But if you look at the auto industry, all the "high efficiency" models use narrower tires at higher pressure than the mainstream models. If you are old enough to remember when they had the yearly fuel economy contest ( I think it was Mobile, but could be mistaken) they always used narrow tires at high pressure.
Just as an aside, most people don't push their cars hard enough to know if they handle well, or how good their tires are. What passes for "handling" is steering precision. If you have not slid, you don't know how your car handles. Have you ever used your space saver spare? Did you notice any difference?