I have a 1990 Accord LX, it's my first car. The problem with it is that it wastes way too much gas! On Fueleconomy.gov it says the required amount of gas to travel 25 miles is 1.14 gallons. Last saturday I filled up my tank, or well almost, with 11. something gallons. same day i went out with some friends traveled about 75 miles, and i had less than half a tank! what the hell!? Accord-ing to fueleconomy.gov it should have taken 3.42 gallons to travel those 74 miles. i dont think this car should waste this much gas, i've been pumping like 65 bucks of gas on this a week. Any suggestions? Or is this normal?

 

By far the most important factor in fuel economy is how you use your right foot. So the fueleconomy.gov numbers can't possibly apply to EVERYBODY. They're really only good to compare one car against another. Hills, traffic, stuff like that can make it impossible to match those published MPG numbers.

All you can do is look for stuff going on with your car. Brakes dragging? Tune-up stuff like sparkplugs are too old? Suspension alignment?

 

I would calculate your MPG first, and go from there. Fill up the tank, reset the trip meter, drive until you need gas next, fill it up again. Then divide how many miles you drove by how many gallons it took to fill it.

But the way you describe your car it certainly doesn't sound right. As it sounds like you are getting 10-15mpg. Another possibly is maybe the gas tank is leaking.