How can I find the real miles per gallon (MPG) for a used car I don’t yet own?

Getting a car with a reasonable miles-per-gallon rate is key to budgeting for the running costs of a used car. It’s all well and good listening to official manufacturer miles per gallon estimations, but they are often an optimistic estimate of what the car can actually achieve. So, it’s advisable to get an unbiased view, which won’t leave you disappointed with the reality of your car’s MPG. The tool we recommend for this is the Equa Index.

The Equa Index was created by an independent company called Emissions Analytics who are data specialists. They have gathered and catalogued an impressive record of over 86,000 car information profiles on more than 800 vehicles. Information such as fuel type, engine size, model year and MPG are available to view for free. Here’s how it works.

Emissions Analytics has designed a test route which is meant to replicate a real-life driving scenario, which incorporates a mix of speeds, gradients and road types. Additional factors such as the climate are also taken into account. As opposed to other European miles per gallon tests, they conduct all of their car tests on the road to get a closer replication of the real-driving experience. They argue that this is one of the main factors which brings them their accurate results.

Having an accurate understanding of your car’s performance – especially with regards to petrol economy – is vital to choosing the used car you want to purchase. It enables you to budget for the running costs of the car and can help you to focus in on the kind of car you want.