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The original insight is the only hybrid I have considered. Just because its. . .in my opinion really not a hybrid lol. Its a gasser with specialty start stop ^_^. Ok its a hybrid, but only a little.
I don't think I said it on this thread. . .but a substantial part of the reason overseas cars get much better FE is just that, the fuel economy. EPA restrictions are far more strenuous in the US than they are abroad. This applies not only to our cars, but our fuel. If you import Euro gas you can squeak out 10-20% more power or FE depending on if your engine can interpret the difference in the fuels and has the ability to exploit it.
the contropositive a euro car on non euro fuel does in fact get worse FE. Supercars typically you can find 2 power ratings. 1 is the euro running on their substantially more pollutant laden as well as power laden fuel and the other is running on the fat free American variety.
The next step you've got to look at is EPA for the car itself. Some things don't hurt the FE or HP, while others do.
Safety features add weight. . .so on and so forth.
Estimates for the nano coming to the US the price goes up several fold and the weight goes up almost half a ton.
Back on topic, I bet the Fit could definitely do 40 if you forced the wifey to learn stick. If thats not an option I still think you could get 40 out of it. Just mak sure you have all the activation codes for the radio and everything unplug the battery and let it sit. Then eco-drive it for the first few days and the ECU should have reprogrammed its adaptations to be slightly more eco-friendly opposed to whatever the people doing the test-drives did.
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