With the 2016 Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirement of 37.8 mpg looming over the horizon, automakers are (and will continue) rolling out more fuel-efficient models. Naturally, they're informing consumers about those fresh fuel-misers wherever eyes and ears turn. While watching TV, listening to the radio, reading the paper, or surfing the Web, it's hard to escape the onslaught of today's "40-mpg" small cars.Surely, you've seen or heard about the 42-mpg Chevrolet Cruze Eco or the 40-mpg Hyundai Elantra? Both are non-hybrid vehicles promising hybrid-like fuel economy. Unsurprisingly, 40 seems to be the magic number when it comes to touting how far a conventional gas car can travel on a single gallon. Just as odd-even pricing makes $3.99 a gallon look more attractive than $4, 40 mpg somehow appears far more appealing than 39. It's why there are countless ads for the Cruze Eco, Elantra, Civic HF, Focus SFE, et al. -- 40 is the new 30, and apparently it sells.

After hearing a Cruze Eco radio spot, my wife said to me, "Wow, 42 mpg -- that's really good." Indeed, it is. But when I told her that was for highway driving with a manual transmission, and the actual combined city-highway mileage was almost 10 mpg less, she wasn't quite as pleased. "Seems like false advertising, no?" Indeed, it does. Shift-it-yourself environmentalists should rejoice in the "42-mpg" Cruze Eco, but for the 90 percent of Americans who prefer an automatic transmission, it's totally misleading.

Cogitate the facts: A Cruze Eco manual gets 42 mpg highway. Frugal, absolutely, but unless your house and office are within spitting distance of the freeway, and traffic lights don't exist on the weekend, 42 is nothing but a pipe dream. The realistic number, applicable to all members of the 40-mpg-highway club, and one that is all too often conveniently absent from advertisements, is the combined mpg figure. Or you can think of it this way: reality. For the much-hyped so-called 42-mpg Eco manual, reality is 33 mpg. For an automatic, it drops to 30. Now 30 and 33 mpg combined are impressive figures that Chevrolet, American car fans, and Green Party-ers can all high-five over, but guess what? It ain't no 42. If you're wondering why the most prominent number on the EPA's new 2013 fuel-mileage window sticker is the combined mpg rating, wonder no more. Yes, reality bites.

Hyundai, too, is a leader in misleaders per gallon. The Korean giant has spent many a Benjamin hammering the word "Elantra" and the stat "40 mpg" into the brains of prospective shoppers. The Elantra took home top honors in our July 2011 eight-car showdown, but not without a few criticisms, the most notable a third-thirstiest-in-group 25.7 mpg observed. Even worse, the Elantra's disappointing return comes after the "no asterisks" campaign, in which Hyundai lauds its small car (and pokes fun at the Ecos and SFEs of the world) for getting 40 mpg without any special transmission or aerodynamic contraption. Now, if Hyundai somehow managed to find a few asterisks lying around, I suggest it use one to denote Elantra's reality of 33 mpg and another to declare enthusiasts like us can expect a return of 40...minus 14.