A few of points to consider,
- Honda Fit has more passenger room AND luggage room than 96 Civic HX coupe:
passenger/luggage (cu. ft.)
Honda Fit 91 / 21
1996 Civic coupe 85 /12

I guess if Honda Fit is designed as a (relatively) low-riding coupe, its fuel economy will improve;

- contemporary vehicles are designed and engineered to be safer, Honda Fit has brake assist, ABS, VSA. Six airbags are almost standard in every new cars. It will also be safer in today’s world surrounded by heavier crossover/SUV/trucks.

- lastly, the fuel economy of HX relies heavily on lean-burn, which is severely restricted in today’s tighter and tighter environmental regulations.

SO, 15 years later and we got no improvements? Glad computers don’t develop this slow.

Jim 1961: The HX had the VTEC engine from the EX, just detuned by 10 hp for better gas mileage. It’s also a different model year.
Slow this car wasn’t! In fact, merging onto the highway was one of my favorite things to do, especially when the VTEC kicked in and you could hear the whine!

“…Should we be impressed? 40 MPG+ was achievable in 1996 with my Civic HX 15 years ago…”

I owned a 1995 Honda Civic CX hatchback. I averaged 38 mpg in mixed driving. The problem with this car is that it was dangerously slow. If I tried to merge into traffic on the highway I could not get up to the speed of traffic if the on-ramp was uphill. This was with my foot mashed to the floor. Recently I bought a 2011 Honda Insight. It’s no race car but I can merge safely into traffic on the highway.

“Arab gas guzzling threatens global energy balance

Middle Eastern demand for its own oil could be a bigger threat to the global energy balance than unrest in the region — at least long term. Rising demand at home threatens to limit Saudi Arabia’s key role as the world’s swing producer and could spell structurally higher prices for global markets.

A Saudi official this month expressed unusual public concern about the nation’s energy use. Oil consumption, boosted by car use and air conditioning, has risen by half in the past decade to an estimated 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) this year. Saudi Aramco, the national oil group, reckons demand could reach 8.3 million bpd by 2030.

Currently, after exports and domestic consumption, Saudi has spare capacity estimated at 2.8 million bpd — a crucial buffer amounting to about 3 percent of global oil consumption. Aramco’s forecast suggests that could be fully absorbed by domestic demand this side of 2025. [...]“