[DapperDan]

...and by certain models, I mean my Toyota Camry, or any others that people on here might confirm are just not designed for good fuel consumption.
Sorry if this has been covered, but I've wondered this for some time. I have a '99 Camry with a 4cyl engine and an automatic transmission. Not a car I would have picked normally, but I got a bargain on it from a relative, and just use it to commute back and forth to work (family car is a Prius). Anyway, the fuel mileage is, in my opinion, unacceptably bad. I get around 22mpg. I live in NJ, so hyper-miling isn't always practical or safe. I've looked up the ratings for that year/model, and they confirm that it's a very inefficient car (rated at 24mpg I think). That's terrible! For a 4 banger? I would think you'd have to be leaking fuel to get mileage that bad on such a small car. I've gotten that kind of fuel mileage in a pick up truck. It's mechanically sound, I'm good about maintaining cars, so it's not a bad thermostat or something, it's just that bad. I had a '91 Corolla before this, which also got what I considered to be mystifyingly bad mileage - 28 mpg, maybe 30. It was a tiny shoebox, how in the world can it burn that much fuel? I did all the fuel-saving driving tricks, to no avail - it's not like it will double my fuel mileage to where, in my opinion, it should be (I had a Saturn years ago, when I was young and dumb and drove fast, everywhere, all the time.. had no problem getting 40+ mpg).
Are these cars designed like this on purpose for some reason? Any settings I might be able to change? Again, it's almost like they have to programmed specially to waste this much fuel.