Val buys a new car. She can drive 288 miles on a full tank of gas. If her car holds 16 gallons of gasoline, what is the unit rate of miles per gallon?

The unit rate of miles per gallon can be found by dividing the number of miles by the number of gallons. Therefore, the unit rate is 288 miles / 16 gallons = <<288/16=18>>18 miles per gallon. Answer: \boxed{18}.