I don't think trunk is that bad, yes, it could be bigger, but I had some serious luggage inside and actually you can fit a lot of stuff. Saying all that, I wish hatchbacks were more popular here, yeah, how about 4 door hatchback with even more of trunk space inside.
Oooops, I just reinvented Prius.
I'm not sure about the tires. I bought mine June 2006 , about 2-3 months after the car went for sale in US and it came with Michelin MXV4 energy tires, almost the same model as my 2001 Honda Accord. I've seen the same or very similar tires on a lot of other cars including Mercedes. I think they talk about special, narrow tires I think Honda Insight had and some of the future concept cars? Tires can make good difference in MPG, even by simply increasing pressure, but for safety and performance reasons I think at least for now "normal" tires will have to do and they're designed to lower rolling resistance anyway, just not as much.