One of the things I don't see discussed very much is the geography where people drive. Hills and elevation have a remarkable impact of fuel mileage. My daily drive starts with several short spurts to stop signs, all of which are uphill for the first 3 miles. Then another mostly rising elevation interstate drive. You can make some up on the way back, but never enough to make up for the energy required to go up those hills. With our colder weather I get the double whammy. The difference between that and when I took a trip to moderately flat Connecticut was amazing. I was able to average 45 with little effort. The uphills were both more gradual and more consistently rolling. I also noted that I had the ac blasting the entire trip, and pretty much 75 all the way on the interstate. Definitely not a maximum mpg trip. In my old Corolla and Camry, my mileage always rose quite a bit when traveling South from here. 2-3, or as much as a 10% difference in mileage. Whenever I look at the Fuelly and other ratings, I try to take into account the area in which the driver is.
I had a Camry rental in Florida for 10 days once. Same year as my own Camry. I easily got 33 mpg average for the ten days which spanned almost 800 miles. Another difference there, aside from the flat surroundings and longer drives, was that the roads felt smoother. The car simply rolled better. (our highways suck ehre)
The only hills I experience is overpasses. That's why I love my v - it allows me to drive the way I want to and still get great mileage!
