Quote:
Originally Posted by dieselbeetle
I know what you're saying about economy and compact cars being more prevalent in Europe. However, many people this side of the pond don't understand that their measurements regarding fuel economy are different than ours. They use an Imperial Gallon instead of a US gallon, which is actually 20% more fuel. This should help explain why a TDI golf in Germany is capable of getting mileage in the 70s straight from the factory.
While the automobiles in European countries ARE particularly good on fuel, diesel or otherwise, the fact that their "gallons" are 20% larger than ours sheds a lot of light on the subject.
This also can help us to understand margins concerning the price of their fuels as well.
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Imperial gallons (~20% more than US gal) are used only in UK, Ireland, sometimes Canada. The whole Continent uses liters per 100km as t_vago noted.
Half of Europe's vehicles run on diesel fuel, which makes their engines ~15-20% more efficient than gassers.
Yes, cars in Europe are smaller than in North America, on average, but they are catching up quite fast, both in the weight and in the CdA departments
And then there the numbers, FE numbers. A car that is rated at 6 l/100km in the European ECE standard doesn't mean that the same car would get 39 mpg according to the US's EPA. EPA's rating is much easier to beat than the ECE - notice that there are more North American ecomodders with >40% over EPA than from the east side of the pond. Well, Groar is a worthy exeption
When you factor in all of the above, then you'll notice that any differences between the amount of fuel used by European and American cars aren't that large and can be made up for by changes in driving style.