Chevrolet Sprint Metro Tops EPA List a Third Year : Japanese Dominance Fades as Domestic Models Rank High in Gas Mileage Tests

For the third year in a row, the three-cylinder Chevrolet Sprint has captured the top rating in the annual gasoline mileage tests of the Environmental Protection Agency.

There was no change in the second spot, either, held by a Honda Civic.

The 1,875-pound Sprint Metro model was rated at 54 miles per gallon in city driving and 58 m.p.g. on the highway, the same figures recorded for the Sprint ER last year. The Honda Civic CRX HF tested at 50 m.p.g. city, 56 m.p.g. highway.

The Lamborghini Countach, a sports car from Italy appearing on EPA’s list for the first time, was rated at 6 m.p.g. in the city, the lowest figure EPA has ever recorded, and 10 m.p.g. on the highway.

Last year’s biggest guzzlers, several Rolls-Royce models, appeared on the list again just ahead of the Lamborghini at 8 m.p.g. city, 10 m.p.g. highway.

There is no list of top domestic cars this year. EPA said it stopped producing one because of the increasing confusion over what a domestic car is.

Japanese car makers Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda now produce cars in the United States, sometimes in joint ventures with U.S. companies. Typically, they ship major components such as engines and transmissions from Japan.

Ford Entry High in Ratings

These components are so costly that usually the value of domestic content, including labor, in the cars is a little more than 50%. EPA requires a model to have at least 75% domestic content to be counted as a domestic car.

“The same models are sometimes marketed by the foreign manufacturer, and the public perceives those models as imports. Therefore, EPA finds it no longer beneficial to list strictly domestic models,” the agency said in a statement.

In some years, the list of the best mileage ratings has been an all-Japanese affair, but not this year.

Ford’s Festiva, made in Korea by Ford’s 10%-owned affiliate, Kia Motors Co., was ranked fifth at 39 m.p.g. city, 43 m.p.g. highway. The car weighs less than 1,800 pounds and has the second-smallest engine, 81 cubic inches. The Sprint’s 61 cubic inches is the smallest.

Counting sister models sold as the Pontiac Firefly and the Suzuki Forsa, the Sprint captured seven of the top 12 positions.

EPA produces the mileage list as a byproduct of its testing of cars for exhaust pollution. Calculation of mileage is relatively simple once the exhaust gases have been analyzed, which EPA must do anyway.

At the bottom of the list, buyers of six of the thirstiest 11 cars will have to pay the variable “gas-guzzler” tax imposed in the mid-1970s, when Congress required all cars to meet certain mileage standards. The Rolls and the Bentley escape the tax, however, because of a quirk in the law--it applies only to cars weighing less than 6,000 pounds, and they weigh more.

The Lamborghini bears the most tax, $3,850.

In the past, most of the cars taxed as gas guzzlers have been very expensive luxury cars or high-performance sports cars. But this year’s gas guzzlers include models from Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer that has advertised its cars as safe and durable.

The Volvo 780, introduced during the 1987 model year, and the redesigned 740 and 760 models, are rated at 17 m.p.g. in the city, 20 m.p.g. on the highway. That makes them subject to a $650 tax, said Fred Hammond, spokesman at Volvo’s U.S. headquarters in Rockleigh, N.J.

“I don’t think we’re too happy about it,” he said.

The cars are powered by 174-cubic inch, six-cylinder engines designed more for power (145 horsepower, compared to 125 horsepower from a 173-cubic inch, six-cylinder engine in General Motors cars) and smoothness than for economy, Hammond said. “We needed to have that engine to meet consumer demand.”

Many observers have noted a shift back to larger and more powerful cars in the stable gasoline prices of recent years. But Louis Priebe, spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Assn., said he believed that the trend had gone as far as it was going to go.

“Few developments have had as profound an impact on our business as the fuel shortages of the mid-1970s,” he said. “Fuel economy is still important.”