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I love it when I’m right, maybe because of the rarity of that happenstance. It didn’t exactly take a genius, though, to predict the Chrysler PT Cruiser would be a phe-nom. I tested a gaggle of them before they went on sale, and now, more than a year after they first rolled off the trucks and through showrooms (they did not loiter), they’re still fetching well above manufacturer’s suggested.

Why? Well, obviously they’re the most audacious-looking mass-market vehicle we’ve seen since the wind tunnel began dictating styling. But beyond that, they’re affordable, and fairly decent cars (trucks, actually, though loosely based on the Neon platform). But I think there’s a better choice. Read on.

The suggested retail price on the sparest PT is $15,935, before tax and freight. That gets you essentially the same shell and engine as the bedizened Limited Edition, which goes for about $4,000 more. In the cruel world of supply and demand, according to the automotive analysis firm Edmunds, you’ll have to pay a two-grand premium on either series. Considering the price range we’re talking about, that’s major, but not unexpected. DaimlerChrysler wisely set production targets low enough to make sure every dealer got some PTs, but not so high as to dampen demand for what is essentially a novelty product.

Needless to say, they’ve revised output goals a couple of times, putting on extra shifts and workers at the Toluca, Mexico plant where PTs for North America are hatched, along with the Graz, Austria plant, which serves European needs. More than 220,000 PTs have been sold, and DaimlerChrysler says production capacity, now at 180,000/year, will expand to 310,000 by the end of 2002 – that’s optimism. That still adds up to a trifling percentage of vehicles on the road, which partially explains why the little gangsta-mobile is still a head-turner.

I tested a 2001-model PT (Personal Transportation) Cruiser for this review. It was technically a standard edition, which, through optioning abandon, had been built up to the moral equivalent of a Limited, including badges.

The fanciful shell at first disguises the inherent practicality. Although it is, at 169 inches overall length, as compact as it looks (smaller than a Ford Focus), it still provides the interior space of a full-size car – 120 cubic feet in the Environmental Protection Agency’s way of reckoning.

As for disposition of that volume, DaimlerChrysler claims there are 26 permutations, depending on whether the rear seats are folded (65/35), or removed, and how you deal with the cargo area per se, which comes with a divider shelf that can do double duty as a tailgate party table.

I must admit I didn’t try all the possibilities beyond assuring myself that an exercise-averse computer jock could, if necessary, remove the smaller rear seat unaided. It was apparent that the other one would require enlisting the help of the Supreme Domestic Authority, so I didn’t go there.

With the rear seats in place – and they’d do for folks beneath driving age, though putting three of them back there would be asking for a revolution – you have 19 cubic feet of cargo space to play with, more than you’d get in a typical large-car trunk. Dump the second-class seating and it swells to 64 cubic feet. The navigator’s station folds nearly flat if you want to take on lengthy burdens.

I’m a few thousand miles of linguini beyond being suited for a compact car, but did not feel cramped behind the wheel of the Cruiser, though I was thankful that the wheel tilts up through a decent arc to ease entry.

The Limited class has leather-trimmed seats. I found them not particularly attractive, as leather-and-vinyl treatments go, but worse, they didn’t offer the appropriate support for long hauls. In the more plausible around-town work, they sufficed.

One is not likely to drive the PT very hard, beyond what’s required to eke out some semblance of zippiness. When I started treating it like orts car, the chassis deficiencies soon became apparent. It felt as if it didn’t have sufficient tire contact, although that was not the case. The Limited comes with 16-inch wheels covered with hefty 205/55 Goodyear rubber.

In more sedate forms of motoring, however, the PT was very pleasant. It stepped over bumps and breaks in pavement as if it were wearing high-tech walking shoes, and showed neither excessive roll nor an objectionable amount of pitching on my favorite bad road taken unduly swiftly.

The tester was equipped with the five-speed manual transmission. Not a model of precision, it nonetheless was competent. It took a few cycles to become accustomed to the long-throw, slow-acting clutch, which might be a boon to neophyte shifters. In one of my more exuberant moments I managed to pull the cue-ball-shaped handle right off the end of the shifter. Most of those appliances screw on, but this one is just friction-clamped. A dab of epoxy would help.

The five-speed is the way to go to maximize the performance, given the inadequate powerplant. A double-overhead-cam four-banger, it produces a modest 150 hp and 162 foot-pounds of torque. (The Neon gets that many horses from 2 liters.) With 3,300 pounds (car and driver) to pull around, that would deliver modest enthusiasm at best. And in this case, it’s hampered by excessively-high gearing; both fourth and fifth are overdrive ratios, and third is rather high, too. The engine was no model of deportment. Below 3,000, forget it. Right around 3,000, it starts to show some verve, but – at least on the hand-picked sample I had – it was balky, feeling as if it was misfiring. In the 4,000-6,000 range, it felt more in the game, but sounded rather thrashy, and still wasn’t like going on afterburner.

Once up to freeway cruising speeds, the Cruiser was stable and fairly quiet, although when the moonroof was wide open, there was an unpleasant drumming sensation in the cabin. Despite the PT’s having a profile nearly as un-aerodynamic as an SUV’s (0.379 coefficient of drag), there was little wind noise at speed with the roof buttoned. The steering was appropriately weighted, and the vehicle felt stable and determined flying down the highway.

The stereo was mediocre in both tuner sensitivity and overall sound quality. EPA estimates are 20 mpg city, 26 highway on regular gas. My 22.1 reflected a studious avoidance of the lower rev ranges.

Base PTs have disc brakes front, drums rear. The Limited has discs fore and aft, with the addition of antilock. Pedal feel was quite good, modulation easy, and stopping distances comfortably short. The antilock functioned as it should. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash-tested a PT with discouraging results. Co-pilot protection in a 35-mph frontal impact was pretty good (4 stars on a 5-star scale), but the dummy driver didn’t fare so well. A dismal 2-star rating reflected severe intrusion resulting in a likelihood of leg and head injuries. Better you should get hit from the side – in that test, the front occupants get 4-star protection, while those in the rear do even better – 5 stars. (Side air bags are an option, which I heartily endorse.) The Insurance Institute has not yet subjected a PT to its more demanding 40-mph offset frontal barrier crash. When they do, I’d suspect they’ll do a press release and the films will be on the evening news, if you get my drift.

With a $4,685 package that built it into a Limited, an underseat storage drawer for $25, CD changer for $125, freight and a package discount, total on the tester was $20,710. Payments on that would be $420, assuming 20 percent down, 10 percent financing and 48 coupons.

In my opinion, if you want a dazzling design, but with a better engine, superior safety and a much more fun-to-drive ambience, you should be looking at the VW New Beetle.

“The Gannett News Service”