinder in the Accord needs less. That's one example of a trade off. the other can be A large vehicle with a larger fuel tank capacity. It may use more fuel per mile, but allow you to travel farther than a smaller vehicle per tank full.

Answer 5

gas mileage is how many miles per gallon of gas you get in your car, obviously, but weight does play a factor in how many miles per gallon you can get. If the car is a heavy car than generally it will have a low MPG(Miles Per Gallon). My ford explorer SUV with a v8 engine gets around 14 mpg and  my clk mercedes sport car with a v6 engine gets around 20 mpg. As you can see it  can dramatically change the amount of miles per gallon you get in your car.

Even by adding a few extra pounds in your car, like a person, it decreases the amount of mpg your car gets because the engine has to work that much harder to pull the car and all of its cargo, passanger, and the whole car itself. So there is a positive and negative correlation in the weight of your car and size of your engine.

To increase your gas mileage dont keep extra things that just sit in your car, keep your windows closed for maximum aerodinamics (which is how well your car moves through the friction of wind) , and buy gas in the mornings or at night. This is because gas expands during the day in the heat, and gives you less gas as it trips the meter through the hose into your car. At cooler times, like in the moring or at night, it decreases in volume, actually giving your more gas.

Answer 6

Several things contribute to determining the gas milage any vehicle will get.  Some factors are...

- weight

- air resistance (ie, coefficient of drag as a factory design issue, plus added drag such as windows down vs. rolled up)

- rolling resistance (e.g., types of tires,  tire pressure, internal drivetrain parasitics [ie, friction])

- added load (ie, passengers & all the stuff people carry around in their vehicles)

- type of engine & it's efficiency (larger displacement & higher output engines tend to get lower fuel economy)

- driving styles (ie, racing to stops, 'riding the brakes', jackrabbit starts, etc.)

Regarding a vehicle's weight, as a rule of thumb, as a vehicle gets heavier, it's fuel economy is reduced.  It requires more force to overcome the inertia that keeps the car stationary.  And this reality is repeated every time a heavy vehicle stops & then launches again from a stop.

Answer 7

Exactly what Don said.

One gallon of gas will move the car 20 miles. That would be 20 mpg (miles per gallon).

The heavier the car, the more energy it takes to move it, therefore the more gas it takes to go that same 20 miles. Also the wind resistance increases the faster you go, and a larger car will catch  a lot more wind, causeing you to use more gas.