The mid-price sedan market is extremely competitive. Nearly every manufacturer has an entry and several sell huge numbers of sedans in this price range. With such a long list of competitors, it's easy for a mediocre car to get lost in a crowd. That crowd includes the three biggest selling sedans on the market, the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus. But the closest competitors from a size and price standpoint are the Ford Contour and Pontiac Grand Am.

Many of the players in this field have decided to take the safe route with styling that tends to be bland and, in some cases, downright boring. That's not the case with the Cirrus. It's got the type of panache that once would have been found only in a coupe.

And these good looks are more than just skin deep. Cirrus is a textbook example of Chrysler's cab-forward design. The airy cabin is wide, while the wheelbase has been stretched to the point where the tires nearly nuzzle the bumpers. This design improves stability. The aggressive, steep-sloping hood line gives the Cirrus a constant sense of motion.

One of Chrysler's goals with the Cirrus is to attract baby boomers who grew up buying imported cars. For this reason, the Cirrus does not come in a six-passenger configuration. Instead of a bench, there are two leather-clad bucket seats up front and a bench seat in back. But rear-seat passengers are going to be impressed with the expansive space available for their legs and torsos.

Quality of fit and finish is quite good. Chrysler is certainly not a leader in this area, but the company has been working hard to improve the quality of its construction and it shows. Door gaps have been tightened and everything seems to be put together better than we remembered when we first drove the car a few years back.

The interior design is handsome. Several shades of earthy browns and creams in our test car made for an attractive appearance. Faux wood trim strives to give the Cirrus a more luxurious look.

Seats are comfortable and supportive in all the right places. Electric seat controls are well positioned and easy to operate. Likewise, the switchgear on the dash is intuitive and easy. The gauges are simple, well laid out and easy to read by day and night. A nice touch is the electroluminescent PRNDL display in the instrument cluster. Another nice touch is the penholder mounted inside the center console. The audio system was an especially nice touch. It comes with a cassette player and a CD upgrade is available.

In spite of its quiet ride, the LXi does not isolate the driver from the road and that's one of the best features of the Cirrus. You are readily in touch with what the car is doing at all times. Credit the independent front and rear suspension, front and rear anti-roll bars, and rack-and-pinion steering.

The antilock brakes proved comfortably sure-footed on wet and dreary Detroit highways. The braking system employs front discs and rear drums.

Headlight performance sometimes suffers with small, aerodynamic headlamps. This is a phenomenon we've noticed with many manufacturers as most people like modern stylish headlights, but few take lighting performance into consideration. As if to make up for it, fog lights come as standard equipment on the LXi.

Chrysler has been refining the Cirrus ever since its introduction. Noise, vibration and harshness have been reduced and performance has been increased. It also appears that Chrysler is making serious efforts to address some of the Cirrus's early quality problems. We hope to see this confirmed by results from independent surveys in upcoming months.

Plain and simple, Cirrus is a car that belongs on your shopping list if you're looking for an affordable sedan but want all the room and features of something bigger and more expensive.