In the UK, gasoline is known as petrol. Gas prices are so insanely high, and you pay per liter/litre of gas rather than per gallon, even though the gallon is a unit of measure (a liter is about a quarter of a US gallon). For comparison, a gallon of regular unleaded in the UK (on July 3, 2010) cost over $7 per gallon, whereas US prices average $2.75 per gallon. Liter prices are much more attractive.

Why is gas so expensive in the UK? Taxes. There’s a fuel tax, then VAT (sales tax), which adds over $3 per gallon to the base price. In the US we pay, on average, less than 50 cents per gallon in tax.