So what? The point is always to use less gasoline. They are trying to say that getting really good gasoline mileage is not worth it to the individual with regards to their money. There are numerous other reasons to use less gasoline that this selfish individualistic view does not incorporate. I'd like to have cleaner air to breath. I'd like to have fewer excuses for the wars we have. I'd like us to go down a path that includes less dependence on foriegn resources. I'd like to kill the industries that make our politicians corrupt.

On a side note, the cost of implementing the alternate technologies for fuel efficiency will always get less expensive as they are more widely adopted. Some are already cost effective for certain commuters or other users. The down side is that you pay more up front but save overall. It's a hard thing for the TV nation to fathom. The repeated brainwash from the media clouds the weaker minds and they give in to their masters, as good sheeple do. They are not trouble makers like those that think for themselves.

The curve you are showing, although accurate, is misleading as it expresses distance per unit of fuel. Using the same data but expressed as fuel needed to travel a given distance, one would get a very different graph, one that shows that every bit of gain in efficiency contributes to reduce consumption. But the final goal should be to consume zero petroleum based fuel - as the real cost of using these fuels far exceed their price at the pump.

The real point is that if you trade in a car for a more efficient model, it is more cost effective to drive the old gas guzzler into the ground and hold out for the latest efficient model, than to trade in for 10% efficiency increments. Too much engineering, marketing, and production is spent for too few MPG gains. The costs of new designs and retooling must be astounding. Imagine how not sticking with tried and true key ignition switches and foot pedals has cost Detroit in liabilities alone!

And Roger, I really wonder what the big deal is with that Ford Fusion, after depreciation (including suboptimal performance due to aging and dirty parts), maintenance and warranty costs (including manufacturer's defects), repairs due to accidents (which increase in proportion to speed and the inverse presence of traffic signals and intersections), vandalism, administrative costs (inspection and moving violations) --you feel confident that you'll get 200,000 miles?

All the Money earned and saved in this life will not buy one a place in Heaven, nor a decent placement in the next life! Only good deeds can reserve a place in Heaven, not money. Good deeds such as helping humanity and preserving the environment are the minimum required for spiritual salvation. This life is very short, but is a preparation for what to come after. Those with the means to do good deeds for humanity should do so instead of piling up the money yet cannot even bring a single penny in this life into the next!

Many places in the world are already so hot that is causing brain damage and stifling economic and intellectual development, as well as rampant violence and social unrest due to the unbearable heat! Just a few degrees hotter and life will be over for billions of people in the third world! Yet when they tried to fled the heat and misery by boat to a largely unpopulated place in the first world like Australia, and they are treated worst than the lowest of animals such that many refugees took their own life in the refugee camp in Australia.

The first world are releasing GHG unsustainably to support their opulent and immoral life style while turning up the heat in the third world into a hell on earth that these people cannot escape! When comes the time to buy a car, there much more important issues at stakes than just trying to save a few bucks, or getting an opulent ride to nowhere good nor decent!