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THE 1995 Monte Carlo LS is a Friday evening in June with a big orange sun falling behind a softball field. It’s a Saturday trip to an amusement park and a Sunday visit to a favorite church, where you don’t have to worry about being late, because even if the parking lot is filled, you can still leave the thing on the street without much worry.

That’s not to say the Monte Carlo LS is ugly or anything. It’s attractive enough with its long nose and short rear, and its rear “sail panel” borrowed from the back end of a Cadillac Eldorado.

The Monte Carlo LS is competent enough, too. I mean, it’s not a racer or a high-performance car like its 1970s namesake, which was first to cross the finish line in numerous contests sponsored by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. No. This Monte Carlo is different. It is deliberate bread-and-butter stuff, a front-wheel-driver that moves down the highway with ease, changes lanes without a hitch, and does its thing pretty decently in the corners.

I like this car in the manner that I like anything reliable, comfortable, affordable and reasonably attractive — a favorite pair of khaki pants, a much-washed denim shirt, an old, but remarkably serviceable pair of loafers. Come to think of it, this is all most Americans ever wanted in a car — something they could depend on, something they’d be happy to be seen in, something they could love.

Background: Chevrolet is going to sell a bunch of Monte Carlo cars, two-door coupes available as the tested base LS and the closer-to-sporty Z34.

The Monte Carlo didn’t go on sale until this month, but Chevy already has in excess of 40,000 orders for those models, easily double the initial public demand for the Lumina coupe, which the Monte Carlo replaces for model-year 1995. A completely revised, four-door Lumina sedan (the Lumina name stays with the four-door model) completes Chevy’s mid-size offerings for 1995.

How’d Chevy do it?This time, the division’s pooh-bahs and their bosses in the General Motors parent organization actually listened to what consumers said in clinics across the country. People told ’em that they wanted something affordable in a mid-size car, reliable and reasonably well-styled, and Chevy gave it to ’em. Folks said they wanted dual-front air bags, standard power door locks, standard air conditioning and standard four-wheel-disc brakes with anti-lock backup, and Chevy gave it to ’em. Genius, I tell ya. Give consumers what they want at a reasonable price, and they go out and buy it. What a concept!

The Monte Carlo LS is equipped with a 3.1-liter V-6 rated 160 horsepower at 5,200 rpm. Maximum torque is set at 185 foot-pound at 4,000 rpm. The Z34 comes with a 3.4-liter V-6 rated 210 horsepower at 5,200 rpm, with maximum torque set at 215 foot-pounds at 4,000 rpm.

Both cars seat four people comfortably, five with a squeeze; and both are equipped with standard five-speed automatic transmissions.

Complaints: Steering feels a little loose; but that’s a totally subjective nitpick. The feeling didn’t affect actual driveability.

Praise: Put the Monte Carlo and its 1995 Lumina cousins on the shopping list for mid-size cars. Leave them off, and you could wind up spending a lot more money for cars that, all things considered, are a lot less competent.

Head-turning quotient: Down-home warmth. You know it’s a Chevy.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Decent all the way around. Despite the “loose” steering feel, cornering and other handling matters were a lot better than I expected from a Lumina-type vehicle. Braking was very good. Really nice job, Chevy.

Mileage: About 23 to the gallon (17.1-gallon tank, estimated 381-mile range on useable volume of regular unleaded), combined city-highway, running with one to five occupants and light cargo.

Sound system: AM/FM stereo radio and cassette, GM-Delco system. Very good.

Price: Base price is $16,770. Dealer’s invoice is $15,177. Price as tested is $17,867, including $572 in options and a $525 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: Excellent buy for the money. Compare with anything — repeat, anything — in the mid-price, mid-size car category.