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SHANGHAI Life is uneven. Some people consider that unfair. I don’t. Imbalance gives life creative tension. It forces reexamination of things taken for granted. It begs the question, “What if?”

What if you lived here, where you hit lower-middle income at the U.S. equivalent of $3,000 – three thousand dollars – annually? What if you lived in America on a family of four’s modest earnings of $30,000 a year? What if, on those salaries in those places, you needed daily transportation to get to your job, run errands?

Assuming that you are unwilling or unable to pedal a bicycle or ride a motorbike on your commute, or that you are reluctant to walk or jam your body into mass transports, what kind of car would you buy? Would it be a BMW, a Cadillac? Would it be a recently used version of one of those?

No.

You don’t have the money. So, you make adjustments. You choose the best for the least, something that will keep you going until you can afford something better.

In Shanghai, that may mean buying an itty-bitty Chevrolet Spark, made by General Motors China. It costs 66,420 Chinese yuan. That’s just over $8,000 U.S.

Or you may wish to pay considerably less and buy the Chery QQ mini-car – an allegedly purloined replica of the Chevrolet Spark. The Chevy – oops, the Chery QQ – is made by Chery Automobile Co. in eastern China’s Anhui Province.

GM calls the Chery QQ outright theft of intellectual property. The government of the People’s Republic of China disagrees, contending that both the Spark and the Chery are based on the little Matiz, made by South Korea’s Daewoo Motor Co., which GM now owns.

By bringing out the Chery QQ at a more affordable price, the Chinese government says, Chery Automobile is giving yuan-pinching families a better chance of owning a car.

In the United States, a similar opportunity is offered by this week’s test vehicle, the 2005 Suzuki Forenza EX wagon. At a base price of $17,549, it is out of reach of many lower-middle-income families here. But it could be just what the financial analyst ordered for an American family of four trying to make it on an annual income of $30,000.

There is nothing stunning about the Forenza. It won’t win any design contests, but it won’t offend anyone’s aesthetic sensibilities either. With its 2-liter, inline four-cylinder, 126-horsepower engine, the Forenza makes no pretense of “performance” in terms of earth-scorching or curve-conquering abilities. It is a survivor’s automobile. That puts it several steps below a striver’s car, such as a Toyota Camry; and ranks it way below a machine, such as a 5-Series BMW, bought by members of the Thriving Class.

But what the Suzuki Forenza EX wagon allows is for owners to survive with dignity. That is important. Eventual success depends on the ability to cope with current challenges – to work things out, so to speak. Dignity protects hope, which enhances the ability to cope. And that is what I really, truly like about the Forenza wagon.

It does not insult the owner, does not peg him or her as a loser. It is a solidly built automobile – a work of excellent fit, finish and overall attention to detail. It’s an economy wagon with comfortable leather-covered seats, one-touch power windows, a standard four-speed automatic transmission, heated side-view mirrors, four-wheel anti-lock brakes and many other standard items you would not expect to find on a vehicle in this price range. And, again, these items aren’t substandard. They are not thrown together in the manner of parts in a fake Rolex watch. They are put together with care.

Spending time with the Forenza EX wagon proved to be a pleasant surprise. I love products that offer good value, that are relatively inexpensive without being cheap; that recognize that it is one thing for life to be uneven, but something else altogether for it to be unfair – to take what little money you have and give you considerably less in return.

It’s a psychological thing. It is much easier to move on to the next level, or to overcome misfortune, if you are more passionate about winning than you are worried about being a victim.