Which EPA to use?

[320touring]

Right, My Saab is slowly sipping its way through this tank (apart from one or two "TUUURBBBOOOO" moments)

Happily its at over 230 mles and still showing over 1/2 a tank- trip comp says 300 miles + range left.

Shortly I'm going to have to add it to my garage. The 9-3 WAS available in the US so it does have EPA figures available. See below.
Gas Mileage of 2001 Vehicles by Saab

The figures seem to suggest 26/28 on Motorway/Hway on Regular/Premium.

My question is

Which figure should I pick?

The car is run on 95 RON unleaded here, but the manual seems to state its mapped for anything above 91 RON

This is all so I just know the correct figure to put in the garage
information

Anyway, now back to some more

[Piwoslaw]

My personal opinion is that each car in the EM garage should use the FE numbers for where and when it was made/bought. This means that new cars bought in the US should use the new EPA, while older cars should use the standard from a few years back, cars bought in Europe should use the European standard, etc.

Of course, this means that models offered on both sides of the pond might have totally different numbers. I doubt that a car made for the European market would get the same results in an EPA test as its American counterpart, and vice versa. Even if the engines are the same size, each will be tuned to pass different emissions regulations on different fuel, each car may be fine-tuned for a different FE testing cycle, and each may have different trim/options.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

My personal opinion is that each car in the EM garage should use the FE numbers for where and when it was made/bought. This means that new cars bought in the US should use the new EPA, while older cars should use the standard from a few years back, cars bought in Europe should use the European standard, etc.

Of course, this means that models offered on both sides of the pond might have totally different numbers. I doubt that a car made for the European market would get the same results in an EPA test as its American counterpart, and vice versa. Even if the engines are the same size, each will be tuned to pass different emissions regulations on different fuel, each car may be fine-tuned for a different FE testing cycle, and each may have different trim/options.

i whole heartedly agree

However, the garage only has a field for US mpg..

I try to give my figures in imperial and US-i would do l/100km, but i dont know where to start!

is it possible for the garage to show different mpg fifured?

According to my saab manual, it should do 31.4 mpg uk combined

[comptiger5000]

You could always take the figures from the UK test and convert them to US mpg. Google calc is handy for that kind of stuff.

[Piwoslaw]

I just entered my European numbers (city/highway/mixed) as mpg(US) using any l/100km to mpg calculator.

There has been talk (see US switching to metric system?, post #49) about the forum automatically converting units, but it still seems to be low on the priority list.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by comptiger5000

You could always take the figures from the UK test and convert them to US mpg. Google calc is handy for that kind of stuff.

yeah thats similar to what i did for the avensis..cheers for the info though!

[some_other_dave]

Gasoline note:

The US measures Octane in "AKI" (anti-knock index), or explicitly "(R+M)/2". AKI is the average of the RON (Research Octane Number) and MON (Motor Octane Number, a different test) octane ratings. The MON tends to be 8-10 "points" lower than RON for the same batch of fuel, so the US pump rating will be 4-5 points lower than the RON rating.

Your 91 RON is ~87 AKI, which is regular-grade fuel in most areas of the US.
Your 94 RON is ~89-90 AKI, which is mid-grade fuel in many areas of the US.
Premium fuel would be roughly 96-98 RON.

-soD

[cfg83]

320touring -

Definitely a good question. I think that the majority use the new EPA numbers because it makes it easier to compare the "old EPA" cars to the "new EPA" cars. It also makes it more relevant when you have a conversation with someone that is considering a new car versus getting bogged down in old-epa versus new-epa discussions.

I prefer the old-epa figures because they are harder to beat, but I use the new-epa in my Garage. This way my MPG signature at the bottom of this post is comparable to other people's cars.

However, it is up to you.

CarloSW2

[comptiger5000]

I use the new EPA figures for mine as well. Both are lower than I can get on the highway, but the old one was pretty close, or a hair high around town. The new one is low around town. Old was 13/17, new is 11/16. I typically get 12.5 / 19-21.

[320touring]

SoD- thanks for the info on the difference on RON ratings..

I'll take the 95 as top end of Mid then.

So we reckon the new EPA figures are a plan..

Ok, but which rating should I compare it to? its not driven exclusively in town, or exclusively on the Motorways...