Friday Car Talk Puzzlah: Should We Scrap Miles Per Gallon Ratings?

It sounds like a car talk puzzlah: If Joe wanted to save gas and had the choice between upgrading his 10-miles-per-gallon car to a 20-miles-per-gallon car, or his wife's 25-miles-per-gallon car to a 50-miles-per-gallon car, which should he choose (presuming they both drove the same number of miles)?

If you're like most people, or like Joe's wife more than Joe, you'd choose the latter. But because miles-per-gallon isn't a linear relationship, the right answer is the former. Which leads to a recommendation to rethink how we present fuel efficiency numbers, as GPM (or gallons per ten thousand miles) rather than MPG.

Read the article in New Scientist

Or watch the video below:

Comments

[Kari Chisholm]

That's a genius video.

But the answer to the question is obvious: Replace the 10 mpg car with the 50 mpg car.