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I like small cars for the same reasons I like jeans and tennis shoes. They are affordable and practical. With a little magic — a design tweak, a smart accessory — they also can be sexy and fun.

The 2002 Ford Focus ZX5 is a case in point. It’s a hatchback with panache. Its overall design is edgy. Perhaps I should say wedgy. A severely sloped front end, accented by triangular headlamps, sets the theme for the exterior. The roofline slopes, too, descending sharply toward the rear, where it meets the top of the hatch.

Angles and curves mark the interior, which is initially disconcerting. Everything on the dashboard seems to be in flight. The hood atop the instrument panel is reminiscent of a long-winged jet taking off. The center console seems to be lifting off in another direction, heading northeast of the cluster’s cover.

The look attracts and repels. It’s delightfully funky for some and way too forward for others. But it’s neither boring nor devoid of personality, which makes it appealing to me.

Some reviewers have complained about the quality of materials used in the ZX5, such as the “cheap” (as one of them put it) optional leather package used in the test model I drove. I don’t understand the complaint.

The ZX5, a five-door take on the Focus ZX3 hatchback, is essentially an economy car, a spirited urban scooter that gets about 25 miles per gallon in the city and nearly 34 mpg on the highway, according to government ratings. It’s not about luxury (which raises the question of why Ford offers a leather package in this one, anyway). The ZX5 is about exceptional small-car performance at a reasonable cost to buyers and the environment.

Besides, though the interior materials are lowbrow, they at least are installed well and presented with an admirable degree of creativity.

But I must restrain myself in singing this little car’s praises. Test models are frequently flawless in terms of fit and finish and overall execution. That is not necessarily the case for regular production vehicles, where post-assembly glitches tend to show up.

My Texas sister-in-law, Joan Reed-George, and my good friend Bella Alano can attest to that. Both bought 2000 Focuses on my recommendation, and both spent an inordinate amount of time in Ford dealer repair shops getting fit-and-finish fixes, safety-recall fixes, and repairs on engine control modules.

Ford now says it has eliminated such problems from its newest run of Focus models. Based on a week of rigorous, problem-free driving of the Focus ZX5 hatchback and the Focus ZTW wagon, I’m willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt.

Certainly, the tested ZX5 is one of the best-performing small cars I’ve driven in a while. Its five-speed manual transmission shifts smoothly, with the ease and feel of a more expensive car. Its 130-horsepower in-line four-cylinder Zetec engine accelerates with chutzpah. Getting onto and off the tightest, fastest highway is no problem in this car.

The standard equipment package is impressive. Besides the four-cylinder Zetec and five-speed manual transmission, it includes 16-inch aluminum wheels, fog lamps, power windows and locks, air conditioning, a remote keyless entry system, a tilt and telescoping steering wheel, and a six-disc, dashboard-mounted CD player. That means the ZX5 offers more than many consumers would expect to find in an economy car.

The bottom line is that I genuinely enjoy driving the thing, just as much as I enjoy jumping into a pair of weekend jeans and tennis shoes and going about my business. There is something special about being in a seemingly ordinary car in definitely ordinary clothes. It is a wonderful Saturday feeling, a feeling of freedom.