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Just to have fun with large engine fuel economy. Drove my GTO whenit was relatively stock, from NJ to about an hour outside St. Louis. Me, 2 passengers and overnight bags and the A/C on as it was summer. Car averaged a tick over 27mpg for the trip. 5.7L V8 w/ 6 speed manual.
My car consistently gets between 18 and 20 in "composite." On the highway alone it may approach 21 but never quite gets it. I know guys with hemi magnums who have gotten over 24MPH on long trips. This doesn't seem to be rare. The hemi has cylinder cutoff so, while the engine has slightly higher frictional losses, it's still really running on an engine less than 3 litres.
I'm 48 and have owned lots of cars, I have never found epa estimates of value. I had a beat up Olds Ciera with a 3l V6 that got upward of 30MPG regular as clockwork, and that was supposed to be a dog of an engine.
Di you ever compare your actual mpg vs epa estimates, and another car's actual vs epa estimates on your same typical daily routine?
YOure talking about comparing epa estimates with what you get and stopping there, to say the epa estimates aren't worth anything. But that's not how you are supposed to use them (and why they say "your mileage may vary"). Of course you can individually get wildy varying mileage from teh estimates. As I posted in another thread, my 740iL with the 4.4 liter V8 routinely gets 27-30 mpg highway, as do many others with the same cars, even though they are rated at only 22 or so.
It's not apples to apples if the margin of error is on the order of 50% and those apparently overpowered, inefficient cars do better in the real world simply because the EPA has never heard of a hill. Even the smallest hill in a 5000lb Magnum with one of those 2.7l V6 engines results in serious downshifting and engine buzz.
I recently switched from 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer ES (I4 2.0) to 1996 Mercury Sable LS (V6 3.0). In order to hit 300 miles it costs me $15 more now.
BTW the US civilian car market severely narrowed down lately, I am able to name only 9 marques, these are: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep from Chrysler; Ford and Lincoln from Ford; and Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC from GM.
As was mentioned, we don't really know what type of car the OP was looking for. But My 2001 Ford gets around 30 to 32mpg with mixed driving. It is a ZX2 with the Zetec 2.0, and a 5 speed. 35 or so on the highway. 28 to 30 if I drive it like I stole it. It performs reasonably well (bone stock), is generally fun to drive since it handles well and is what I would call "quick" but not "fast". There are lots of American cars that have engines smaller than 2.5L, but until recently we never saw them in the higher line cars.
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