Between environmental concerns, economic instability and an association of oil with foreign adversarial interests, fuel efficiency has become increasingly more important to the American car buyer. This is reflected in the recently released findings of a gas mileage poll from the Consumer Federation of America.

The poll found that a majority of American citizens support stricter fuel mileage standards on vehicles sold in the U.S.

According to the poll 65 percent felt that the fuel economy standards should be raised to an average of 50 miles per gallon by the year 2025. Currently the average sits at about half that.

What do you think the average gas mileage target should be for 2025?

Oh Ford. How can you possibly build a light-duty truck that gets worse gas mileage than the Hummer H2? Well, that’s precisely the case for the 2010 Ford F-250 Lariat which was recently credited by Consumer Reports for getting the worst mileage of all 2010 vehicles with a shocking 10 mpg in real world tests.

That’s right, 10 miles per gallon. Amazingly, it seems like the Ford F-250 Lariat engine is operating like an ancient dinosaur. Sure, you’re getting plenty of power, but at what cost? With current gas prizes and regular driving, it won’t take long for a Ford F-250 owner to have paid for the vehicle twice, not to mention the amount of greenhouse gases they will have pumped into the air.

The most fuel efficient vehicles in CR’s real world tests were the Toyota Prius at 44 mpg, the Smart Fortwo at 39 mpg and the Honda Insight EX at 38 mpg.

According to a memo sent out this morning from Chevy spokesman Brian Goebel the latest internal tests of the new 2010 Chevy Equinox has it running at an impressive 32 mpg on the highway and 22 mpg in the city.

The tests were done on the four-cylinder version of the Chevy Equinox that uses the new 2.4 liter direct injected EcoTec engine. It was originally expected to top out at 30 mpg but the engineers have squeaked a little more out of it in the last few months.

This puts the Equinox well ahead of comparable vehicles like the Toyota RAV4 that gets 22 mpg in the city and 28 on the highway or the Honda CR-V, which gets 20 in the city and 27 on the highway.

The 2010 Chevy Equinox should be available for purchase this June.