Very affordable little suv - but mpg hurts the wallet these days.

We have had our Tucson for about 4 months now, and before we decided to buy one I looked at every review on the net I could find. 9 out of 10 times I saw people really liked them and were having good luck with them, so we decided to take our 2000 Rav4 in and see what kind of deal we could make. It was very surprising to me how hard these Tucsons were to find here in the Portland metro area. We spent almost 6 hours at the dealership while they were on the internet trying to track one down with the options we wanted, and the all important color we wanted. We wanted the red that they offered with grey leather. That turned out to be very hard to find. We decided on a 2wd instead of a 4wd just for the simple fact that we would never use it 11 months and 3 weeks of the year. The other week you stay home if you can, or use chains. Anyway we got a 2wd LX with all the options. When I saw the price I couldn't hardly believe it. $20,600 for a new suv with leather, bun warmers, moonroof, optional roof rack rails, (these are an absolute must have because there really isnt much cargo area) mud flaps, and even got the dealer to swap the cd player in it with a GLS model which has the mp3 player. Plus we also opted for the 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty for it which was only $900. We looked at new Rav4's and they were 23k for a stripped down model. The car is really great. It handles better than our Rav4, and has quite a bit more power because of the v6. It also has a very smooth shifting automatic trans which is nice but not good for racing. But here is the downside. We did not realize that gas prices would be up to 2.50 a gallon 4 months later, and this car doesnt get all that great mileage-about 20 in town and 24 on the highway. Our Rav4 always got at least 30 mpg in town, and its even 4wd. Although with the Tucson I have noticed its better lately since I pumped the tires up to 40 lbs. and bought a K&N air filter for it. Hyundai I think has definitely scored on this car. They kept it simple to keep the cost down. No power seats, no trip computer, no dvd player, but hey for a total of 22k you cant expect too awful much. I could go on and on with this review but I wont. Test drive one and you'll see.