Tire Rack including fuel consumption in tire comparison tests

[wdb]

They may have been doing this for a while, so I apologize if this is old news. But during my recent tire shopping exercise I discovered that Tire Rack has begun including a fuel consumption section in their tire comparison tests. They even use a ScanGauge!

Example:

Tire Test Results : Testing Grand Touring All-Season Tires

Originally Posted by Tire Rack

Fuel Consumption Results

Our Real World Road Ride features a relatively flat 6.6-mile loop of 65 mph expressway, 55 mph state highway and 40 mph county roads along with two stop signs and one traffic light every lap. Our team drove approximately 500 miles over the course of several days. Since we wanted to compare fuel consumption results that typical drivers would experience, our drivers were instructed to maintain the flow of traffic by running at the posted speed limits and sustain the vehicle's speed using cruise control whenever possible. They did not use hypermiling techniques to influence vehicle fuel economy.

Tire Line Test
MPG* Gallons/Year
@ 15,000 Miles % vs. Most Efficient
Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus 32.2 465.8 -1.55%
Continental PureContact 32.7 458.7 -
Michelin Primacy MXV4 32.3 464.4 -1.24%
Yokohama AVID Ascend 32.3 464.4 -1.24%
*Our evaluation used Linear Logic ScanGauge II automotive computers to record fuel consumption, and Race Technology DL1 data loggers to record true distance travelled.

We found minimal difference in the observed fuel consumption across the four tires in this test. Based on our results, the 0.5 mile per gallon difference between our lowest and highest observed fuel economy would result in an annual difference of about 7 gallons of premium gasoline. At the current cost of $4.00/gallon, it would amount to an annual difference of about $28 for drivers traveling 15,000 miles a year.

It's important to note our test's fuel consumption measurements follow consistent procedures designed to minimize variables that could influence the results; however they do not represent an exhaustive long-range fuel consumption study. While our procedures require the test vehicles in each convoy to run under the same prevailing conditions, the week-to-week differences in ambient temperatures, barometric pressures and wind speeds that we experience over a season of testing can influence vehicle fuel consumption and prevent the absolute mpg values of this test from being compared directly against those of others.

Larger differences in consumption between tires may indicate a difference that might be experienced on the road, while smaller differences should be considered equivalent. As they say, your mileage may vary.