What Do You Get When You Average All Your Cars Together? Autopian Asks

Aa Averages
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When the car world talks about fleet averages, they tend to be in the somewhat dull context of bureaucratically altered fuel economy figures. Not here at The Autopian. We’re looking to spice things up a bit, and want to know what your fleet averages are for anything you care to share. Cylinders, horsepower, curb weight, even wheels … as much fun data as you can supply.

Calculating these averages is pretty easy. Take a category, add up the respective figures for all your vehicles, then divide by the number of vehicles in your fleet. Let me give you a few examples:

I currently own a 2006 BMW 325i and a 1999 Porsche Boxster, so my fleet averages look like this:

Cylinders: Six

Displacement: 2.75 liters

Horsepower: 208

Curb weight: 3,017.5 pounds

Combined fuel economy: 20.5 mpg

Seats: 3.5

From there, we can go even further, by using those figures to get even more data. How about 75.6 horsepower per liter, or 14.5 pounds per horsepower? Now those seem like more interesting fleet average figures than just fuel economy with modifiers for advanced technologies and footprint.

Img 4982 Cropped

Admittedly, these aren’t hugely exciting averages, but chances are you likely have some good ones. After all, readers like you are awesome and sometimes have incredible assortments of machines. So go on, let’s see your fleet averages. What you got?

(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal)

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104 thoughts on “What Do You Get When You Average All Your Cars Together? Autopian Asks”

  1. Cylinders: 5.2
    Displacement: 3.14 liters
    Horsepower: 156.6
    Seats: 4.8
    Forward Gears: 4.4 (including a 2-spd Chevy PG)
    Age: 32 (1953, 1985, 2007, 1996, 2012)

  2. oh god my fleet average is some kind of super cab F-150 with a small block V8 or a Chevy Astro with a giant supercharger, either one with a stuck door and a rotted out spare tire on the back

    Cylinders: mean([8,8,8,6,4]) = 6.8

    Displacement: 7.3, 7.3, 6.9, 3.6, 2.4 = 5.5L

    Weight: 6700, 6400, 6000, 4500, 3300 = 5,380

    Fuel Economy: yes

    Seats: 5, 2, 3, 7, 7 = 4.8

    Horsepower is hard to determine because the turbo trucks haven’t been dyno’d, but the other three are 185 (N/A 7.3 diesel), 285 (3.6 Pentastar in minivan tune), and 105 (poor little 4G64 single dingle) = 191 HP.

    Other random factoids:

    Doors: 3, 3, 4, 5, 4 = 3.8

    Transmission gears: 4, 4, 3, 6, 4 = 4.2

    Average number of tires: 6, 4, 4, 4, 4 = 4.4

    Fuel: D, D, D, Flex, G = Contaminated B20 someone accidentally filled up with gas before realizing their mistake

    Fuel capacity: 44, 40, 40, 22, 14 = 32

    Total fair market value: idk like $17

  3. Average Cylinders: 2.2
    Seats: 2.6
    Wheels: 2.6
    Displacement: 0.99cc

    At one point I had a 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 cylinder vehicle in the fleet.
    I clearly counted bicycles and motorcycles; the bikes really drive down my wheel, cylinder, and seat count.

  4. 3 Cars – 2019 Ram 1500, 2020 RAV4 Hybrid, 2007 Hyundai Tiburon

    5.3 cylinders (8,4,4)
    3.4L displacement (5.7,2.5,2.0)
    251.3 horsepower (395, 219, 140)
    3.3 doors (4,4,2)

    decently well rounded

  5. Cylinders(4, 6, 8, 1): 4.75
    HP(350, 240, 110, 11.7): 177.925
    Seats(5, 5, 2, 2): 3.5
    Fuel economy, averaging my fuelly numbers(46.8, 26.1, 26.7, 89.2): 47.2
    Fuel economy, actual miles / actual gallons: 31.3 (the mileage heavily favors the truck, which is why this is much lower)

    Just for fun, my mountain bikes too:
    Number of gears (10, 11, 11, 12): 11
    Front suspension travel(0, 100, 120, 140): 90
    Rear suspension travel(0, 0, 0, 130): 32.5
    Tire width(4.6, 2.35, 2.2, 2.6): 2.94
    Edit: Forgot wheel size(26, 27.5, 29, 29): 27.875

  6. A bit off topic but…

    My MSN feed keeps serving me up ads that say “New Subaru Forester for Seniors is just Amazing (Take a Look)” with a picture of some random car or an AI generated image of a nonexistent one. Yesterday the picture was of a BMW Isetta, in the past it was some scissor doored supercar. The image rotates but the assumption is the same: to the general public a car is just a thing that goes, maybe kinda swoopy, maybe you might remember the color, that’s about it.

    It’s funny how ANY car is just an average car to the average person.

    1. I esp. enjoy the AI-generated ones that look generally like whatever it is, but once you look closer, you realize, nope, not a real thing.

      I like wristwatches, so my feed shows me articles with hero pics that look like some cool dive watch I don’t recognize. Looking closer, the bezel has complete gibberish markings and the face a nonsensical number of hour markers, etc.

      1. Yep, AI-generated. Clickbait tech will get sharper and eventually feature things, people, and places you know, scraped from your social media feeds.

  7. Seats: 2.33
    Cylinders: 5.33
    Wheels: 3.33
    Forward gears: 6
    Displacement: 2.96L
    Weight: 2833lbs
    Smiles per gallon: 30
    Brand: 285*
    Value-to-debt: NaN

    *BMW + BMW + Ford is (2(66 + 77 + 87) + (70 + 111 + 114 + 100))/3 = 285

  8. I’ve only owned two vehicles, and both at separate times, so I’m going to cheat and put them together as my lifetime fleet average.

    Cylinders: 6
    Displacement: 3.2L
    Both naturally-aspirated
    Horsepower: 176hp
    Curb weight: 4,500lb (2,041kg)
    Fuel economy: 28.5mpg
    Seats: 6
    Max speed: 101mph
    Doors: 5.5
    Fuel capacity: 22.45 gallons
    Max storage volume: 152 cubic feet (4.3 cubic meters)
    LED bulbs: ~98% (wasn’t about to take the van’s dashboard and gauge cluster apart to replace the ones behind it…)

    …no idea what the “average” of an eCVT and 4-speed automatic would be. Is an eCVT zero gears, or infinite gears? Has this question been addressed yet?

  9. 2 Cars (350z/Pacifica)

    Cylinders: 6 (6/6)
    Displacement: 3.55 (3.5/3.6)
    Doors: 3 (2/4)
    HP: 296 (305/287)
    Weight: 3,830 (3330/4330)
    Seats: 4.5 (2/7)
    MPG: 19.5 (15/24)

  10. 1 car:
    Weight: Too Much
    HP: Not Enough
    Seats: Yes
    MPG: Terrible

    Time to buy a new car? YES… But this one was free and paid off (( Such a dilemma.

    1. Just my $0.02, but base the decision on repairs, not MPG alone (unless it’s truly abysmal, like under 12).

      I owned my van outright but its annual repairs were averaging more than a new-used car payment by the time I actually got rid of it.

        1. Nah, my DJ “side gig” was on its way out and I had few other reasons to own a van…so I got a 2012 Prius v, aka one of the best compromises of fuel economy and storage space of the last 15 years. That was in late 2019, retrospectively a great time to get it.

          I still have my eye on conversion vans for sale, but inflation, pandemic, and #VanLife all together have really ruined their pricing, even for 25-year-old ones.

      2. 2009 Jeep GC. Only repair I have done in 4 years is replace original tires, and replaced a water pump. gas mileage is right at 15MPG. No rot, no rust and it is in great shape. So, yeah, I am not replacing it anytime soon. I just wish I didn’t have to pay so much for gas.

    2. A functional vehicle without a payment gives you the opportunity to make a truly bad fun project-car choice 😉

      —unless, of course, space or insurance would prohibit such

  11. Vehicles: 4 (1972 Ford LTD coupe, 2009 Scion tC, 2019 Genesis G70, 2020 Jeep Gladiator)
    Cylinders: 6
    Displacement: 3.55 L
    Horsepower: 238.75
    Curb weight: 3,925.25 lbs.
    Fuel economy: 17.75 MPG
    Manual gears: 5.66
    Automatic gears: 3

  13. 3 cars
    Cylinders (4,6,12) 7.33
    Passenger doors (4,2,2) 2.66
    Weight lbs 3,597.67
    Top speed mph (manufacturers claimed) 155.67
    Displacement Liters 3.3
    Horsepower 287.33
    Horsepower per liter 92.78
    Length of ownership years (2,2,20) 8
    Carburetors (0,0,6) 2
    Exhaust tips (2,2,4) 2.67
    Passenger seats (5,2,2) 3
    Average mpg 19.96

  14. A partial OHC 5.4l V8 that makes 337.5 HP and 372.5 LB-FT
    Mated to a 5.5 speed manual transmission with partial time 4WD
    Seats 3.5 people with 2 doors
    16.5 combined mpg with a 24.5 gallon tank
    Curb Weight of 3,995lbs

  16. 7 vehicles
    Average
    Curb Weight 2680 lbs
    Cylinders 5.14
    Displacement 2.89 L
    HP 143
    Seats 2.5
    Mpg 26.14
    Number of Gears 4.43
    Convertibles 57% (4/7)
    Automatic Transmission 14 % (1/7)
    LBS/HP 21.4
    HP/L 47.75
    Threw out the School bus since it would skew data and is not 100% owned by me.

  17. Currently, CX-30 Turbo, 1990 Miata, just a 4 cyl 2.05L Mazda with ~180hp, 3 doors, half a turbo, and one pop-up headlight.

    At the peak of my car buying shenanigans adding in a 72 VW Squareback, and an 82 MB 300CD we get:
    4.25 cylinder, with one cylinder flat, half fuel injected, one carb, a bit of diesel pre-mixed into the gas, extremely rear biased AWD with 4.5 gears in the semi-auto transmission.
    The reliability could best be described as “absolutely not, Take the bus”

  19. ’73 Lancia Fulvia, ’03 Civic SiR, ’16 CX-5

    Cylinders: 4
    Displacement: 1.93L
    HP: 144
    Curb Wt: 2,768 lb
    Fuel Econ: 23.8 MPG (observed with a city bias)
    Seats: 4ish? (Fulvia technically has 4 but not really)
    74.5 hp/L
    19.1 lb/hp

  22. They’re almost the same car, except one has a 3.0L S/C (Q7) and the other is a 3.0L turbo (S5), but they’re both tuned and make about 420-440HP, about the same MPG, same MLB platform, same ZF 8 speed…

    Cylinders: Six
    Displacement: 3.0 liters
    Horsepower: 420?
    Curb weight: 4,500lbs
    Combined fuel economy: 20 mpg
    Seats: 6
    HP/L: 140

  23. If you average my four running vehicles together, you get something with a 6.1L V8 making about 435 hp and getting about 15 mpg, weighing 4800 lb, with 3.5 doors (0.4 of them sliding), 4.8 seats, and a 2 foot pickup bed.

      1. I have a 1970 and 1972 K5 Blazer in non-running/disassembled status, each with a 350, so the cylinders are unchanged at 8, displacement drops slightly to 5.95L, the hp average drops to 290, the fuel mileage is speculative but drops a bit I’m sure, weight drops to about 4550 lb, doors drop to 3, seats nudge up to 4.9, and the pickup bed drops to 1.5 feet.

  24. I’ll play. Current fleet is my 1968 Dodge Dart, 1996 GMC K1500, 1997 Ford Ranger, 1999 Chevy K2500, and 2008 Jeep Liberty Limited.

    Cylinders: 6.8

    Displacement: 4.38 liters

    Horsepower: 200

    Curb weight: 4.340 pounds

    Combined fuel economy: 14 mpg

    Seats: 4.2

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