MPG stands for miles per gallon and, as this name suggests, it’s the number of miles that a car can cover on a gallon of fuel. However, the actual figure will vary dramatically depending on traffic and weather conditions, and how smoothly or aggressively the car is being driven.

What Car?’s True MPG fuel tests are conducted on a rolling road, under strictly controlled laboratory conditions. This means our tests are repeatable, because outside variables such as weather and traffic don't affect the results. Tests are carried out at Millbrook Proving Ground, a centre used for regulatory approved vehicle emissions testing. Millbrook has the latest equipment for testing vehicles in a highly scientific manner.

Like What Car?'s True MPG tests, the official tests are conducted on a rolling road, under laboratory conditions. However, these official tests don't require the engine to be worked as hard, so the resulting figures often don't reflect what you're likely to be able to achieve in the real world.

What Car?'s True MPG figures show what you can typically expect from a car when it's driven sensibly and within speed limits, but without resorting to unusual fuel-saving measures or any 'hypermiling' techniques. True MPG results are 4% lower on average than the latest WLTP official figures and 24% lower than the old NEDC figures which were used up until 1 September 2018.

The most efficient cars on sale today average almost 60mpg in What Car?’s True MPG test, but anything over 50mpg is impressive.