MPG or Miles Per Dollar: Which is Correct?

MPG or MPD, Which is the True Definition of Fuel Economy?

I read an article yesterday that said the Toyota Prius was the most fuel efficient car in the US. In my last week's newspaper column I said one of my objectives was to get better fuel economy than the hybrids. The Toyota Prius gets, according to the EPA, 45 mpg highway. My average going to Phoenix a few weeks ago to take my wife to the airport, and returning was 47.96 mpg in a 2004 Chevrolet Aveo. My overall objective is 60 mpg for under $200.00.

A Toyota Prius costs $24,000.00 according to the Internet prices I found. We bought our Aveo for $8000.00, one third the cost of the Toyota, and this is where MPD begins to come into play. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Toyota or any other Japanese car. One of my automotive businesses was named Japanese Automotive and all we sold parts for, and serviced, were cars from Japan.

For years, the measure for fuel economy has been MPG. Times have changed for some of us and overall economy is more important than MPG. MPD, or miles per dollar, is the new benchmark and is a realistic alternative to MPG. If you want a first hand, real time look at where your money goes, after it disappears into the black hole called your fuel tank, when you fill-up don't put it on your credit card, use cash.

Next, you need to sit down and figure out how much you paid down and, how much you pay per month and calculate the total months you'll pay on the loan. Then, and this is X the unknown, try to calculate how much you'll lose in depreciation. That's the only true gauge of how much your car will cost you when using the MPD formula.

Miles per gallon has never really been a true determinant of what it costs to drive to your car, it's only a head game. Very few car ads even use it, mostly they tap into the subconscious and use Madison Avenue hype. Leagues, stones and pecks have lost their meaning in the world of measurements, and so has mpg.