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Nerys.
Maybe you should consider investing your time, which you can afford, in learning the hypermiling techniques of those on this forum who drive the same car you have.
I am averaging 50 MPG in my Echo which is rated at 32 combined.
Your car is averaging 43 MPG. The combined EPA for your car is 46 MPG.
I am averaging 65 MPG in my Insight. The current EPA combined is 47 MPG, just 1 MPG better than your Metro.
Driving your car the same way I drive mine 60 MPG should be fairly easy to achieve, as long as everything is is good shape on your car.
I think most of us here do understand the ways to maximise the efficiency of our cars, and when the engine is most efficient. That is why we use pulse and glide as well as many other tactics, especially DFCO and situational awareness (in my case) to extract every foot of distance travelled for every drop of fuel consumed.
Your goal of 60 MPG is totally achievable without any additional expense of capital, if you carefully study the proven techniques and apply them to your situation. The only reason you should not be getting 60 MPG is is you live in an area where you have to climb steep grades in your normal driving situation.
If your trips are very short, then you might consider a block heater to reduce the high fuel consumption on cold starts.
No engine is highly efficient at cruising speeds, because it is barely doing any more work than it would if you just ran it at the same RPM with no load.
My Insight shuts off when you are not moving, and uses the battery to boost the engines power on acceleration. The return on battery energy regeneration is about 30%, so I try to avoid all situations where I would encounter regeneration.
Light timing, avoiding any brake use, maximising DFCO, which means using no fuel slowing down when you must stop (for any reason) and maybe even shutting the engine off at those 3 minute lights (none that long here) will achieve your goals without having to redesign your car, and it doesn't cost you a dime.
You have one of the best hypermiling cars around. Don't take this the wrong way, but wouldn't it be a lot easier to just emulate the tactics of those here who freely offer their techniques to others so we all can minimise our consumption.
Instead of arguing with others here I would suggest you forget any assumptions about their understanding of engine efficiency and instead studying their proven techniques.
Relax and absorb the vast amount of empirical data that proves beyond any doubt that they indeed understand completely the limitations of their individual vehicles in every respect.
The end result will be your goals are achieved and in doing so you will better understand what is really wrong with the ways cars are designed. Maybe some day that knowledge will lead everyone on this planet to demand better designs which incorporate efficiency into the vehicle itself and relieve the driver of the work load necessary due to the poor designs.
regards
Mech
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