And How About 1,721 m.p.g.?

A sporty little foreign job that costs $1,000 and wrings 1,721 miles out of a gallon of gas? The numbers sound preposterous, but they are the vital statistics of a tiny, cigar-shaped one-man Dutch "car" that traveled a test track in eastern Holland last week to win a sexy sobriquet: the world's most economical gasoline-fueled auto.

Dutch engineers kept the machine's weight down to 130.5 lbs. by fashioning the body out of plastics. A 50-cc moped motor was tuned for top efficiency. To maintain the required 9.3 m.p.h. average speed, the driver repeatedly accelerated, coasted until the speed dropped, then slowly speeded up again.

The mileage competition shows that there is enormous room for improvement in auto efficiency. Last week, the Transportation Department rejected a petition by U.S. automakers for a reduction in federal mileage standards. This means that carmakers must boost average mileage of this year's 19-m.p.g. minimum to 26 m.p.g. in 1983, on the way toward 27.5 m.p.g. in 1985.

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