Hello scorch.
The Paseo is a decent car for mileage if you are willing to try with it. Unfortunately, the automatic transmission is going to significantly hinder your attempts at getting some great mileage out of it.
I was able to achieve the mileage I did in
my Paseo primarily by the use of pulse and glide which you can't really do with an automatic transmission.
If I were you, I'd focus on avoiding brake use primarily. Then, I'd look into modifying the trans so that you can lock up the torque converter on command. If you were able to do that, you could pulse and glide in neutral (not engine off) which would give you some pretty good mileage.
BTW, your car is rated for 25 city, 30 highway.