[Fat Charlie]

A small gain is still a huge percentage jump, and that's nothing to sneeze at. But there had better be some huge compensation for dealing with what is still, by any standard, horrible mileage. Things like having it dropped in your lap, doing your own work on a platform you have familiarity with, having an insecure, irrational family member who thinks it's "safer" or using the towing capacity often enough to matter. All of these are okay reasons to put up with it- I drove an Xterra for several months because I needed something and it was just parked in the backyard taking up space. "Free car" is worth crappy mileage, and I did get a decent percentage improvement over EPA.

Bad mileage isn't an absolute, even though it is. If you're getting real utility that you can't get in something with better mileage, it's fine- and improving mileage within that context is awesome!