Mustang MPG Estimates by Year

Though fuel efficiency is rarely enthusiasts’ number one concern when picking out a Mustang, it’s inarguable that fuel economy affects the experience of driving a vehicle, whether it’s due to a shorter distance to empty or simply due to cost.

Some generations of Mustangs have been designed around fuel efficiency, namely the second-generation Mustang. The Mustang II was born out of the oil crisis of the early ‘70s, which coincidentally is the same global event that spawned the advancement of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and their yearly fuel efficiency measurements.

Unfortunately, that means that accurate expected miles per a gallon ratings don’t exist for Mustangs prior to 1975, and even for several years afterward, the numbers oscillate wildly as the EPA tried to figure out which numbers were most important to drivers and how to accurately assess those numbers. To all the classic Mustang fans out there, there are agencies trying to estimate expected mpg based on real-world driving scenarios, and by inputting your fuel-ups you can help us get closer to figuring out what the ideal fuel economy of the early ‘60s Mustangs looked like.

Related: Make sure your classic Mustang is getting accurate fuel level measurements with our classic Mustang fuel sending unit testing guide.

EPA Testing

It’s important to note that the EPA’s tests are inaccurate for many reasons. The biggest reason is that they hire professional drivers, who drive through a set course. No one cuts off the EPA drivers, and though they have expected stops, they have few unexpected ones. They keep their air conditioning at a predetermined level, not accounting for what may be needed for a heatwave in Arizona or a nasty ice storm in Maine. These are new vehicles with ideal tire pressure and no mechanical issues to compensate for, driven in a clean environment.

Finally, there are additional factors that can impact how many miles per gallon you can get with your Mustang. Some of them you can control, like whether or not you leave heavy things in your trunk. Others, you can’t. There were minor differences in mpg ratings between manual and automatic transmissions. Early on, those differences favored the manuals, but in recent years automatics have gained the edge in terms of fuel efficiency. That doesn’t change the fact that many enthusiasts love rowing gears, and are happy to give up an extra mile per gallon if it means they get to have that additional control. These numbers should be taken as a range, and if yours are drastically different it may be worth investigating since a diminishing mpg rating could indicate mechanical issues.

Also, although we have listed the original fuel economy listings, in 2008 the EPA changed the standards of their testing to account for more real-world scenarios. This means that while a vehicle from 2000 may have a stated combined fuel economy of 20 mpg if it were tested today it’s likely that it would be closer to 18 mpg.

If you’re concerned about how to get the best fuel economy possible, then there are steps you can take to make sure you’re improving your Mustang’s mpg as much as possible.

Best and Worst Mustang Gas Mileage

The best year of the Ford Mustang for fuel efficiency was the 2019 EcoBoost with an automatic transmission and regular gasoline. Though the score looks worse than the 1976 Mustang, once scores are adjusted to account for the change in EPA testing, it becomes clear who the true winner is. At 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway, it’s curiously sippy for how powerful it is. That is likely to go out the window though as Ford continues to experiment with adding hybrid Mustangs.

The worst mileage goes to the 2000 Cobra R, though we doubt any of the 300 people who were lucky enough to get one particularly care. The Cobra only averages 12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway, for a combined score of 14.

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Sources: Mustang Fuel Economy, Fuel Economy.gov | How EPA Fuel-Economy Testing Works, How Stuff Works | Image Credit: Ford