I'm here in Florida and I've never gotten too close to what the manufacturers rate vehicles at... I've always gotten more. Maybe because I don't use the skinny pedal a lot on the roads (cruise is my best friend) --- and maybe because it's flat as all sin. I could see someone who's good with a stick with a well-tuned engine getting 35-40 MPG out of a Samurai, but only in fairly flat areas.