So where does the data come from? Is it all direct user input?

The reason I ask is there always seems to be a flyer. IOW; the averages look reasonable for a large data set, then there is one Guy posting 2x mpg what everyone else is getting.

Whats up with that.

Bill

 

User entered data.

I use it.

All it asks for to do the calculation, is miles traveled, and how much fuel you put in.

 

It's supposed to all come from user input. Do take into account that the people putting in data are only people who are interested in this. I would think (my opinion) that in general the mpg will be slightly higher compared to the entire driving public, just because its a subset of the entire population that is to some degree interested in mileage. I would guess there is high percentage of hyper-milers comparer to people who have driving habits that get really low mileage. For pickups the average is going to be less significant because of vase the range of how pickups are used compared to a sedan and even a SUV. It would be nice if there were a better way to parse data to get be able to compare like data.

I have noticed that my mileage has gone up just because there is less traffic on the road because of Covid. And I would say I am probably driving faster, just not as much decelerating and accelerating.

As for the outliers, there are people who are going to stretch the truth, make incorrect estimations, etc. I am guessing between my low and high i could almost a 100% different (low of 8 - 9 mpg of city/empty driving to maybe 15 - 16 mpg city/empty) So it is possible, I am sure I could get worse if i used the gas pedal like an on/off switch. But same for the other end of the spectrum. I have tried doing city driving and keeping the RPM under 2000 the entire time and minimal braking and i was about to get about 16 per the truck (i don't have the discipline or patients to do this for a entire tank, it would take me a couple of weeks to that much distance (~500 miles) of my normal running around). Also if you stick to 55 MPH you can get some pretty good mileage too, just takes to long to get anywhere at that rate.

 

Fuelly is a pretty neat site and I think works great if you want to see in the real world what specific cars are returning for fuel economy. When you start getting into half ton trucks, the data set starts to get skewed because you have people that keep the loaded all day every day and some that just use them as over glorified grocery getters. The data set for 3/4 ton and higher trucks gets really skewed for the same reason except you get more people using them to tow/haul so the average fuel economy is generally very low as a result. It's sort of hard to determine what an unloaded Super Duty returns for fuel economy because, if you're doing a lot of unloaded miles, you probably wouldn't have a Super Duty in the first place. All I'm saying is, take the results with a grain of salt since the input varies greatly.

 

I agree with Whagen.
I drive a EV, all electric. I don't believe the numbers i see people posting for a number of reasons, apples to oranges here. Those guys that care so much about MPGe are Hypermilers, Neutral shifters and all around "i am going to beat my last number". ME ? I drive it like I stole it. Yes I want as much miles but that is not priority for me now. I just want to enjoy driving.
Put in the equation of a vehicle that can tow and haul items and the whole chart is skewed.

 

i use fuelly as a matter of interest. i dont hypermile my truck. The numbers are what they are, ive had mpg as low as 7.4. i think there are some people who definitely use it to try and get the highest number possible, but its a decent source for real world mpg when you are talking cars with more then a million combined miles.