U.S. drivers should think in gallons per mile: report | Science | Reuters

The reason is gallons cost you money, not miles driven, so it's better to have gallons at the numerator. When you think in terms of mpg, you're actually talking about the mathematical reciprocal of the number you're interested, which is why it's misleading. Here is the example they used

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"There is a math illusion here," said Richard Larrick, a management professor at Duke University, whose research appears in the journal Science.
Larrick said most people think improvements in miles per gallon are all the same, where a 5 gallon per mile improvement would yield the same gas savings in a car that gets 10 miles per gallon or 20 miles per gallon. (One mile equals 1.61 kilometers, and one U.S. gallon equals 3.79 liters.)
"The reality that few people appreciate is that improving fuel efficiency from 10 to 20 miles per gallon is actually a more significant savings than improving from 25 to 50 miles per gallon for the same distance of driving," Larrick said."

 

I think really the point is that if your driving a 15MPG car but your daily drive is 15 miles round trip... compared to some of us who are doing 40+ MPG but doing 100+ miles daily its really the same hit on the $$... if i lived close to work and never drove that much then yea... no problem driving my truck doing 16MPG. to me its not MPG or GPM that matters its the driving distance that needs to be solved.

 

People will run out of gas more frequently because they can't calculate how many more miles they can drive given that they have x amount of gas in car. Nobody in their right mind will take out a calculator while driving to take the reciprical of gallons/miles to figure out how many miles left until they get to the gas station.

On a road trip:
"uhh..guys, I have a half gallon left. with my 0.029411765 GPM, do we need to stop for gas?"

 

Instead of 0.029411765 GPM, how about 2.94 Gallons per 100 miles.

The article has a point, but 2.94 gal/100mi may take some getting used to. I will give it a try. It seems like people in other countries are using "Liters per 100 km" and are doing okay with mental calculations.

 

I don't use the stupid Canadian system because I want to know how FAR I can drive on a tank not how much fuel I would use.

 

wtf is this?? haha. mpg ftw

 

They should rave - I think it's easier to understand that way.
Count me in the GPM camp.

Ultimately, what everyone wants to know is 'How much is this car costing me to drive?".

All you need to do is take 0.029411765 * 15000 miles/year = ~441 gallons. Multiply by whatever gas cost you want and there's your estimated cost for the year.

If lots of decimal points are scary, you can say that the Fit can go 1000 miles on 29.4 gallons of gas. That translates pretty directly into $ since most everyone more or less knows the current price of gas. As the gas price changes, you can redo the cost estimate by just multiplying against 29.4. Simple.

For those that want to know "How far does this car go on a tank?", that's a one time calculation for the car (unless you plan on adding an extra tank or two......)

 

haha, me too. Everything here is Liters/100km for mileage which gets annoying to interpret. I always just convert to MPG for my own sainity

 

Bad times like now, bring out all the flakes that want to redesign the wheel.lol Just looking for an audience or your money...

I'd say we should be think in terms of cents/mile to get a better fell for the damage.

scan gage reads it direct.

PS I made 60mpg today using my methods and averaged 53mph (peak 74mph) over 84miles in 90F wet/humid weather. about a 10mph side wind. 85% Interstate cruising. Not bragging, just reminding you want a MT Fit is capable of with zero modifications, just driver techniques that I have shared often. Pretty sure only 2 others on here that document results are in that range.........

 

haha, that would be sweet if you could see a real time dollar/mile display Pretty soon our gas gauges will look like this;

 

yeah a dollar/mile display would be awesome!

people driving suv's would hate it though haha

 

The scangauge has this built in. When the cost of fuel is entered at fillup it tells you how much each trip or day of driving has cost you.

 

For the eco cars, it's more like cents per mile.

 

Yeah, it really does go both ways - I guess what makes more sense to the individual depends on if you are more 'miles oriented' or more 'gallons oriented'. I'm the latter - I guess I pay more attention to the pump and the $ it says I owe more than the trip odometer. As long as it's efficient by whatever measure, I'm good.

So, did you put the new tanks in with the magic seats up, or stick 'em in the trunk?

 

You should link to your techniques in your sig... I think this could open the eyes of a lot of Fit owners who don't visit the Eco subforums.

-Mike

 

Miles Per Dollar is also a good measure, and takes into account cars that require premium as well.

If I get 50 MPG in my Fit and regular gas costs 4.00/gal. I get to drive 12.5 miles for every dollar I spend on gas.

30 MPG in a Fit at $4.00 = only 7.5 miles per dollar spent.

For every $40 I spend, I get an extra 50 miles over someone getting 30 MPG.
For every $400... I get an extra 500 miles.
That means for every 10 fillups, I can essentially drive from Philadelphia to Toronto for free over someone getting 30 MPG.

 

I'd be happy if most people thought about MPG, GPM, or L/100KM at all. Most people, when discussing fuel economy, say something like "I can get from X to Y on half a tank." or even worse "A tank lasts me about a week." It's as if most people don't realize that gas tanks are different sizes, or that people drive varying amounts of distance in a week. This, I feel, is also the reason we can't have an accurate fuel gauge in a North American car. If they don't get far enough on the first half tank they think the mileage sucks, so we get large upper halves and smaller second halves.

So use MPG, GPM, L/100KM, or whatever other unit suits you. I have a calculator, I can convert to the units I prefer. Just so long as people are actually calculating their mileage instead of estimating from the hip.

 

If you take a 50 mile trip in a vehicle getting 10 mpg you use 5 gallons.
In a 20 mpg vehicle you use 2.5 gal
in a 25 mpg vehicle you use 2 gal
in a 50 mpg vehicle you use 1 gallon.
The comparison of gallons per mile is 0.1gpmi, 0.25, .04, and .02 gpmi.
Whats the difference? Both are accurate but mpg is more descriptive.
And far more meaningful to an arithmatic-challenged public.

 

why change things? if people wanna talk in gibberish(i get the point your making) let em...but most people in the us are used to mpg, why change it? the same reason we dont use the metric system. because change SUCKS. just talk in mpg and if people want to do math they can convert the numbers...seems like a waste of time to me.

 

Fixed.....