MPG vs. Litre/100km

I'm just wondering about those two ways of showing the vehicle gas mileage.

The MPG number goes up when you get a better gas mileage. The Litre/100km number goes down in that scenario.

I understand that the U.S. (MPG) and Japan (KPL - kilometres per litre) are the only countries that use this method. The rest of the world goes with Litre/100km.

Are there any pros/cons with each of those methods? What's your preference?

mpg and kpl are how far you can go on a given amount of fuel.


L/100 km is how much fuel you consume for a given distance.

so if you have to drive 300 km and the cost at the pump is $1 per litre, and your car does say 10L/100 km (or 1L/10km) or 1$/10 km so 300/10 is 30 therefore it should cost $30 to do the 300 k trip

the measurements do amount to the same thing. to each thier own.

A

AnEntropyBubble said:

the measurements do amount to the same thing. to each thier own.

A

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Thanks, I do understand where the two methods do and do not differ. I was just wondering why a country would pick one way while another would prefer the other way. It would be much easier to compare gas mileages if we stuck with one measurement.

To convert back or forth divide the other number into roughly 234. Thus 23.4 mpg equals approx 10 liters per 100km.

It is interesting because the mpg system makes high fuel burners sound the same when their is a big difference. It also makes very thrifty vehicles sound different when they are actually not that different.

Thus it would be save more gas overall to switch my 11 mpg GMC truck to a new one that gets 15 mpg, than it would to switch my 27 mpg GTI to a 35 mpg TDI. In the truck example I would gain only 4 mpg but would use about 9 gallons to drive 100 miles vs 7 gallons (2 gallon savings). In the VW example I would gain 8 mpg but use about 4 gallons vs 3 gallons (1 gallon saving).

The liters/100km is the opposite - it minimizes the differences between thrifty vehicles but exaggerates the differences in high fuel burners.

ok lets just admit it... when the fuel tank is empty, we stop and get some gas

blackhawk73 said:

Thanks, I do understand where the two methods do and do not differ. I was just wondering why a country would pick one way while another would prefer the other way. It would be much easier to compare gas mileages if we stuck with one measurement.

Click to expand...

liters/100km
= liters/100km x 1.6km/1 mile
= liters x 1.6/100 miles
= liters x 1.6/100 miles x 1 gal/3.8 liters
= gal 1.6/380 miles

If you can travel 32.8 miles per gal, to travel 380 miles you would need 11.6 gal.
11.6 gal / 380 miles = B gal x 1.6/380
B gal = 11.6/1.6
B = 7.25 gal.

I would much rather use 7.25 gal than 11.6 gal to travel 380 miles.

r56mcs said:

liters/100km
= liters/100km x 1.6km/1 mile
= liters x 1.6/100 miles
= liters x 1.6/100 miles x 1 gal/3.8 liters
= gal 1.6/380 miles

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Thanks for proving my point. It sure would be much easier if we did not have to go through that calculation every time we compare gas mileages shown in those two different units.

Oh, I got the VAG COM job done today and it is FANTABULOUS!
No more horn when locking the car and the windows go up and down with the remote...
I used to live in Lynnwood, you know?

r56mcs said:

Oh, I got the VAG COM job done today and it is FANTABULOUS!
No more horn when locking the car and the windows go up and down with the remote...
I used to live in Lynnwood, you know?

Click to expand...

Really? Are you still nearby? If so we should meet up sometime soon!

So with the VAG COM thing, your windows now go up automatically when you lock the car using the remote? Does the sunroof close as well?