Steven,

You have made a simple but important mistake in gaging how far automakers have to go to reach the 35 mpg CAFE target: Corporate Average Fuel Economy is based on a hidden number that is much more optimistic than what we see on the window sticker. Visit the download page of the fueleconomy.gov website: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/download.shtml and get the spreadsheets from the left-hand column. These list the "unadjusted" numbers which are used to calculate CAFE alongside the window-sticker numbers that appeared when the cars were originally sold.

Far from the two vehicles you mention, there are 57 entries for 2008 that exceed 35 mpg combined. And there's well over 300 that exceed the current 27.5 mpg standard for passenger cars -- even the front-wheel-drive GMC Yukon Hybrid makes that cut.

The CAFE rating of a particular car matched what was on the window sticker back in 1978 through 1984, then in 1985 there was a downward adjustment. Window stickers were downwardly adjusted again in 2008, but CAFE still uses the original rating system. Sadly, this means that in real-world terms, 35 mpg CAFE translates to about 27 or 28 mpg in the real world.