Mcrews, I agree with you: the challenge isn't simply what is the best FE I can get, but what is the best FE I can get with what I have. Who really rises to the challenge? The driver who buys an economy car, or the driver who improves the efficiency of a luxury car/ sports car / muscle car / truck? Personally, I'm much more impressed by a driver who manages 25 mpg out of car rated for 18mpg than I am with a bandwagon greenie who gets 30 mpg in a car rated as such. The same type of narrow-minded thinking you are deriding here is rampant in the performance drivers' groups as well - just apply it to racing rather than FE. Plenty of people believe the "performance car" name applies only to cars defined in some unknown rulebook as performance cars. The RWD guys say it has to be RWD, the V8 guys say it has to be big displacement (and RWD, and usually 2 door), the Eurosnobs make exception for the V6 forcefed "sport sedans", the "rally car" wannabes make exception for Japanese AWD turbo fours, etc. etc. Just as in the FE realm, in the sport driving world, it's not necessarily about what you drive (or race), but how you drive it.
I'm new to the FE thing, and I make no claim to being good at it. I've got a bit more experience in autocross/track racing, and make no claim to being all that good at that either. However, I've lost count of the "superior performance" cars I've embarrassed both at the autocross and track day events in my substandard non-performance FWD (and Haldexed) cars. That is a tradition I plan to continue.
I hope to get a bit better mileage in between race days though. I commend your quest to improve mileage while enjoying your drive as you do. I don't think it is impossible to serve more than one master, so to speak.