What does it mean 40 miles to the gallon?

Question

Shouldnt it be 40 miles to a gallon

Answer 1

It means that a car burns gas for  40 miles to the gallon you moron. 

Answer 2

I think it would be more correct to say " A forty miles to a gallon".

Answer 3

Most Britons would say: "40 miles to the gallon", or "40 miles per gallon." 

In all languages there are idioms which are hard to explain, but which are the only ways used by native speakers. Be honest, are there not some in your native tongue?

Answer 4

This is the maximum distance a vehicle can travel on one gallen of fuel. It could be "a" instead of "the", but "the" is not incorrect.

Answer 5

I've used the phrase differently depending on the sentence. It really depends on how you choose to word the phrase. But, the three ways below mean the same thing--how far you can travel on a gallon of gas. 

- If you drive slowly, you can get 40 miles to a gallon.

- My car's a gas hog--I'm lucky to get 12 miles to a gallon.

- That little car gets 40 miles to the gallon.

- I can get five miles to the gallon in my tank. 

- My Ferrari averages 10 miles per gallon. 

- Don't worry, you'll be getting 35 miles per gallon. 

Answer 6

40 miles to a gallon

40 miles to the gallon

40 miles per gallon

All are saying the same thing... except technically the middle one is more strictly speaking to your LAST gallon.

Wait - we are talking about fuel for cars right? 

Answer 7

Both are correct and they mean the same thing.

Answer 8

That's about what I get from my car. However, the tractor-trailer I drive gets only about 7 mpg