Miles per gallon, gallons per mile, what's the difference?

Question

I watched this video and I still don't understand why it's such a big deal if it's miles per gallon or gallons per mile. As long as you get the car with the most miles per gallon you're still good, right?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K2XSuw02vKA

Answer 1

gallons per mile is silly, mostly for gas guzzlers. miles per tank is a new one, also for guzzlers with large tanks.

miles per gallon is the benchmark.

Answer 2

That isn't what the video is about. Try waching it again. It is hard to explain.

Answer 3

"gallons per mile" = 1 / "miles per gallon"

Answer 4

If you are getting gallons per mile, you have either some serious engine problems or the fastest car in the world! You could pass everything except a gas station!

Answer 5

miles per gallon means the all the miles you go on one gallon gallons permile means the amount of gallons you use permile have fun

Answer 6

From .1 to .05 vs .04 to .02 are equal. In both cases you are cutting your fuel consumption in half. The video is about expressing gas usage in gallons per 100 miles instead of miles per gallon.

Answer 7

if its gallons per mile you might be like me, drivin some huge *** souped up truck that takes 3 gallons to get from the house to the barn. i luv my GMC mudder!!!

Answer 8

It's a different way to break down the data. It asks two different questions.

How much gas does it take to get one mile?

Or, how many miles can I go on one gallon of gas?

If your car get 30 miles per gallon, that would be the answer to the second question. If you were trying to answer the first question, it would be some fraction of a gallon of gas (1/30th I guess).

Answer 9

Your right, the higher the miles per gallon the better.  What the video is pointing out is that no matter the MPG of the the car people thought that you would see more fuel savings with higher net MPG gains. As their example expressed, "What is better, a switch from a 10MPG car to a 20MPG car (10 MPG gain), or a switch from a 25 MPG car to a 50 MPG car (25 MPG gain)?  People thought the 25 MPG gain is better, but actually in a 100 mile per week scenario, the 10 mpg gain saves more gas and more money.  It is hard for people to reason this unless they do the math.



10 MPG =0.1GPM   switch to

20 MPG =0.05GPM    

0.05 GPM savings with 10 MPG gain

or

25 MPG =0.04GPM   switch to

50 MPG =0.02GPM    

0.02 GPM savings with 25 MPG gain

Using the GPM above, can you pick which scenario will save more gas and money?

karats is wrong.  While in both instances the MPG is doubled and the GPM is reduced by half, there is not an equal change.  0.05 GPM is a larger savings than 0.02 GPM