Metric Fuel Consumption
Discussion
I know that the subject is a little tired but buying a Japanese import Volvo has made me think again on the subject
Nobody I know quotes their car's fuel consumption in Litres per 100 km. Not only that but most people, even younger "metric minded" people do not even know the measurement let alone the figures for their car.
All the road signs are in miles and all the fuel pumps are in litres.
The Volvo has a readout in Kilometres per litre which is far more sensible as it becomes more accurate as the car becomes more frugal
The difference between 1 litre/100km and 2 litres/100km is about 140 miles per gallon so you are into meaningless fractions for a realistic comparison.
How on earth did the Europeans adopt such a stupid system and why did they not do km/litre like the Japanese?
Nobody I know quotes their car's fuel consumption in Litres per 100 km. Not only that but most people, even younger "metric minded" people do not even know the measurement let alone the figures for their car.
All the road signs are in miles and all the fuel pumps are in litres.
The Volvo has a readout in Kilometres per litre which is far more sensible as it becomes more accurate as the car becomes more frugal
The difference between 1 litre/100km and 2 litres/100km is about 140 miles per gallon so you are into meaningless fractions for a realistic comparison.
How on earth did the Europeans adopt such a stupid system and why did they not do km/litre like the Japanese?
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.
Secondly most people I ask even the young do not even know the measurement when I ask them. They usually say "Is it kilometres/ litre?"
It is quite strange to have the range remaining quoted in km when all the road signs are in miles.
You do not seem to understand my point about the difference between 1 litre/100km and 2 litres/100km
Yes it is unattainable in the real world but it is something we should strive for and when you have these ultra light, efficient electrically assisted vehicles doing 1000 mpg or more it means something to most people as they can compare it with the 50 mpg of their own vehicle,
1000 mpg is let me find a calculator..........somewhere around 0.25 litres/100km? So you have a competition with these vehicles to see who can be the most frugal one does 1045 mpg and the other does 1057 mpg. You are trying to tell me that the result is clearer in fractions?
Taking on the point about Spanish houses still being sold in pesetas, all the young I know who accuse me of being a Luddite measure their height in feet and inches and their weight in Lbs or stones, their manhood in inches (mm seem so inferior!)
Why do you still sell wine by the dozen everywhere especially in France?
Firstly I do not know anyone or any garage trying to sell cars that quotes anything but MPG.
Secondly most people I ask even the young do not even know the measurement when I ask them. They usually say "Is it kilometres/ litre?"
It is quite strange to have the range remaining quoted in km when all the road signs are in miles.
You do not seem to understand my point about the difference between 1 litre/100km and 2 litres/100km
Yes it is unattainable in the real world but it is something we should strive for and when you have these ultra light, efficient electrically assisted vehicles doing 1000 mpg or more it means something to most people as they can compare it with the 50 mpg of their own vehicle,
1000 mpg is let me find a calculator..........somewhere around 0.25 litres/100km? So you have a competition with these vehicles to see who can be the most frugal one does 1045 mpg and the other does 1057 mpg. You are trying to tell me that the result is clearer in fractions?
Taking on the point about Spanish houses still being sold in pesetas, all the young I know who accuse me of being a Luddite measure their height in feet and inches and their weight in Lbs or stones, their manhood in inches (mm seem so inferior!)
Why do you still sell wine by the dozen everywhere especially in France?
TooMany2cvs said:
Not quite true. The OP will. But since he'll be dead of old age before long...
Not quite true because I have just worked out my life expectancy in metric and it is not nearly as long as it is in imperialThe metric system was based on a false measurement of the circumference of the Earth. Not a good start.Most of us have ten fingers, so you would have thought that we always should have been metric, but it was found to be inconvenient in the market place when you wanted to divide produce like eggs or bottles of wine. Hence the wine is still sold in dozens in France although they introduced the metric system
In the real world, if your car runs out of fuel and someone kindly comes along with a 5 litre can of fuel, it would be useful to know how far that five litres will take you and if you can reach the next garage, Km;/litre will tell you easily, litres/100km is hard work.
I have accepted litres and km for measurement of fuel consumption, and I far prefer my Japanese import for showing me clearly what is going on with km/litre
LimaDelta said:
Try general aviation in the UK...
Altitude - ft
Distance - nm
Runway length - m
Speed - Kts
Fuel - lbs
Fuel flow - GpH
Air pressure - Hpa (mb)
Manifold pressure - inHG
Power - hp
Engine oil - quarts
Air temp - DegC
Oil temp - DegF
Oil pressure - PSI
And probably others I've forgotten to mention.
Good man! One of my favourite subjects!Altitude - ft
Distance - nm
Runway length - m
Speed - Kts
Fuel - lbs
Fuel flow - GpH
Air pressure - Hpa (mb)
Manifold pressure - inHG
Power - hp
Engine oil - quarts
Air temp - DegC
Oil temp - DegF
Oil pressure - PSI
And probably others I've forgotten to mention.
You forgot to mention to all the metric freaks out there that a circle is divided into 360 degrees for navigation and then into minutes which leads nicely to the next topic which is time
24 hours in a day, 12 hours on most clock faces, sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in a minute.
How does all that sit with the decimal mentality? What next 10 hour days with 100 minute hours and 100 second minutes?
100 degree circles?
TooMany2cvs said:
You have 20 litres, you know you use 7 per 100km, and you think it's "mental gymnastics" to work out that there's just under three 7s in 20, so you've got a bit under 300km of fuel?
If anything, from your example, I'd have said 3 x 7 = 21 is easier mental arithmetic than 4.5 x 40 = 180.
You need one further piece of information - 62 miles = 100 km - to know if you can do 150 miles (you can because 300km is 186 miles). Your dual-marked speedo gives you that information.
You need one further piece of information - 4.5 litres = 1 gallon - to know if you can do it with mpg, too. If you google for that information, the chances are high you'll be told it's 3.8 liters, unless you're aware of US-UK differences in gallons.
If we were consistent with units, instead of this half-arsed mash-up, then you would not need any metric-imperial piece of information.
'course, the reality is that you'll need to fill up, because the economy figures never work in the real world, no matter whether metric or imperial. And the fuel gauge probably isn't linear anyway, so who knows if you have 15 or 25 litres?
You remind me of the wonderful Tom Lehrer!If anything, from your example, I'd have said 3 x 7 = 21 is easier mental arithmetic than 4.5 x 40 = 180.
You need one further piece of information - 62 miles = 100 km - to know if you can do 150 miles (you can because 300km is 186 miles). Your dual-marked speedo gives you that information.
You need one further piece of information - 4.5 litres = 1 gallon - to know if you can do it with mpg, too. If you google for that information, the chances are high you'll be told it's 3.8 liters, unless you're aware of US-UK differences in gallons.
If we were consistent with units, instead of this half-arsed mash-up, then you would not need any metric-imperial piece of information.
'course, the reality is that you'll need to fill up, because the economy figures never work in the real world, no matter whether metric or imperial. And the fuel gauge probably isn't linear anyway, so who knows if you have 15 or 25 litres?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWaJ0sy03g
PenelopaPitstop said:
Miles per gallon are useless to me. I don't buy petrol by gallon and my tank size is quoted in litres as well. I only learned some estimated conversions between l/100km and mpg to quote it to British. Otherwise I think in km and in l/100km. It all depends where you come from and what is standard for you.
When I check car spec and it says 80l tank, I can easily count how many km I can do on the tank and only then convert km to miles.
Can you not read? I did not mention gallons in that quote. What I queried was why the Europeans had gone for litres/100km instead of km/litreWhen I check car spec and it says 80l tank, I can easily count how many km I can do on the tank and only then convert km to miles.
The metre was based on an attempt to measure the distance between the equator and North Pole that is true
The way they did it in 1793 was to measure the distance between Barcelona and Dunkerque.
The problem was that the Earth is not perfectly round and there is a dimple on that particular line so the original metre was based on a false measurement since corrected but not a great start
Yes we have ten fingers but some wise folk long ago decided that the duodecimal system worked better in a market situation hence we still have wine and eggs by the half dozen as five of either does not fit into normal packaging
The way they did it in 1793 was to measure the distance between Barcelona and Dunkerque.
The problem was that the Earth is not perfectly round and there is a dimple on that particular line so the original metre was based on a false measurement since corrected but not a great start
Yes we have ten fingers but some wise folk long ago decided that the duodecimal system worked better in a market situation hence we still have wine and eggs by the half dozen as five of either does not fit into normal packaging
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