Today’s Cars as Thirsty as Those in 1987 : Environment: Fuel economy again shows little gain. The Big 3 blame consumers, who want larger, peppier models.

Auto makers are showing little or no gain in fuel economy for the fifth straight year, with 1991 model cars having on average as much thirst at the gasoline pumps as they did in 1987, the government reported today.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual fuel economy statistics covering about 1,000 cars, 1991 models--domestics and imports--show an average of 28.1 miles per gallon, slightly better than last year and identical to the fleet average in 1987.

While the most miserly cars, such as the mini-compact Geo Metro, attain more than 50 m.p.g., more than half the cars on the list achieved no better than 22 m.p.g. The increasingly popular passenger vans and specialty vehicles could on average do no better than the high teens.

The manufacturers want to “sell bigger engines, more muscle and acceleration, which they call performance,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a Washington-based consumer organization and a frequent critic of the auto makers.

Auto industry executives have pointed to the significant improvements in fuel economy of cars since the 1970s, when the fleet average was only about 14 m.p.g., and have attributed the more recent figures to consumer demand for larger, peppier cars.

Similar views are found in automobile showrooms.

“It’s not the industry pushing performance. It’s the consumer that’s been demanding it in the last few years,” said Ray Turk, a salesman at a Nissan dealership in suburban Maryland.

The EPA noted that between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s significant gains were made in making automobiles more fuel efficient. “Since 1982, however, the overall fleet fuel economy figures have increased only slightly, partly because stable oil prices reduced the demand for fuel-efficient vehicles,” the agency said.

Since 1987 the fleet-wide averages have been virtually at a standstill. They were 28.1 m.p.g. in 1987, 28.6 m.p.g. in 1988, 28.1 m.p.g. in 1989 and 27.8 m.p.g. in 1990.

GAS MISERS vs. GAS GUZZLERS

Here are the 1991 models with the best and worst fuel economy ratings, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

BEST

Model City Hwy Geo Metro XFI 53 58 Honda Civic CRX 49 52 Geo Metro 45 50 Geo Metro LSI 45 50 Suzuki Swift 45 50 Honda Civic CRX 43 49 Geo Metro LSI 41 46 Suzuki Swift 39 43 Daihatsu Charade 38 42 Volkswagen Jetta 37 43

WORST

Model City Hwy Lamborghini Diablo 9 14 Rolls Silver Spirit 10 13 Rolls Corniche III 10 13 Bentley Turbo 10 13 Bentley Eight-Mulsn 10 13 Bentley Continental 10 13 Ferrari Testarossa 10 15 BMW M5 11 20 Ferrari F40 12 17 BMW 750il-850il 12 18