I've gotten 37mpg with my escort GT with ~365 pounds of cargo (2 passengers and luggage) and A/C. That was on the drive down to maryland to pick up my 3000GT. It's got a manual tranny and the 1.8L BP motor. The best mileage I've gotten in that car is 41.6mpg, that's just me and a backpack (about 150 pounds cargo).
I tuned the GT to run a pretty lean mix. It runs leaner than stock, which is why the fuel economy is so much better than most stock EGTs.
My mom's LX wagon (1.9L SEFI) usually gets about 38-40.5mpg on the highway. That's with about 300 pounds cargo. And a manual tranny, of course.
My 3000GT, before I tuned it at all, got 30.4mpg on the highway. If you drive it hard, it can go down to like 16mpg.
And the festiva. 1.3L engine, completely gutted inside and out, the thing probably weighs 1600 even... I just installed an EGT 120mph speedometer last week, and I'm currently testing mpg for city driving. Everything about this car is lightened... even the gas tank has been brought down from 10 gallons to 8.5
