I'm interested to read how your wheel and suspension changes go. The HCH is my wife's car but it's nice to dream once in a while . At first I was concerned that driving an automatic (CVT) hybrid would be boring compared to my Outback XT (no Z06, but still quite fast), but I really enjoy the HCH. Trying to maximize the fuel economy is really addicting! That being said, it would be nice to have a little more cornering ability (to keep up momentum )

Your milage will improve a lot once you get used to driving the hybrid. There is a ton of information on this site to surf through to help you improve. Still, I would guess that San Fran is a pretty hard place to really get great milage with all of the steep hills.