sigh...

OK, I have a '01 4wd, 2" BL/3" SL, Full armor and bumpers, winch, OBA, 33's, etc...

I average 20 mpg overall pretty consistantly.

I got rid of all the foo foo roof plastic, keep the tires a bit hard, went to full sysnthetics for everythng, even wheel bearing grease, and drive more like a running back running for daylight than an old lady...except that the speed stays constant, and not overly fast.

Speeding up uses way more gas than maintaining a constant speed....I time the traffic and the gaps, etc...and try to stay as steady as possible...

Wind resistance on an X is significant over about 40-50 mph...and adds up FAST faster than that...and is the primary reason for poor mpg in X's.

If I go 45 mpg at a steady pace....25 mpg is achievable, but it takes too long to get anywhere...so I go faster than that...say the 50's most of the time, maybe 60. (Hence the 20 mpg average...)

If I go into hilly terrain...my mpg plummets proportionally, it takes gas to get up hills.

If traffic permits...I can get some of the hilly area mpg back by losing speed on the uphills, and geting it back on the downhills...especially if I think the local constabularies are disinterested, etc.

So - If you live where its hilly, or there's thick stop and go traffic, or you go over 55 mph/gun it/weave in/out of traffic...your mpg is going to suck.

The first gen X's were only EPA rated for about 16 mph...so 17 is a pretty average # as far as I can tell, nothing wrong with it...and some here would kill for it (So be careful...)

A side bar - A HUGE number of people get larger tires, and, forget that their speedometer is off...and drive the speed the speedometer tells them...

IE: The speedometer is telling you you're going 60 mph...but you're really going 67 mph...against A LOT more wind resistance....

AND

Your Odometer is telling you you got 280 miles on that tank of gas...but you REALLY went 314 miles.

So, on 33's instead of 29's... you think you drove 280 miles at 60 mph....but you really went 314 miles at 67 mph...

You drove faster, and went more miles than you thought, both of which make your perceived mpg go down. (If people forget to correct for that...they report dismal mpg #'s...)