26th Jul 2005, 20:16
Another thing to take into consideration about differences in MPG between Europe and the United States is the oil barons. It's no secret that the United States lives on oil and oil products. Other makes and models sold overseas make better milage than their sister cars over here mainly because of tuning. Other considerations are the insane things they do for pollution control on vehicles in the states. Not only do they increase the amount of fuel burned they don't even compair to the superior pollution controls on European and Asian vehicles.
14th Feb 2006, 02:39
From what I understand fuel refineries in the European countries do a much better job "cracking" or refining the crude into lighter oils. This is especially so with diesel fuel.
14th Feb 2006, 08:53
European diesel fuel is superior to American fuel as Americans took the cheapest way out by offering the lowest grade (highest sulfur) diesel possible. This is changing this year as America is introducing new low sulfur fuel compatible with European fuels, which may open up the market even more for diesel cars (for example, California is the largest car buying state, but fuel diesel cars can be sold here due to emissions restrictions).
30th Jun 2015, 08:24
I live in the USA and have been to Europe several times. Not everyone on either side buys cars based to such a high degree on MPG. It's nice to be unencumbered by it. The criteria in our family is a refined fun to own and drive automobile. Styling is a big key. And the Prius is not a very appealing looking one in our opinion. Lacking a lot of amenities. Don't really care for the back up camera. In fact on others we have had issues with back up alarms, especially with winter and snow.
The Tesla is a nice looking car. But taking the MPG out of car shopping opens up a lot of great opportunities. Perhaps we want more than pointing a car A to B, worrying over diesel fuel quality or worrying over a few tanks of gas. Saving 150 a month isn't going to break the pocket for what enjoyment you get in return.
4th Aug 2015, 23:50
Interesting - I run a 2015 Nissan Juke 1.2 litre petrol with over 10500 miles now - doing 40 MPG (Imp), which I believe is 33.3 MPG (US) - I have never turned the climate control off since new and I drive, err shall we say enthusiastically. The UK Govt heavily subsidises the Prius; even so, the start price is £22k - the Juke just under £14k. That £8000 difference buys you an awful lot of petrol - approx 1502 gallons (UK) at today's price of £1.17 per litre. Therefore you can buy a Juke and travel a smidgen over 60k miles before you have spent the equivalent £22k the Prius cost you.
25th Apr 2005, 09:13
The British gallon is bigger than the U.S. one. That will account for at least some of the better M.P.G in the U.K.