chicagotribune.com's view

The Heartbeat of America. Even toddlers know the line.

And who can forget baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.

When it comes to slogans, the folks at Chevrolet are top-notch incementing them in the minds of the public.

Perhaps that`s why Chevy waited a couple of years before bringing out the Corsica-to give people time to forget the Citation.

Corsica is the compact, front-wheel-drive L-body successor to thecompact, front-wheel-drive Citation X-body. That`s X as in Class Axtion suitafter charges the brakes tended to lock in a panic situation.

So by dropping the Citation after the `85 model run and not bringing theL-body Corsica out until mid-1987 as an `88 model, Chevy put some distancebetween the two.

Corsica has become the third best selling car in the Chevy line; so themove worked. Through the first seven months of 1988 Cavalier sales totaled184,476, Celebrity 156,630 and Corsica 136,613, just ahead of Beretta at123,688.

Corsica is the four-door sedan member of GM`s compact L-body team. TheBeretta is the two-door sporty coupe.

We test-drove the 1988 Corsica LT.

Styling is clean. The sheet metal won`t force your eyes to pop or yourjaw to drop, but you won`t have to hide it in the garage, either. It has therounded aero look borrowed from the Ford Taurus. The Chevy bowtie logo restsin the grille so that no one confuses it for a Ford.

Like Citation, Corsica offers basic transportation with good rear seatroom for adult passengers and a trunk with ample storage.

Nice little package, but with a few hardships, such as a 5-speed that was very notchy and not nearly as smooth as in Beretta. You need a Ph.D. inphysical science to figure out the manual adjustments for the seats and acurved spine to appreciate the myriad positions.

Base engine is a 2-liter 4-cylinder. The car we drove had the optional($660) 2.8-liter multiport, fuel-injected V-6, a lively little power plantthat would have been appreciated more if not for the balky 5-speed. Automatic is a $490 option.

The LT came with what`s called option package No. 4, which runs $2,220and includes deluxe steering wheel, all-season steel belted radial tires,sports suspension, 14-inch styled steel wheels, air conditioning, tintedglass, carpeted mats, dual horns, speed control, tilt wheel, intermittentwipers, power windows/door locks/trunk opener, and electronically tuned AM/FM stereo with cassette and digital clock.

Base price: $9,555. With a few other popular options such as rear windowdefogger, $145; heavy duty battery, $26; gauges, $139; locking wheel covers,$159; and cloth bucket seats, $275, the car listed for $13,239 plus $400freight.