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MPG is useful when you are thinking in terms of vehicle range. This isn't most people's default, but it does have its usefulness. As for why US doesn't use l/

by abruzzi 11y ago

MPG is useful when you are thinking in terms of vehicle range. This isn't most people's default, but it does have its usefulness. As for why US doesn't use l/100km. the simplest answer is all our vehicle odometers are calibrated in miles, and we buy gasoline in gallons, so l/100km is a number with no grounding. To get most people in the US looking at it it would have to be gal/100miles or similar.

ascorbic 11y ago
Confusingly, the UK also uses mpg despite the fact we buy fuel in litres.
- Ntrails 11y ago
  Our odometers are in miles though - so it's not completely mindbogglingly stupid. In the end realistically almost no one uses these numbers for range, what they do is compare car A to car B and know that higher is better. The figures from the manufacturer are meaningless and anything with an on board computer telling you your mpg can just as easily tell you range on remaining fuel.
alwaysdoit 11y ago
I mean, if your question is Can I go 300 miles? 1/25 GPM * 300 Miles = 12 gallons Which is either larger or smaller than your gas tank, so I think fuel volume over distance traveled is still easy enough to use for the range calculation, and better for almost everything else.
- com2kid 11y ago
  I can't necessarily do that math in my head. "I have 40 miles roundtrip of errands to run today, and 3 gallons of gas left, do I have to fill up before I leave and maybe be late to my first appointment or am I good for the day?" Well at 20mpg the answer is really easy. 3*20-->60, I'm good.
  - obsurveyor 11y ago
    It's all about how you look at the problem. I bet you can easily divide 100 by 25 and multiply by 3.
    - com2kid 11y ago
      True, but I can always multiple 25 or 30 to reach the nearest number to my destination, and it is only a single operation. :) If awake I can subdivide the problem up, my earlier reply was early in the day. Now that it is later, yup, the math is easy! When driving down the freeway, easy may not be easy enough, 25 goes into 300 12 times. Done! (Of course the math is the same. Just realize one can multiple up instead of having to divide, I don't do math before 10am or after 10pm!)

by abruzzi 11y ago

ascorbic 11y ago

Confusingly, the UK also uses mpg despite the fact we buy fuel in litres.

Ntrails 11y ago
Our odometers are in miles though - so it's not completely mindbogglingly stupid. In the end realistically almost no one uses these numbers for range, what they do is compare car A to car B and know that higher is better. The figures from the manufacturer are meaningless and anything with an on board computer telling you your mpg can just as easily tell you range on remaining fuel.

alwaysdoit 11y ago

I mean, if your question is Can I go 300 miles? 1/25 GPM * 300 Miles = 12 gallons Which is either larger or smaller than your gas tank, so I think fuel volume over distance traveled is still easy enough to use for the range calculation, and better for almost everything else.

com2kid 11y ago
I can't necessarily do that math in my head. "I have 40 miles roundtrip of errands to run today, and 3 gallons of gas left, do I have to fill up before I leave and maybe be late to my first appointment or am I good for the day?" Well at 20mpg the answer is really easy. 3*20-->60, I'm good.
- obsurveyor 11y ago
  It's all about how you look at the problem. I bet you can easily divide 100 by 25 and multiply by 3.
  - com2kid 11y ago
    True, but I can always multiple 25 or 30 to reach the nearest number to my destination, and it is only a single operation. :) If awake I can subdivide the problem up, my earlier reply was early in the day. Now that it is later, yup, the math is easy! When driving down the freeway, easy may not be easy enough, 25 goes into 300 12 times. Done! (Of course the math is the same. Just realize one can multiple up instead of having to divide, I don't do math before 10am or after 10pm!)