Metric Fuel Consumption
Discussion
As a side point, I find the general muddle between metric and imperial in the UK ridiculous.
- OS maps have been in metric for years, yet road signs are in imperial. This makes it a bit hard to combine the two to navigate.
- I think tachos in lorries are in km as well, despite their speedometers and odometers reading mph? (correct me if I'm wrong)
- Roadwork warning signs have to be placed in multiples of 100m, but must themselves show motorists the distances in yards.
- We buy beer in metric in the supermarket, but imperial in pubs. It's actually illegal to do otherwise. I've been to a nice Austrian restaurant in London that were taken to court for trying to sell beer in metric steins - they had to have special imperial ones made.
- Manufacturers have to give vehicle dimensions in metric, yet many width and height restriction signs are perfectly legally still in imperial only. Even new ones show both metric and imperial.
RobM77 said:
As a side point, I find the general muddle between metric and imperial in the UK ridiculous.
Footpath signs are in metric. I think bridleways are too. - OS maps have been in metric for years, yet road signs are in imperial. This makes it a bit hard to combine the two to navigate.
Doesn't help the motorist, but helps most other OS map users!
RobM77 said:
As a side point, I find the general muddle between metric and imperial in the UK ridiculous.
I've been told that signs have been spaced in metric, but written in imperial for decades now in preparation of a conversion to metric. I.E a 100 metre sign says "110 yd".- OS maps have been in metric for years, yet road signs are in imperial. This makes it a bit hard to combine the two to navigate.
Most scientific and engineering fields are fully metric now.
RobM77 said:
We buy beer in metric in the supermarket, but imperial in pubs. It's actually illegal to do otherwise. I've been to a nice Austrian restaurant in London that were taken to court for trying to sell beer in metric steins - they had to have special imperial ones made.
I don't think the old pint of beer is going anywhere though, its part of the culture. Australia went metric in the 70's and you still buy your beer in pints even though most people ordering them wouldn't never have used the imperial system. Although Australia has rounded up the point to a solid 670 ml.captain_cynic said:
Vanin said:
Well none of you litres/100km geeks have convinced me.
Firstly I do not know anyone or any garage trying to sell cars that quotes anything but MPG.
Actually, if you go to any other country, all cars are sold with L per 100 KM (except for countries that are stuck in the past). Firstly I do not know anyone or any garage trying to sell cars that quotes anything but MPG.
The only other country in the world that uses MPG uses different size gallons.
captain_cynic said:
MPG is a relic of a bygone era. No-one is actually going to miss it.
Not quite true. The OP will. But since he'll be dead of old age before long...For me, fuel per unit distance (consumption) always made more sense as a measurement than distance per unit fuel (economy). However, I have MPG embedded into my brain and haven't used litres/100km enough to really have a feeling for what the figures relate to.
Since I've been spending about a quarter of my time on the continent I've come to prefer using metric units for pretty much everything except fuel economy. I'll measure distances in km and fuel in litres but economy in MPG.
Since I've been spending about a quarter of my time on the continent I've come to prefer using metric units for pretty much everything except fuel economy. I'll measure distances in km and fuel in litres but economy in MPG.
Edited by kambites on Wednesday 22 November 12:43
RobM77 said:
As a side point, I find the general muddle between metric and imperial in the UK ridiculous.
Shandy must be sold in metric amounts, it must not be sold in pints.- We buy beer in metric in the supermarket, but imperial in pubs. It's actually illegal to do otherwise. I've been to a nice Austrian restaurant in London that were taken to court for trying to sell beer in metric steins - they had to have special imperial ones made.
TooMany2cvs said:
Canada is fully metric - they don't use miles, they don't use either flavour of gallon.
They use l/100km.
Ah fair enough, they certainly used to use our MPG. They use l/100km.
It's about time we went fully metric really. Our mixed system is a joke and in practice it just serves to push up the cost of things because they have to be made differently for our market.
thelawnet1 said:
Thirdly, distance per mile (e.g. mpg) is the wrong way round. Example: I do 20,000 miles a year and have a vehicle that does 20mpg. That's ~£5,500 in fuel. If I trade it in for a car that does 30mpg (10mpg better), then the bill falls to ~£3,667, a saving of £1833 or 33%
However if I have a car that does 50mpg, then my fuel bill is £2,200. Trading it in for a vehicle that does 60mpg (10mpg better) only cuts the bill to £1833, that's a saving of only £367, or 17%.
It's not at all clear to me what problem you are trying to show here? If you reduce your fuel consumption in mpg by a certain percentage, you reduce your costs by the same percentage.However if I have a car that does 50mpg, then my fuel bill is £2,200. Trading it in for a vehicle that does 60mpg (10mpg better) only cuts the bill to £1833, that's a saving of only £367, or 17%.
10/30 = 33% saving
10/60 = 16.7% saving
No rocket science required.
thelawnet1 said:
By contrast the comparable l/100km:
Example 1: 15l/100km or 10l/100km
Example 2: 6l/100km or 5l/100km
Much easier to see that the first comparison is from 15 litres down to 10 litres, that's a saving of 5 litres, whereas the second example you only save 1 litre.
You only save exactly 5 litres or 1 litre if you do exactly 100km. For any other distance you'd need to do a bit of maths, just like the mpg case. What's the saving here, how does this make it any clearer?Example 1: 15l/100km or 10l/100km
Example 2: 6l/100km or 5l/100km
Much easier to see that the first comparison is from 15 litres down to 10 litres, that's a saving of 5 litres, whereas the second example you only save 1 litre.
kambites said:
It's about time we went fully metric really. Our mixed system is a joke and in practice it just serves to push up the cost of things because they have to be made differently for our market.
But the world will end if I can't purchase my beer in exactly 568.26ml units. I for one am welcoming Brexit so that we can go back to measuring our land in bovates, our distance in shaftments and our weights in the simple system of Merchant, Tower, Apothecary, Troy and Butchers pounds (depending on what we're purchasing) as God and the King intended.seefarr said:
But the world will end if I can't purchase my beer in exactly 568.26ml units. I for one am welcoming Brexit so that we can go back to measuring our land in bovates, our distance in shaftments and our weights in the simple system of Merchant, Tower, Apothecary, Troy and Butchers pounds (depending on what we're purchasing) as God and the King intended.
...and perhaps we'll be able to reintroduce groats and farthings into our currency..... 
kambites said:
For me, fuel per unit distance (consumption) always made more sense as a measurement than distance per unit fuel (economy). However, I have MPG embedded into my brain and haven't used litres/100km enough to really have a feeling for what the figures relate to.
Most people start by knowing how far they're going and then wanting to know what it'll cost. i.e. if your commute is 75 miles a day, like mine, it's easy to work out the litres of fuel used if you have litres per mile or km. Conversely, very few people buy a volume of fuel and then say "how far can this get me", as if they plan to just drive off into the sunset until it runs out Being an old fart, I was educated in both imperial and metric units, with the emphasis on metric taking over.
It is useful in the odd pub quiz knowing that 14 shilling and 7 pence is 73p and 20c is 68f or 10 chains is a furlong or 201 metres. Or, of course conversing with Americans. Otherwise useless.
It really is time all the imperial stuff was consigned to history.
It is useful in the odd pub quiz knowing that 14 shilling and 7 pence is 73p and 20c is 68f or 10 chains is a furlong or 201 metres. Or, of course conversing with Americans. Otherwise useless.
It really is time all the imperial stuff was consigned to history.
TooMany2cvs said:
captain_cynic said:
Vanin said:
Well none of you litres/100km geeks have convinced me.
Firstly I do not know anyone or any garage trying to sell cars that quotes anything but MPG.
Actually, if you go to any other country, all cars are sold with L per 100 KM (except for countries that are stuck in the past). Firstly I do not know anyone or any garage trying to sell cars that quotes anything but MPG.
However I know the UK is a country that takes a very... shall we say, cautious approach to change.
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