For Both Cars and Drivers, U.S. Greed for Gas Grows

American drivers are burning record amounts of gasoline this year and increasingly turning to vehicles with more zip and less fuel efficiency, federal statistics show.

This summer’s gasoline consumption nationwide peaked at 356 million gallons a day in July and averaged a record 336 million gallons a day for the first eight months of the year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

The latest fuel mileage statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency for 1998 models, released this weekend, show efficiency at a standstill. While a handful of small cars gets high mileage, nine of every 10 vehicles get less than 30 miles per gallon and nearly a fifth get less than 20 mpg.

For the eighth time in nine years, Chevrolet’s Geo Metro subcompact was the stingiest fuel miser, getting 46 mpg in combined city and highway driving. It was followed by two Volkswagens, the Jetta and Passat, at 43 mpg.

But motorists are showing continued interest in sport utility vehicles and peppy cars, with 1998 models now coming into showrooms emphasizing performance and style over fuel economy. Auto makers say they are providing what the consumer wants.

Much of the increase in gasoline use stems from the robust economy, simply having more vehicles on the road and people driving faster after states raised speed limits. Total miles traveled have been going up 2% or 3% a year.

But drivers also are buying more fuel-hungry cars, especially larger sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks, than they did a decade ago when automobile fuel efficiency hit its peak, according to industry and energy efficiency experts.

Critics of fuel economy requirements emphasized that while a handful of cars get 40-plus miles per gallon, few people buy them: They account for less than 1% of all car sales.

More than two decades ago, Congress required that the average car get 27.5 miles per gallon, and it set the ceiling for small trucks at 20.7 mpg. At that time, trucks accounted for less than one of every five vehicles on the road. Today, pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans, all officially classified as light trucks, account for nearly one of every two vehicles.

EPA experts on fuel efficiency say the downward trend shows every indication of continuing over the latest two model years, although aggregate numbers have not yet been determined for this year or the 1998 models.

Meanwhile, they say, passenger vehicles since the mid-1980s also have in the aggregate become peppier and heavier. Average acceleration from zero to 60 mph has been cut by nearly two seconds, while passenger vehicles weigh on average 500 pounds more than they did in the mid-1980s, according to the EPA.

Predictably, a fast car finished last in the fuel efficiency ratings. The Lamborghini Diablo weighed in at 10 miles a gallon.