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It was the season of bare branches and stiff winds. Life shifted to getting in and out of mall parking lots, ducking in and out of parties, and loving nature to the point of chopping it down, hauling it home, festooning it with lights and glass ornaments, and sticking it in a corner until its needles lost color and fell to the floor.

The madness required an antidote, a getaway car, a manger-mobile — simple, pure, honest, yet capable of working a miracle — at least, a small one.

Unto this time and space came the 1999 Saturn SC1 coupe, which did not fit the normal description of a coupe. Coupes have two doors. This one had three — a rather wide passenger-side door, a driver-side door, and a narrow third door behind the driver’s seat.

Other than the extra door, there was nothing special about the SC1, a wedge-nosed, front-wheel-drive economy car with fabric-covered seats. But people, all kinds of people, came from everywhere to look at it. “Show us the door!” they demanded. “Is that the one with the extra door?” they asked. “Oh, how cute!” some exclaimed. “Brilliant!” others declared. “Pretty soon, everyone will be making cars like this,” one man said.

I marveled at this.

A week earlier, I had driven a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, a grand mobile bedecked with expensive wood and soft, rich leather. Of course, it drew admirers, legions of them. But theirs was a transient affection, sometimes tainted by jealousy.

By comparison, the ovation that greeted the new Saturn SC1 bordered on love. People genuinely liked it, were in awe of it, expressed gratitude for it — as if someone finally had answered their prayers by providing an affordable coupe that made practical sense.

In other respects, changes to the Saturn coupe were few. Visibly, tangibly few, anyway.

For example, one improvement was something you couldn’t hear — the wheezy whining of a restricted exhaust system that gave the car a cheapness. The new SC1 coupe has a large-volume exhaust, better resonator and other fixes that dampen exhaust-flow noises under most driving conditions.

And there’s a new air-bag system, which you wouldn’t notice unless you had a frontal crash. The new bags, now required by federal rule, deploy with less force than the older models, which is a good thing in a small car. Less force means less of a chance for fatal bag injuries to children and small adults, especially if they are wearing seat belts and shoulder harnesses.

Also, the new SC1 coupe has dual cup holders in both the front and rear consoles, and there is a standard, five-speed manual transmission and standard brakes consisting of power front discs/rear drums. Anti-lock braking with traction control is optional. It is recommended by this column and will cost $695 to install.

All of which pales in significance to the essential appeal of the SC1 coupe, which is this: It is the coupe with three doors, a trinitarian triumph that somehow transcends everything else and — at leas t in the minds of many consumers — puts the car in a class by itself.

1999 Saturn SC1

Complaints: Little cable-like noises coming from beneath the SC1 coupe’s floor, noticeable on bumpy streets. Also, some people complained that the top of the coupe’s dashboard was too long, an alleged visual impediment that critics said compromised their depth perception while driving.

Praise: A very decent, well-made, cleverly conceived, yet perfectly ordinary little car offered at a perfectly reasonable price.

Head-turning quotient: Three doors! Had I not witnessed the overwhelmingly favorable public reaction to this design, I would never have believed it. Kudos to the Saturn design and development teams that brought this one to life.

Ride, acceleration and handling: A triumvirate of decency. No big deal. No big disappointment. Good braking.

Engines: Two are available. The tested SC1 is equipped with a 1.9-liter, single-overhead-cam four-cylinder engine designed to prod uce 100 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 114 pound-feet of torque at 2,400 rpm. The SC2 gets slightly more power from its four-banger — 124 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 122 pound-feet of torque at 4,800 rpm. An optional four-speed automatic transmission can be mated to those engines.

Capacities: Seats four people. Cargo volume is 11.4 cubic feet. Gasoline tank holds 12.1 gallons of recommended 87-octane unleaded.

Mileage: About 26 miles per gallon, combined city and highway driving. Estimated range is 305 miles on usable volume of fuel.

Safety: Steel roll-cage design as well as front air bags.

Sound system: AM-FM stereo radio and cassette with “premium” speaker system. GM/Delco. Not exactly premium sound, but acceptable.

Price: Base price is $12,445. Dealer invoice price is $10,392. Price as tested is $15,960, including $3,075 in options and a $440 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: You can destroy the meaning of “economy” by adding too many options. Compare with Honda Civic EX coupe, Dodge Neon Highline coupe and Volkswagen Beetle.