If you want to get all technical then yes you are 100% right, BUT if i drive up and down the freeway to the ACT like i do, doing the same speed each day and driving in the pretty much the same way then all of a sudden throw over 200kg in the car i can tell the difference, yes i could negate that difference by changing my driving style and slowing down and not insisting that i maintain 120kph up every hill and by turning the cruise off and driving my self watching the scangauge every second.
Really lets face it if you drive in the same manor and add weight and roof racks and bigger tyres YOU ARE GOING TO EFFECT YOUR ECONOMY there is no two ways about it, I notice the difference all the time as some days i will just have a few small tools and one ladder and other days i will have 300 kg of sand and cement in the back or maybe three ladders and a few 6m long ally planks and i can tell how much extra fuel that uses.
lets just say that we did a test on an oval circut and we had the ute doing 100kph around it for 100 laps and then did exact same laps and exact same speed on the same day with the same temps and wind direction and humidity then added 200kg+ onto the exterior of the vehicle you would most definitely see a change in economy.
Myth busters did some testing with a tail gate up or down and with a hard cover or a net across the tail gate area, or windows up compared to windows down also with a/c on or off and saw that each one of those things made a difference to the economy.
All those factors can change the fuel economy but yes if you can negate the difference by changing the way you drive but who really wants to say "well i have approximately 238kg on today so i will drop my revs by 3% over a 200km distance and i will slow down from 110kph to 97kph and i will use $4.50less fuel blah blah" blah
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