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If aerodynamics are not part of the calculation, then the entire EPA mileage estimate is bogus. This would explain why cars seldom get the same highway mileage in the real world.
Coincidentally, yesterday I called Wikispeed to ask how they got to their 100+ mpg claims for their car, whether it was from actual highway testing on real roads in real traffic and real weather, or from an EPA wag (wild-assed guess). No answer so far.
Some lady successfully sued Honda (I think) because her car did not get nearly the claimed EPA mileage.
If people knew the real world mileage of new cars and what little savings they'd have vs. maintaining/modding their paid-for old car, they would not buy such new cars. Fr'ex, paying ~$10K extra for the latest fuel efficient car might take hundreds of thousands of miles driving to save enough on fuel just to amortize the extra cost, including interest, maintenance, depreciation, etc..
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