ever since I started to use it, it hasbeen a pain, now why cant you Americans simplify it a little, like gallons per sixty miles, or gallons per 100 miles?
life would be so much easier. look at the metric system. 60 mph is close to 100km/hour. our highway speed limits are 100kkm/h, our fuel efficiencies are given in Liter/100km. so much easier, the number will tell you exactly how much fuel you will use if you drive one hour. I bet most people cant figue out how much fuel they use if their car gets 27 miles and they drove 60miles.
the other beef i have is the mpg gains; a 5 mpg gain might be drastic at low numbers, but not so much at higher numbers. at 10mpg, if you do something to your car and get 5 mpg better it is not as drastic as if you say 50mpg to 55. in a metric or gallons per 60/100miles the gains would be more obvious, see this chart;
This next chart shows the mpg in 5 mpg increments, do you see how an extra 5mpg would change fuel costs for one hours drive? no, because it's impossible. a change in the metric or fuel/distance is a lot easier, if my car were to get 2L/100km better economy i know exactly how much fuel I will save for a trip, or even easier, fuel saved by an hours drive
MPG (U.S.)MPG (Imp.)km/l l/100 km
5 6.0 2.1 47.0
10 12.0 4.3 23.5
15 18.0 6.4 15.7
20 24.0 8.5 11.8
25 30.0 10.6 9.4
30 36.0 12.8 7.8
35 42.0 14.9 6.7
40 48.0 17.0 5.9
45 54.0 19.1 5.2
50 60.0 21.3 4.7
55 66.1 23.4 4.3
60 72.1 25.5 3.9
65 78.1 27.6 3.6
70 84.1 29.8 3.4
75 90.1 31.9 3.1
80 96.1 34.0 2.9
85 102.1 36.1 2.8
90 108.1 38.3 2.6
95 114.1 40.4 2.5
this last graph is something every manufacturer should advertise on their vehicle, fuel economy numbers would instantly become real numbers people could work with. Metric of course would be better, but it is a start;
