Calculate your fuel economy
Here you can find out how to calculate how much fuel your vehicle uses.
Calculate exactly how much fuel you are using every day using the steps outlined on this page. Alternatively you can find out what to expect from a car of your make and model on Fuel$aver. [Land Transport NZ website.]
Once you know how much you spend on fuel, then you can see how much you can save through making simple changes.
On this page
What is good fuel economy?
A New Zealand car uses on average 11.2 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres (km) travelled. However this figure is an average of all the cars on the road – including a lot of big, old gas guzzling vehicles.
These days, new cars are much more fuel-efficient.
You can expect a new small car to deliver fuel economy of less than 6 litres per 100 km.
A new medium-sized family sedan can deliver fuel economy of around 8 to 9 litres per 100 km.
To see how your car measures up against others, visit Fuel$aver. [Land Transport NZ website.]
Take action
Calculate your fuel consumption
The first step to achieving good fuel economy is know exactly how much fuel your car is using right now.
Follow the steps below:
When you next fill up with fuel, follow these steps:
1. Make a note of where your fuel gauge needle is, for example empty, quarter full.
2. Keep you fuel docket which shows how many litres you bought.
3. Reset the trip meter before you drive off.
4. Drive around as you normally would. When the fuel gauge reaches the same point as in step 1, write down the distance you have travelled from the trip meter.
5. Enter the number of litres and the distance travelled into the fuel economy calculator to find out your fuel economy in litres per 100 km.
6. Your result
The smaller the number, the better your result.
The average New Zealand car uses 11.2 litres per 100 km.
New small cars can use less than 6 litres per 100 km.
How does yours compare?
You can also find out what fuel consumption to expect from a car of your make and model and compare the fuel consumption of your car to other similar cars using Fuel$aver. [Land Transport NZ website.]
Next steps to making savings
Now see how you can make some simple changes to reduce your fuel consumption. Read the Seven habits of efficient driving.
You might want to measure the impact of better habits, by repeating your fuel economy calculation from time to time.
This will let you see if you have improved your fuel economy or slipped into more fuel-consuming ways.
Fuel economy rating initiative
From April 2008 you will be able to see how much fuel a car uses (its fuel economy rating) when it is offered for sale. Learn about this in the section Fuel economy rating. [Fuel economy rating]
More information
- Learn more about fuel myths and tips. [Fuelsaver website.]
- Current petrol prices are available at Price Watch. [Price Watch.]
- Compare fuel economy, safety ratings for cars, and environmental impacts at rightcar. [Land Transport NZ website.]