does a 4 cylinder suv get the same gas mileage as a 4 cylinder car?

If you know the year and the model, you can look them up on Consumerguide.com and it will tell you the gas mileage.

Now, current/actual gas mileage depends on if this is a used car and has been taken care of.

Everything else being equal, the car will get better gas mileage because it weighs less.
Engine works harder to move more weight.

The question is a little vague – not every four cylinder car gets better mileage than every four cylinder SUV, but generally the car will do noticeably better.

For example – Honda CRV vs Accord – same size (2.4 liter) engine, but Accord gets better mileage than either FWD or AWD CRV.

Ditto Toyota – a Camry gets better mileage than a RAV4

The reasons are a combination of weight, aerodynamics, and if the SUV has 4WD/AWD, that affects mileage also.

Again – this is kind of a generic answer since you didn’t give any particular makes and models, if he’s looking at a particular SUV you should compare that to cars he might be interested in. You can go to http://www.edmunds.com and get all the stats on any vehicle, including EPA ratings.

Hope this helps

Usually the answer is no. Probably 3-5mpg difference, which is a lot in our fuel situation.
1. SUVs are not as aerodynamic.
2. SUVs are typically heavier and larger vehicles.

Look into the Mercury Mariner.

I hate to say it, but the SUV may very well be more fuel-efficient than the car. These days, cars are getting terrible fuel economy while SUVs are beating them. Aerodynamics don’t seem to be a problem: even with their brick-like aerodynamics, they’re beating cars in highway fuel efficiency. Weight doesn’t seem to matter much either, but then again today’s cars have gotten so heavy that there’s little weight difference between them and SUVs.

Check this out: go to http://www.mazdausa.com and check out the latest Mazdas. Look at their big, ugly SUV, the Tribute. Let’s look at the FWD models to be fair (as AWD always eats more gas). For the 4-cyl, it gets 23/28mpg. Forget that, look at the big 3L V6: it gets 19/25. Sounds bad, right? Now click on the small Mazdaspeed 3 right above it. A small car with obviously much better aerodynamics than that big SUV, right? And instead of a big V6, it has a turbocharged 4 cylinder. What kind of fuel economy does it get? 18/25. So it gets the same economy on the highway as the brick-shaped Tribute, and it actually gets WORSE economy in the city, even though it’s pushing around less weight. Ok, let’s look at a slower car: click on the regular Mazda 3. Same car as the Mazdaspeed, but with a less-powerful 4-cyl. In fact, it’s almost the same engine as the low-end Tribute, a 2.5L with VVT and about 170hp. That Mazda3 only gets 20/28 with a stick, and 22/29 with an auto. Compared to the 23/28 MT and 21/28 AT on the Tribute, that’s not much of a difference. In fact, the Tribute is getting better city fuel economy in both cases than the Mazda3 small car, and almost identical highway economy.

It appears that the only thing that affects fuel economy to any large extent is engine size, not vehicle weight, and not aerodynamics.