washingtonpost.com's view

This is a city of conspicuous subtlety. It revels in glitter and glitters in revelry. Nothing, it seems, is too flashy.

But the locals say the wrong kind of flash can get you robbed or worse –especially when it comes to cars. It’s a poverty thing.

At least 28 percent of the city’s population lives below the federal poverty line, estimated at $16,545 annually in 1997 for a family of four. Another 22 percent is struggling to make ends meet at that level or with incomes that place them marginally above it.

Cheap cars, as a result, are in. They include used models and new runabouts, such as the 1998 Chevrolet Metro LSi Coupe I drove here.

The Metro drew little attention, which was good and bad. The good was that I could park it almost anywhere. No one bothered it, not even the cops. I got no tickets.

The bad was in highway driving.

Traffic here moves swiftly, especially on Interstate 10, which carries cars and trucks east and west of the city. It is a most undisciplined movement — more rowdy and hazardous than traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, which I found remarkable.

Bigger cars and trucks whizzed by the LSi, a wisp of a thing 149.4 inches long, 54.7 inches high and 62.6 inches wide that weigh 1,895 pounds in a world where a 3,280-pound vehicle is considered “average.”

I wasn’t worried about getting hit by a truck. I was on the lookout for fast-moving Toyota Corollas, Hyundai Sonatas and Chevrolet Cavaliers!

But the locals praised my choice of a rental car. Said one: “You don’t wanna look like you got lots of money in `The Big Easy,’ ’cause’ round here there’s always somebody lookin’ to take it from you.”

The Metro LSi Coupe’s value showed best in inner-city driving. The streets here are narrow, and the alleys are narrower still. The little Metro, with its daytime running lights constantly ablaze, negotiated those often-congested passageways with aplomb.

On several occasions, the front-wheel-drive Metro’s nimbleness tempted me to steal little parking spots that bigger cars were trying to wedge into. But I grew up here and, as a former local reporter, wrote many of this city’s crime stories. I thought better of the idea. Besides, there was always an uncontested micro-parking spot somewhere else.

New Orleans’s inner-city streets highlighted another of the Metro LSi Coupe’s virtues — its four-wheel independent suspension system, made up of MacPherson struts, stabilizer bars and coil springs front and rear.

Tiny cars tend to lose their composure on rough streets such as those potholed, rippled thoroughfares in this city’s Lower Ninth Ward. But the Metro LSi Coupe kept its balance, never once hinting that it might bounce or slip out of control.

The car was equipped with a standard — for the LSi — aluminum-block, aluminum-cylinder-head 1.3liter in-line four-cylinder engine designed to produce 79 horsepower at 6,000 rotations per minute and 75 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm. (You shoul dn’t even think about trying to pull a trailer, or anything else, with this one.)

Standard brakes included power front discs and rear drums. Four-wheel antilocks are optional.

A five-speed manual transmissionis standard, and it works best with the Metro LSI coupe and sedan and the base one-liter Metro Coupe. A three-speed automatic is available, but it’s a choppy, buzzy affair and is not recommended by this column.

Chevrolet Metro LSi Coupe

Complaint: Easily outsized by almost everything else on the highway. It’s like driving through a tunnel of fast-moving metal.

Praise: Great for neighborhood and inner-city travel, where traffic tends to move more slowly. The perfect short-distance commuter car.

Head-turning quotient: Mentally invisible. We should all be grateful that it comes with standard daytime running lights, which help to increase its visibility.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Excellent small-car handling at urban speeds. Gets a bit dicey — t he front end tends to skitter — at highway speeds. Very good braking.

Safety: Dual front air bags, side-impact beams, all of the usual stuff. But get real. This is an itty-bitty car, which means it has itty-bitty crumple zones front and rear, which means that getting whacked or whacking something in this one can quickly put you in a grave or hospital bed.

Mileage: Very good! About 36 miles per gallon. Fuel tank holds 10.6 gallons of recommended 87-octane unleaded. Estimated range, combined city-highway, is 378 miles on usable volume of fuel. Running with two occupants and light cargo (8.4 cubic feet in Metro LSi Coupe).

Sound system: Four-speaker AM-FM stereo radio and cassette. Installed by Delco Electronics. Okay.

Price: Base price on the Chevrolet Metro LSi Coupe is $9,455. Dealer invoice is $8,812. Price as tested — no options, not even power windows — is $9,795, including a $340 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: Good value as a runabout/commuter. Compare with ToyotaTercel, Hyundai Accent and Kia Sephia.