Mine's not an oil burner, oddly. And it's a '93. I wonder how much of this is manufacturing and how much is break-in? Some people buy their cars and drive the piss out of them from day one, others actually follow the break in and they last long as a result, with low oil burn.
Then again, it's hard to imagine THAT many people breaking in their motor wrong (and really, it's not that easy to screw it up for the average car)....