Gas Mileage

I usually drive a 2000 Toyota Corolla with a manual transmission.  With lots of effort it can achieve 40 miles per gallon.  With very little effort it will get around 33mpg.    That is a car designed ten years ago, so why is it that car companies are bragging about the great highway gas mileage their cars can achieve at only 33mpg?  It's 2009!   Six months ago when gas prices were enormous everyone seemed to be crying for better gas mileage, and it seemed like car manufacturers just stared calling their current gas mileage better.  Did it change? No.  They just used their marketing teams to make you think that 25mpg, which was horrible before, is now amazing.  

Yes, cars are getting safer, heavier, larger, and have more powerful engines.  But why do I need a more powerful engine?

In Arizona the open highway speed limit is usually 75 mph, in other parts of the country it is as high as 85.  So why would I want a car that can go 140 mph?  Where am I going to go that fast?

Why are there an extremely few amount of cars with engines under 2 liters?

Now with gas prices lower than last summer (but still quite high), people are not as concerned  with gas mileage.  But instead of thinking about miles per gallon, why not think about the fuel range of your car?

If you double the gas mileage of your car, you would double the range, meaning you would fill up less often, could take longer road trips without needed to find a gas station, or pay inflated fuel prices at gas stations in the middle of no where.