Guest post by Brian Stoll
As many of you already now by Renee's earlier post, we purchased a used Volvo V40 D4 shortly after arriving in Bristol. Given the smaller roads, we wanted something a bit more maneuverable and peppy than what we had in the UAE. I had originally started looking at the sportier VW Golf GTD and Golf R, but then stumbled across the Volvo V40 which was a nice cross between pep and refinement ... and as a bonus had an amazing mpg rating - 67.3 mpg city, and 78.5 mpg highway.
I must admit being a bit amazed by the mpg rating of a car with 190 horsepower. Being a bit nostalgic, I was comparing this to our 1994 (3 cylinder) Geo Metro that, for it's time, was one of the most fuel efficient cars available at a rated 46 mpg city, and 49 mpg highway. This however was a result of the lightweight (some would say tinfoil like) body, and the paltry 52 hp that it produced.
As I was doing some additional car research, I noticed something strange with the fuel consumption numbers for the same cars between the US and the UK. The UK mpg numbers were significantly higher than the same car in the US even though the horsepower and other specs were the same? How could that be? I was sure that the UK has similar emissions standards, and so would have expected similar mpg ratings. Do the Brits all buy magical gas from Hogwarts?
Turns out magic had nothing to do with it, but the answer was quite surprising. While both the US and the UK use a gallon for liquid measure, these are based on different measurements. The imperial (UK) gallon is equivalent to 4.54609 liters. Whereas the US (liquid) gallon, 3.785411784liters, is 20% less!
For some of you history geeks out there, you might know that the US gallon is based on the old English wine gallon (also know as Queen Anne's gallon), that came into effect in 1707 (1706 Act 5 Anne c27). Britian abandoned the wine gallon in 1826 when it adopted imperial measure. This was obviously after the US had separated from Britian - hence the different in gallon measurements.
After having lived here in the UK for a couple of months, I've developed an alternative theory for the change in size. Brits love a good pint. I'm convinced that some crafty Brit back in 1826, after bemoaning how quickly a pint went down, had the brilliant idea of increasing the size by 20% ... hence the imperial gallon was born.
Cheers.
As many of you already now by Renee's earlier post, we purchased a used Volvo V40 D4 shortly after arriving in Bristol. Given the smaller roads, we wanted something a bit more maneuverable and peppy than what we had in the UAE. I had originally started looking at the sportier VW Golf GTD and Golf R, but then stumbled across the Volvo V40 which was a nice cross between pep and refinement ... and as a bonus had an amazing mpg rating - 67.3 mpg city, and 78.5 mpg highway.
I must admit being a bit amazed by the mpg rating of a car with 190 horsepower. Being a bit nostalgic, I was comparing this to our 1994 (3 cylinder) Geo Metro that, for it's time, was one of the most fuel efficient cars available at a rated 46 mpg city, and 49 mpg highway. This however was a result of the lightweight (some would say tinfoil like) body, and the paltry 52 hp that it produced.
As I was doing some additional car research, I noticed something strange with the fuel consumption numbers for the same cars between the US and the UK. The UK mpg numbers were significantly higher than the same car in the US even though the horsepower and other specs were the same? How could that be? I was sure that the UK has similar emissions standards, and so would have expected similar mpg ratings. Do the Brits all buy magical gas from Hogwarts?
Turns out magic had nothing to do with it, but the answer was quite surprising. While both the US and the UK use a gallon for liquid measure, these are based on different measurements. The imperial (UK) gallon is equivalent to 4.54609 liters. Whereas the US (liquid) gallon, 3.785411784liters, is 20% less!
For some of you history geeks out there, you might know that the US gallon is based on the old English wine gallon (also know as Queen Anne's gallon), that came into effect in 1707 (1706 Act 5 Anne c27). Britian abandoned the wine gallon in 1826 when it adopted imperial measure. This was obviously after the US had separated from Britian - hence the different in gallon measurements.
After having lived here in the UK for a couple of months, I've developed an alternative theory for the change in size. Brits love a good pint. I'm convinced that some crafty Brit back in 1826, after bemoaning how quickly a pint went down, had the brilliant idea of increasing the size by 20% ... hence the imperial gallon was born.
Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment