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One thing that bothers me about many discussions on this forum: Is the ultimate goal to maximize fuel economy or to minimize fuel use? These are not the same. By modifying my lifestyle and choosing my routes, I could consistently get 35 mpg with my truck. But I would use a lot more gas per year because I would be driving much greater distances.
I chose to live in a fairly urban setting because it puts me close to most of the things I need. Consequently, I can live very comfortably while driving an average of about 7,000 miles a year. But most of my trips are short and on fairly congested roads, making it a struggle to consistently get even 27 mpg.
I could choose, like many of my friends, to live further away from everything out in the country. That would get me away from the congestion and allow me to significantly up my fuel economy. But like my friends, I would then be driving 15,000 to 20,000 miles a year. This would result in my using a lot more gas a year.
To me, total fuel use per year is what is really important. In the past 10 years, I've been able to reduce that from about 1100 gallon/year to about 300 gallons/year.
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