Do Holiday Decorations On Your Car Affect Your MPG?

It’s that time of year again for cheesy, over-the-top holiday car commercials. There’s only so many ways to sell a car and tie it in to the Christmas season. But GMC has a new take on it.

The automaker brings up the question “How do Christmas decorations affect gas mileage?” in the ad campaign for its new Terrain. They put different decorations on a new Terrain and send it into a wind tunnel. They found that a wreath on your front bumper has no effect, but those reindeer antlers and bows on the roof can set you back as much as 3 mpg. And a tree on your roof rack drags nearly double. Obviously, people that decorate their cars for the holiday aren’t worried about their mpg, but it’s still an interesting point.