Ok, my contribution towards actually providing useful information to this discussion...
Specific Range for the E175: (nm/lb)
Weight**** Alt *******.78M******* LRC
80,000 ****FL350 ***************0.122
*********FL300 *****0.107 ******0.118
*********FL250 *************** 0.111
76,000 ****FL350 ****0.122 ****** 0.127
*********FL300 *****0.109*******0.124
*********FL250 ****************0.115
70,000 ****FL350 ****0.129 ******0.134
**********FL300 ****0.113 ***** 0.131
**********FL250 *****.******** 0.120
These are just some representative numbers. 80,000lbs is generally what a fully loaded 175 weighs upon reaching cruise for a longer leg (2-2.5hr). 76,000lbs is a normal weight for a highly loaded 175 on a shorter regional hop, and 70,000 lbs is typical for short VFR legs with a 3/4 load. .78M is what we are generally filed for, and LRC is long range cruise, which of course varies (usually in the .70-.73M range). Often we pull back to .74 or .76, so a value in between .78 and LRC is typical for us. Any missing values above are due to lack of data in the manual for various reasons.
Hopefully this data is useful for comparison. I would be interested to see what a 737 does, if someone would please post.
I know the longer CRJ's are probably posting better numbers; I would be interested to see those as well. My expectation is that the heavier iron also has better numbers, at least when burn per passenger is considered. Anyhow, I offer the above in hopes of having an informative discussion, not a p1ss1ng contest.
Sorry for the formatting, but FI does not seem to like the way I tried to space the columns first time around.