Why "Gallons Per Mile" (or L/100 km) makes more sense

[Peter7307]

Originally Posted by RH77

Most people aren't willing to entertain the idea putting effort into attaining good FE. Likely in this situation, the Prius was bought with the intention to easily get the good mileage and consequently flaunt it.

The funny part, 7 isn't that good for a Prius! I know it's possible to get less than 6 without really trying, and 5.14L/100Km with limited experience in hybrids and some EcoDriving experience.

You're doing your part, and that's what matters.

RH77

RH77,
You are right. 7.0 is fairly poor for that particular car. My niece has a Honda hybrid and averages around 5.0 living close in to the city and she doesn't drive intentionally to achieve great economy.

I have the feeling the low reading was as a result of a long freeway drive at fairly high speeds which is probably the worst set of conditions for a hybrid.

Cheers , Pete.

[joey]

I agree with GPM over MPG; MPG leads people to believe 50 vs. 45 mpg is more impressive than, say, 20 vs. 15 mpg, although one saves far more fuel (and money) by going from 15 to 20 than one does going from 45 to 50.

By the way, by "impressive", I don't mean in a show-off sense, but in a sense of what one considers when considering a new car. The deception of MPG will become more of an issue as hybrids become more popular. Going from a car that gets 30 mpg to one that gets 60 mpg will result in half the savings of going from a 15 mpg car to a 30 mpg car, despite the fact that both double in MPG. GPM makes this clear; MPG makes it fool's gold.

[Allch Chcar]

Already using the cost per mile system here. But thanks for pointing this article out. The gallons per 100 miles is a pretty large measuring stick. It's not practical for trip planning, but then it's only dividing by 100 and multiplying by cost per gallon to factor in the cost of fuel. You're already using the system so it sounds like you aren't having any problems.

The average MPG was 75. The trip MPG was 66.67MPG. I was confused as to what MPG we were trying to figure out.

If you have an hour to get there at 40mph and you spend the first half hour at an average of 20mph, you've gone 10 miles. And then you'd have to go 30 miles in 30 minutes. You'd have to go an average of 60mph to get there within the hour. If you're trying to go 40 miles to Denver in an hour and you spend an hour at 20mph average you should have kept tabs on your progress or just started your trip earlier/faster. You're going to be an hour late if you keep that same pace all the way there. I understand traffic can be unpredictable but being an hour late is pretty bad for 40 miles of country roads.

[fidalgoman]

Either way works for me, gallons per mile or miles per gallon. I think however that MPG makes it a much a easier calculation when determining your range per fuel remaining. Perhaps we could also recalibrate our speedometers to Hours per Mile (HPM).