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Let us sing in praise of a thing well done, the 1999 Pontiac Grand Am SE2, an affordable, well-styled, exceptionally well-built family sedan that ranks as one of the best overall values in the U.S. auto market.

Perhaps we might get Ford Motor Co. to sing along, and maybe Toyota, Chrysler and Honda as well. Should they refrain from singing, they ought to at least sit in the audience and listen. They might learn something about how to develop an attractive mid-size car that offers high-class quality, performance and excitement at a reasonable price.

Take Ford, for example. The company has some decent middle runners with its Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. They are fine, serviceable cars with acceptable eye appeal. But there is nothing exciting about them. They just sort of exist. The new Pontiac Grand Am runs well ahead of the bunch from Ford.

It also runs quite well against the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, the functionally perfect mainstays of the Vanilla School of Design. The Camry and Accord are cars for people who don’t like to drive. Heck, they are cars for people who don’t like cars, the closest things we have to automobiles as appliances. The lone exception here is the 1998 Accord coupe.

But even the Accord coupe runs into problems in the value department, where its sticker often points well north of $21,000. Advantage: Pontiac Grand Am SE2, which is also available as a two-door coupe for $19,295.

And then there is Chrysler Corp., regarded by many auto industry observers as the best stylist among the world’s car companies. Chrysler certainly makes drop-dead-pretty automobiles, the kind that make you want to drive. But there always seems to be something that goes wrong with cars in the company’s middle line, including the Dodge Stratus, Chrysler Cirrus and Plymouth Breeze.

I drove two fully optioned V-6 versions of the new Grand Am, the coupe and the sedan, in arriving at my conclusion. I have also driven all models of the comparable cars from Ford, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda. Specifically, here’s how the Grand Am beats ’em:

The body structure is absolutely solid. Nothing shakes or rattles when the Grand Am rolls.

The Grand Am SE2 has an impressively long list of standard equipment, including traction control and four-wheel antilock brakes, grabby 15-inch tires, a four-wheel independent suspension system, daytime running lamps, fog lamps and rear cornering lamps, among other things. Many of the Grand Am’s standard items are sold as options on rival cars.

The standard Grand Am engine is a 2.4-liter, 16-valve, twin-cam, inline four-cylinder job rated 150 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 155 pound-feet of torque at 4,400 rpm, one of the best in class. The optional V-6 is totally kick-butt, producing 170 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 195 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. Both engines are mated to standard, electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmissions.

Styling is best in class. Distinctiv e, muscular, consistent with a ribbed theme flowing in and out of the car. Excellent use of rich-feeling materials, such as supple vinyls, on knobs and on the perfectly seamless surface of the instrument panel. Hey, Chrysler and Ford, are you listening?

As for what you might call the Passion Quotient — the car’s bodaciousness, its ability to stir emotions, good and bad — the Grand Am scores a 10. The new Honda Accord coupe, in my book, runs a distant second with a seven. Give five points to the Ford bunch (Contour, Mystique, Cougar). The Camry and Accord sedans don’t even show.

1999 Pontiac Grand Am SE2

Complaints: Rear visibility could be improved. The car’s wide “C,” or rear, pillars kind of get in the way of checking out what’s going on behind you.

Praise: A solid home run in terms of construction and overall engineering.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Aces in all three categories with the optional V-6 engine and wider 16-inch tires. I did not dri ve the f our-cylinder versions with the 15-inch tires. Excellent braking.

Head-turning quotient: Wide appeal. Drew whoops and applause from young and old, professionals and nonprofessionals alike.

Safety: Rigid safety-cage body, with steel reinforcements providing additional crash protection; depowered dual front air bags; height-adjustable seat belts; tethers for child-safety seats; rear seat belts designed to comfortably accommodate most children between ages 4 to 10 years; excellent suspension system; antilock brakes and traction control.

Mileage: As noted in the V-6 Grand Am sedan, an estimated 25 miles per gallon. Fuel tank holds 15.2 gallons of recommended 87-octane unleaded gasoline. Estimated range is 367 miles.

Capacities: Seats five people, four of them comfortably. Cargo space is 14.3 cubic feet.

Sound system: In the Grand Am sedan, AM-FM stereo radio with compact disc; six speakers with subwoofer and seven-band graphic equalizer. Installed by GM/Delco. Very good.

Price: Introductory prices for the 1999 Grand Am models range from $16,395 for the base SE coupe to $19,495 to the top-of-the-line SE2 sedan. Those prices are subject to change.

Purse-strings note: The Grand Am is my personal choice for Mid-Size Car of the Year.