I am going to be jumping around a bit, and sometimes I will be comparing apples and oranges, but.... I have some stuff I want to haul on a regular basis. Looking at highway mileage, I see minivans that are are rated at about 25 mpg highway. I'd like something a bit smaller, but a honda Element, for example, barely does better on the highway. OK, it has the aerodynamics of a brick... but the upcoming HHR is only likely to do about 26 hwy. I will be surprised if the sleek Mazda5 does 28 highway.

The HHR and 5 weigh a lot less than typical minivans, and they have 4 cyclinder engines, and yet they likely will do only a few highway mpg better than the vans, and they are worse than the Avalon, and a host of v6 sedans, (although the weights are probably about the same as the v6 mid-size sedans).

Basically, I am looking for a hauler that is smaller and more economical than a minivan, and I am not finding it until I go _much_ smaller, like a Matrix (which is what I own now). You don't seem to gain much on the intermediate step, which is maybe why there aren't any vehicles that size on the market. Except... they are _huge_ in Europe. Go figure.

I know that on an annual basis, a 5 mpg difference doesn't amount to much money, so this is mostly just an exercise... I come from a long line of compulsive mileage checkers