Canadian 8th Gen. Civic Gears

[superchow]

Hey All,

I do not remember why I looked it up, but I was curious about the highway mileage stated on the Canadian Honda website for the Fit and Civic. I remember Honda tweaking the gears for the Fit to enable it to be eligible for a tax rebate, thusly making it cheaper and more attractive for buyers.

Now the shocker - The 2010 Civic (not Si) is essentially the same car as my 07 Civic (engine/weight/equipment), but the mileage (once converted from liters/100km into US MPG) is much higher than the US version.

Yes, I realize that this has a lot to do with different testing methods, but can that be all?

Here the numbers:

Canadian Civic (1.8L) MT - 31.8 mpg city/ 43.6 mpg hwy
Canadian Civic (1.8L) AT - 28.7 mpg city/ 41.3 mpg hwy

US Civic (1.8L) MT - 26 mpg city/ 34 mpg hwy
US Civic (1.8L) AT - 25 mpg city/ 36 mpg hwy

Does anyone here drive (or has access to) a Canadian Civic who can shed some light on this? Have the gears been tweaked, or is this all down to testing methodology.

BTW - for comparison's sake: in fifth gear travelling at 60 mph the engine turns at roughly 2600 rpm.