The Ford Escort has never startled anyone with bold styling or gee-whiz technology, but it's been the best-selling small car in the country 14 of the past 15 years.
How'd they do it?The formula is simple: a good collection of standard features plus adequate performance, hold the price, hold the excitement.
That pretty much sums up the new '97 Ford Escort, as well as its nearly identical cousin, the Mercury Tracer.
Although it's not quite all-new, it's distinctly improved in all the areas that count - better looks, better ride, better handling and better performance, at a price that ought to keep the Escort close to the top of the compact sales charts.
The impressions that follow are based on a day of sampling new Escorts and Tracers in the hilly country of west central Georgia, not far from the old Franklin Roosevelt retreat at Warm Springs.
The Escort may not have the cocky cuteness of a Neon or the techno-variety available in the Honda Civic, but it's good at everything. And even though it's more attractive inside and out, the biggest improvements aren't visible at a glance.
It's hard to say whether the improved chassis or engine will matter more to Escort and Tracer buyers, so let's start with the former.
The previous Escort used the same chassis as the Mazda Protege, arguably one of the better small car platforms when it was introduced in 1991.
Mazda has since redesigned the Protege, chassis and all, but Ford elected to update the old chassis, a decision that pays off at the bottom line - for you, for Ford and for Ford stockholders.
Thanks to a number of measures aimed at improved structural rigidity, including a sturdy tubular beam mounted beneath the new dashboard, the Escort has an exceptionally solid feel for a small car.
You won't even have to leave the showroom to get a sense of this improvement. Just open a door and swing it shut.
It closes with that solid thunk we associate with quality, and if we held a compact door-slamming derby, I'd expect the Escort to finish at the top of the field.
On the road, the sense of solidness is even stronger.
Stiffening the chassis allowed Ford to make extensive revisions to the suspension and steering, and all pay readily apparent dividends in ride, handling and noise isolation.
The new Escort and Tracer aren't likely to be mistaken for small sport sedans - that's still the province of the Neon - but they're now near the top of the heap for ride quality, and they're more predictable than their predecessors in emergency maneuvers.
Allow me to elaborate on the latter point.
Certain cars exhibit a handling trait known as trailing throttle oversteer. Here's how it works. Say you enter a corner at a fairly high speed and decide you ought to slow down. You take your foot off the throttle, and to your dismay the rear end of the car starts to swing out.
Tramping on the brakes at this point - an instinctive reaction - only makes the situation worse, and quicker than you can say "accident" you're communing with the bushes and weeds.
The previous Escort had this trait to some degree. The new one doesn't.
Even though trailing throttle oversteer is valued by enthusiastic drivers who like to slide a car around corners, it's not something most folks want in a basic transportation vehicle.
The engine towing the new Escorts and Tracers on their daily rounds looks familiar, but it has also been thoroughly worked over.
Increased displacement - 2.0 liters vs. 1.9 - and improvements to the fuel injection system give the Escort 110 horsepower and 124 pounds-feet of torque.
Those aren't exactly eye-widening numbers compared to the Neon's 132 hp, but they look pretty good compared with the wheezy output of the old Escort's 1.9-liter engine.
If you want an Escort with more power, you'll have to wait until next year, when the new coupe will be offered with the option of the Contour's 130-hp Zetec four-cylinder.
Beyond its 25 percent power increase - a boost that improves the Escort's performance from so-so to average among cars in this class - the new engine is also much more pleasant to live with.
It's quieter and smoother than its predecessor, and with the standard five-speed manual transmission it also delivers slightly better highway fuel economy - 28 mpg city, 37 highway - even though it is 200 pounds heavier.
Beyond that, the new engine is more environmentally friendly. Models equipped with automatic transmissions now meet California's tough requirements for low emission vehicle status.
Inside, the new Escort looks much more in step with the late 20th century. The dashboard has the same soft curves and flowing lines as the larger Contour but with fewer subsections, giving the whole layout a more cohesive appearance.
The center of the dash is dominated by an ovoid pod containing the heating and audio controls, a la Taurus.
Like other new Ford products, the new audio controls are large and well marked, a big improvement over the previous Escort, and the climate controls consist of three simple rotary switches that are easy to operate when the car is moving.
Basic instrumentation in the standard Escort is indeed basic - fuel and temperature gauges, plus a speedometer. A tachometer is optional.
On the other hand, you do get comfortable cloth-upholstered seats, an AM/FM radio, power steering and intermittent wipers, a pretty good array of stuff in a basic transportation car.
Front-seat passengers also get plenty of room for heads, hips and legs. Rear-seat legroom is on the snug side but generally competitive with other cars in this class, save for the roomier Neon sedans.
On the other hand, the Escort has an edge over the Neon in trunk capacity, and like virtually all small cars its rear seat back - one-piece in the base car, split in LX modes - flops forward to create more cargo space.
Of course, if you envision hauling slightly bulkier stuff from time to time, the Escort and Tracer offer something that most of the others don't, and that's a station wagon option.
Saturn and the Toyota Corolla are the only other major competitors in the small wagon market, and the Escort beats them both in the price department.
From an exterior design point of view, the Escort and Tracer don't exactly stand out from the crowd. The Neons still set the pace on this score. But they do present a pleasant, contemporary appearance.
The overall look is clearly Ford, particularly reminiscent of the Contour and Mystique, and improved aerodynamics contribute to the commendable reduction in interior noise.
All things considered, this is a much improved car. The old motorized seat belts are gone, the look is clean, the construction is solid, the performance is decent and the ride quality is smooth. It's quiet, clean-running and thrifty.
The element that's going to parlay all the improvements into a winning combination is price.
At $11,430, including destination charges, the base Escort sedan is $500 less than its predecessor, while the LX model - which adds bolt-on wheel covers, a split-folding rear seat, body-colored side moldings and better seats - starts at $11,930, the same as the '96 version.
Some contrasts: The Saturn SL1 sedan starts at $11,785, the Chevy Cavalier at $11,195, the Geo Prizm at $13,325 and the new Honda Civic DX sedan at $12,630.
To be fair, the Cavalier comes with anti-lock brakes as standard equipment. It's a $570 option on the Escort.
But even if you loaded your Escort sedan or wagon with every conceivable option, you probably couldn't get the bottom line to total more than $16,000.
The same can't be said for most of the competition.
That's why the new Escort already looks like one of the best values in its class. And in this class, value is the key ingredient.