Tracking your miles per gallon is a great way to monitor your fuel efficiency. With a good tracking system, you can see if you're getting what the manufacturer says you should. You can also compare it against things like maintenance records or tire pressure checks to see if they impact, positively or adversely, the MPG of your vehicle. A good way to track the MPG is to put a log in the car and employ the trip odometer. A little notebook to note your gallons purchased at each fill-up and the miles traversed since the last fill-up is all you need. You must fill the tank each time, though, to do this. From there, Excel provides a simple spreadsheet solution for the calculation.

  • Tracking your miles per gallon is a great way to monitor your fuel efficiency.
  • A little notebook to note your gallons purchased at each fill-up and the miles traversed since the last fill-up is all you need.

Open Excel on your computer. A new file will appear.

  • Open Excel on your computer.

Type "Date" in cell A1.

Type "Mileage" in cell B1

Type "Fuel" in cell C1.

Type "MPG" in cell D1.

Type "Notes" in cell E1.

Type "=B2/C2" in cell D2.

Place the cursor on cell D2.

Choose "Edit," then "Copy" from the menu bar. The menu bar is at the top of the screen.

  • Place the cursor on cell D2.
  • Choose "Edit," then "Copy" from the menu bar.

Click and drag from cell D3 to cell D50. Choose "Edit," then "Paste" from the menu bar. This gives you about 50 entries for your data. You can easily add more later employing the same cut and paste technique.

Enter your data; use a row for each enter. Place the date in column A. Place the mileage in column B. Place the fuel amount in column C. The MPG will calculate automatically in column D. Use column E for any notes.