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The misleading, wasteful way we measure gas mileage, explained
Time for a pop quiz. Which of these trades saves more gas: A) Swapping a car that gets 25 miles per gallon (MPG) for one that gets 50 MPG, or B) Replacing a car that gets 10 MPG with one that gets 15 MPG. If you said that A conserves more gas, you’re mistaken. And it’s not even close. Here’s why: In the first scenario, the old vehicle getting 25 MPG uses four gallons of gas to travel 100 miles, while the new one at 50 MPG uses two. In the second scenario, the vehicle getting 10 MPG needs 10 gallons to traverse those 100 miles, while the one at 15 MPG uses 6.7, saving 3.3 gallons — fully 65 percent more than ... (full story)