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Comment by tadfisher | Hacker News Reader

Few gasoline-fueled cars actually get 60 miles per US gallon of gasoline in Europe, because they advertise MPG numbers in imperial gallons (3.785 L vs. 4.546 L).

They have plenty of small diesel-fueled cars that get around those numbers, but remember that diesel is less energy-dense and is more expensive in the US, making owning a diesel car a wash here in the best case.

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You mean diesel is more energy-dense. Gasoline has about 114,000 BTU/gal and #2 diesel has about 130,000 BTU/gal (varies somewhat by season due to different blending).

I got the impression the grandparent was comparing European diesel to US diesel. But you compared diesel to Gasoline.

Additionally, the US has higher crash survival standards, making many of those small, light European cars impossible to sell here. Improve their crashworthiness, and there goes the light weight, and along with it, the mileage.

There's also the case that the US has tougher emission standards, which makes it harder to achieve those high mileage rates. Although I've heard that recently, the UK and the rest of Europe have been tightening their emission requirements, so there isn't as much of a difference any more.

"gallon" is the one imperial unit of measurement that's quite different in the US and the UK. Most other imperial units (e.g. foot, inch, acre) are nearly exactly the same (but not exactly the same!) to not matter for practical reasons, but the gallon is different by about ¼.

My motorcycle gets 65 MPG.

My car does between 12 (city) and 28 (highway). Ugh.

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