'Miles per gallon' can misrepresent a car's fuel efficiency

What a silly video, it made no good point except to tell us that people cannot do math, and they are customers, not consumers. Needs a better point and a better producer.

good point. i thought that upon watching this video, i would have a better grasp on the fuel economy gauge. this is not the case, however, as i have learned nothing from this video which features DUKE scholars (where's all that money going, anyways?)

NewScientist must be catered to the lower masses

In portugal we measure consumption on Liters per 100 Kms, an efficient car will drink up 4,5 down to 3 Liters per 100Kms

What they're saying is people look at the mph as how much they're saving, but you really have to calculate, or the company should calculate, how many gallons of gas you need to travel a certian distance, because that's where you're spening.

True, but not everyone drives a 10 mpg car

If this is news then the education system in the USA is pathetic.

If I have a 10MPG truck and I compare it to a 20MPG truck, guess what, the new truck can go twice the distance on a full tank of gas, or use half the gas travelling the same distance.

This is primary school maths!

NB: When travelling outback, it can be 500 miles or more between fuel stops. MPG x Fuel Tank size = distance you can travel before refuelling, a value you need to be wary of. In this case, MPG is the easier rating.

Surely the point made here is nothing to do with Imperial vs. Metric (Yay Imperial!)

The point raised is that it's better to rate fuel economy as 'volume of fuel per unit distance' rather than as 'distance per unit volume of fuel'.

I used to think it didn't really matter but I suppose there is more clear to use such a measurement.

The point made by PetrFM is that in Europe we use this "ground breaking" discovery for about hundred years...

"just another reason why to leave outdated imperial unit system"

Doesn't seem that way to me. Seems more like someone has a problem with our way of defining lengths and volumes.

Also I don't know what was up with my last sentence up there. Maybe I was in a hurry?

10k miles a year at 20 MPG is 500 gal vs. 50 MPG is 200 gallons a 300 gallon savings at $4.009/gal. is $1,202.70 differance over 5yrs. would be $6,013.50 so subtract that from the price tag of a hybridand then just compair the cars prices.