There is kind of a paradox going on here. Cars with the California emissions get slightly less efficiency, yet they run cleaner. If we eliminated all the emissions systems on the cars, we could get better mileage. Cars also get lower mpg on the cleaner burning fuels. Ironinc.

Would this be a good tradeoff? I doubt it.

Are the European cars getting 55 mpg meeting the high standards for emissions? I doubt that too. Most European models can't be imported into this country without major modifications.

MPG is one measure that is important but if you are looking at the whole picture, how much it pollutes is another.

If the straight gas model of the Escape got better mileage than the Hybrid, I would be driving one of those now. I don't think you can say a car is outperforming a Hybrid unless you are comparing otherwise identical vehicles.