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THE 1988 FESTIVA is the newest among a litter of automotive mongrelsyelping for attention in a crowded small-car market.

The Festiva will get more notice than most. It’s a cute, cuddlylittle thing, designed by Ford and Mazda in Japan and assembled by KiaMotors in South Korea.

But it’ll cost a bit to take home. The base Festiva lists under$6,000. But in top dress, the rascal could cost over eight grand.

The test Festiva is loaded to the grille: electric dual outsidemirrors; AM/FM stereo radio and cassette; air conditioner; five-speedautomatic transaxle; and a high-quality cloth and vinyl interior. Allnecessary stuff in economy class.

Drive this motorized mutt for several hundred miles and you get thefeeling that poverty’s gone upscale. I mean, hey, this ain’t youraverage Yugo (a $3,990 subpar minicar now being sold with rebates insome places).

Nahh. The Festiva LX is different. It’s surrogate status. It’smission is to placate those upwardly mobile types who haven’t quitearrived; and it seems to have enough moxie to pull the job off.

It’s a pug-nosed hummer. Not at all bad in highway traffic. And it’spretty terrific in urban combat, too.

Goodness! We’ve had Pony Cars, Muscle Cars and Cat Cars (akaPimpmobiles) in this country. But if this winsome oddity comes anywherenear meeting Ford’s sales projections, the age of the Puppy Car surelywill be upon us.

Woof! Woof!

Concern: The Festiva can really scamper. Moves from zero to 60 inabout 11 seconds. And it can build up 58 hp at 5,000 rpm. Prettyinteresting numbers for a 1.3-liter, four-cylinder, single-overhead-cam,Mazda-made engine. But, whoa! Check out the weight of this thing. Adippy 1,720 lbs. Know what that means? Unh-hunh. Means you better bedarned sure you don’t hit anybody at speed in this one. The Festiva’s5-mph bumpers are tough, but not that tough.

Praise: Despite its weight and size, the Festiva is put togetherquite well. No ticky-tacky anywhere. In fact — and I gotta swallow tosay this — this Festiva had better fit and finish than the comparablypriced Volkswagen Fox I love so much; it certainly has as much spirit.

This front-wheel-drive car seats four adults in reasonable comfort onshort trips. And it can carry their briefcases, too.

Head-turning quotient: Pettable, lovable, fundamentally endearing.

Ride and handling: Ride’s pretty decent for a small car with atypical small-car suspension — McPherson struts up front withstabilizer bar, torsion beam in rear. Definitely not new technology. Butthe quality of assembly on the test model is impeccable.

Handling leaves something to be desired. That manual rack-and-pinionsteering can be a chore; and those skinny 12-inch tires don’t do much inthe corners. Still, sane drivers should find the Festiva quite adequateon the road, particularly for daily commutes.

Sound system: Electronic AM/FM stereo radio and cassette with fourspeakers, factory. Good ton e quality and signal retention.

Mileage: Easily 30 to the gallon (10-gallon tank, estimated 290-milerange on usable volume), combined city-highway, windows open, carryingmixed loads (one to four occupants).

Price: $7,923, including $688 for manual control air conditioner,$137 for sound system with digital clock, and $230 destination charge.Base price on the test model, a spiffed-up LX, is $6,868. Estimateddealer’s invoice price on tested model, $7,000.73.