Finding an ATV that meets your needs in terms of gas mileage and affordability matters. There are multiple types of fuel-efficient ATVs and UTVs. For example, you have 2-stroke engines (where the gas has to be mixed with the same thing they use for chainsaws – 2-cycle engine oil), or they use regular gasoline. The difference is how they’re made. 2-stroke engines don’t have a separate oil line or reservoir to the motor, hence why it is mixed together. But how do you find the most affordable one that tells your story?
Many times, you’ll sacrifice one thing for another when choosing the right ATV. You want your ATV fuel economy to match appropriately to what you need. If you’re wanting to improve your ATV’s fuel efficiency, you need to look into some fine details that can help with this. The most economical ATV is one that gives you the most bang for your buck. That means you get the best gas mileage to handle all of the times you are wading in the deep mud, or that you’re able to use it for multiple applications at your home, farm, snow plow, etc.
The engine size is one way to determine fuel economy. In general, larger engines with more horsepower will guzzle gas faster than smaller engines. However, if you’re needing to do heavy loading, hauling, and more, that’s a sacrifice you’ll have to make.
Aerodynamics plays a humongous factor when it comes to fuel efficiency. By making your vehicle harder to cut through the wind, you will have fewer miles per gallon. The more aerodynamic the shape is, the better efficiency you’ll have.
The way you drive your ATV or UTV also matters when it comes to ATV fuel efficiency. If you’re pushing your ATV like a freight truck on a regular basis or doing constant heavy off-roading, throttling hard constantly, or driving it consistently at higher speeds, the lower your gas mileage is going to be, thus decreasing your efficiency by at least half.
If you’re riding regularly on flat fields and there is very little rough terrain, this is going to give you much better mileage and ATV fuel economy than if you’re constantly drudging it through mud bogs or driving it uphill in rough terrain. If you’re looking to go mudding regularly, expect to get extra gas on those days due to how hard you’ll be pushing your ATV or UTV.
All in all, the fuel economy of an ATV or UTV is around 20 miles to the gallon, with ATVs averaging about twelve to fifteen miles per gallon. With that being said, the main thing you want to look at in terms of this gas mileage is the size of the fuel tank as well. If you’re wanting the most economical ATV on the market, you can look into those with a larger tank. If you want to have a 4-wheeler that gets better gas mileage, then you may want to look into purchasing a UTV since they generally have bigger tanks, not-so-powerful motors, and have a much higher fuel efficiency rating.