How Many Miles Per Gallon Did a 426 Hemi Get? Each Year MPG

One of the questions asked about the Hemi engine is gas mileage. When driving a beast like this, who cares? Even though, let’s answer, how many miles per gallon did a 426 Hemi get?

426 Hemi cars averaged 11 miles per gallon overall with a range between 7 and 14 MPG. The lower end represents city type driving while the the higher end range represents highway driving.

This article will explain what transmissions and gear ratios each of the Dodge and Plymouth cars had along with their respective MPG. In addition, some of the cruising miles per gas tank. Check the end of the article for reported mileage from current Hemi owners.

How Many Miles Per Gallon Did a 426 Hemi Get?

The following miles per gallon were collected from Chrysler literature, Dodge and Plymouth owners or the reported mileage from an article back in the day.

The following are 426 Hemi cars, their miles per gallon and cruising miles per tank when available.

The Hemi cars include at least one model car per year, six different car models and eight cars in total.

Did it affect car insurance? Well with a Hemi (aka insurance car) the insurance was already sky-high. During an insurance review, mileage, horsepower and other power tour factors come into play. If you own a Hemi, I don’t think it matters much.

1966 Plymouth Hemi Satellite: 12.3 MPG

The car was featured in Car and Driver Magazine and was equipped with a 4-speed and 3.54 rear gears. They drove the car 700 miles and reported the following miles per gallon.

12.3 MPG overall.
14 MPG on the highway.

They said they averaged around 8 MPG with all 8 barrels opened up. I’m not sure about you, but I’d probably get 8 MPG every day, week, month and year.

1967 Plymouth Hemi GTX: 12 MPG

The car specs were from an original International Masters Publishers brochure reporting factory numbers.

The following miles per gallon were listed:

12 MPG

1968 Dodge Hemi Charger R/T: 9-12 MPG

The Dodge was featured in Car and Driver Magazine and was equipped with an automatic transmission and 3.23 rear gears.

They reported the following miles per gallon and cruising range:

9-12 MPG
Cruising range: 171-228 miles

1968 Plymouth Hemi GTX Convertible: 9-15 MPG

The car was featured in Car Life Magazine and was equipped with an automatic transmission and 4.56 rear gears.

They reported the following miles per gallon and cruising range for the Plymouth GTX:

Test conditions: 11.9 MPG
Normal conditions: 9-15 MPG
Cruising range: 160-270 miles

1969 Dodger Charger 500: 11.05 MPG

The Dodge was featured in Motor Trend Magazine and was equipped with an automatic transmission and 3.23 rear gears (This should have been illegal, 3.23s, really?).

The following miles per gallon were reported for the Dodge Charger:

Overall: 11.05 MPG
Highway: 14.51 MPG
City: 7.3 MPG

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE: 7-12 MPG

The Dodge Challenger was featured in Car and Driver Magazine and was equipped with an automatic transmission and 3.23 rear gears.

Another Hemi car with 3.23s, what a waste of horsepower.

The following miles per gallon and cruising range were reported:

7-12 MPG
Cruising range: 126-216 miles

1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda: 5-10 MPG

The Plymouth was featured in Hi-Performance Cars Magazine and was equipped with an automatic transmission and 4.10 rear gears.

The following miles per gallon were reported for the Plymouth ‘Cuda:

5-10 MPH

Judging from the pictures below, I’m assuming the 5 was when they were smoking the tires and using a ton of fuel by the second.

1971 Dodge Hemi Super Bee: 11-12 MPG

The Hemi Super Bee was featured in Motor Trend Magazine and was equipped with a Hemi torqueflite transmission and 4.10 rear gears.

The following fuel was reported:

11-12 MPG

Check out all the specifications in my article, 426 Hemi Specs.

Fuel Economy From Hemi Car Owners Today: 0-60 MPH

I wanted to do some fast research, like est 0-60, original research and polled some owners of 426 cars. I asked them approximately how many MPG est they were getting with their Dodge or Plymouth muscle car.

I only used results from unmodified cars, ones in good tune, restored or unrestored.

The average mileage reported for a 426 Hemi car were between 9 and 13 miles per gallon. The city MPG was under 10 and the highway average was between 11 and 13 MPG.

The results of my poll were very similar to what the automotive literature and Chrysler advertisements were from the factory.

I also asked if the gas mileage mattered to them? The reaction score was pretty much a zero.

Through my poll, I found a Hemi owner who lived not too far from me. I met him at his place and we decided to do our own miles per gallon road test on the way and back from a regional car show.

He has a 1967 Dodge, we started with a full tank, recorded the miles and then refilled the tank on the way back. The driving was mixed between highway and suburban type roads.

The car averaged 10 miles per gallon. He did go full throttle a few times which obviously lessened the fuel, but it was well worth it and fun!

426 Hemi Charger 500 Road Test

If you have any questions about fuel economy or if you have more information you’d like to contribute, you may send us an email found on our contact page.

I learned about the Hemi miles per gallon by reading Mopar books, articles, magazines, seminars and watching videos for approximately 37 years.