[Christ]

I personally don't like the new EPA estimates... they're supposed to be more accurate for a national average, but I believe it should have been regionalized.

Cali-kids don't have the same operating parameters as 'Yorkers do, and in the Dakota's, it's obviously different than Tax-my-ass. (Texas)

That said, a regionalized re-vamp of the EPA rating system would have been more intuitive as far as giving people an idea of what they could expect to spend in fuel for a given vehicle.

On that same note, I've never been in a car that I didn't beat the EPA estimates consistently, even driving like an ass.

In my Civic, I used to red-line the car on a shift-by-shift basis, literally shifting at 7kRPM, until I reached the speed limit, at which point I would begin cruising. Often times, I would downshift while braking, again, reaching red-line. I still got 34-38MPG average, even w/ the intake/header/exhaust combo and a Si swap. (Switching from 2 injectors to 4, more performance oriented ECU/intake manifold.)

EDIT - I failed to mention that I speed match while downshifting... heel-toe.