My SE5 gets 28-30mpg as well, but I refuse to use granny mode.
My wife recently retired. We carpooled. My commute is down from 100 mi to 80 mi/day. Love the bike and have watched the hype grow the last couple of years.
We sold our 2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP intercooled turbo with direct fuel injection so that I could buy this bike. The Pontiac weighed 2800lbs, made 260HP, would do 160 mph and we got 27 MPG in anti-granny mode. The wife usually drove faster than I did!
What surprises me the most is the lack of efficiency with these Rotax engines. It's no wonder everyone is disappointed with the fuel mileage.
The bike has a 4:1 weight advantage to go along with the poor mileage, but does have more leg room then the Pontiac did.
Not complaining, but we are stuck with what the canucks gave us.
Spyder-sense