Have you ever been car-shopping and looked at the sheet on the window that gives details about the car, like what mileage it gets? That information comes from the EPA. According to The Early Show yesterday, the EPA does all their testing in labs. So what they did was do their own road tests.

Somebody connected a device to track exactly how much gas is used, etc., and they drove various vehicles in the city and on the highway, subjecting them to “real world” situations. After the various tests, they found that the miles per gallon on the highway were accurate, but the mpg in the city averaged about 60% of what the EPA says.

If you’re comparing vehicles, at least they’re consistent, but if you’re looking for actual mileage you’ll have to reduce the city numbers you see by 40%.

So there you have it.