I don't know much about mpg, as we don't own a car. We sometimes use a neighbour's car, which gets 40mpg I think? In the city? It's a newish Nissan.
And if that arrangement stops working, we'll probably use this carshare scheme. I say "we", I don't actually drive.
At any rate, I hadn't realised fuel efficiency for 4x4s had improved (and the pedestrian impact issues). A lot of the argument against them is about the US, where 4x4s are subject to the same fuel efficiency rules as small trucks. So some of them are really really bad there.
I don't really have an issue against them in the countryside. But I live in London. And I see lots of people with only two kids using them for the school run ... and many of them live really quite close.
(NB: I was not saying 4x4s = murder. I was just saying the "unless you're environmentally perfect, you can't complain about 4x4s" thing is silly. It's like saying "you can't complain about people littering in the street unless you recycle and compost all your rubbish".)
I'm probably more bothered than usual about car drivers this week because a tunnel, about a mile from us, has been knocked out in one direction, so all the traffic is completely gridlocked, nearly all the time. And the roads are still full of people sitting alone in their cars. Polluting my streets and going nowhere.