1998 Ford Escort ZX2 Ford spices its compact recipe. By Jim McCraw, New Car Test Drive .com

The compact market is awash with all kinds of good cars, but we think this may be the best looking of the bunch. It

also has one of the best looking interiors, excellent road manners, a useable back seat and more power than its

family-oriented counterparts from the Escort and Tracer lineups.

Due in Ford showrooms this spring, the Escort ZX2 coupe arrives exactly one year after the major update accorded the

Escort and Tracer sedans and wagon.

It shares the same basic front-drive chassis and suspension components as the other Escorts, but no body panels and

no powertrain elements. And it's exclusive to Ford dealerships. A Mercury Tracer version was also planned, but it died

on the drawing boards.

Style counts for a lot in a small sporty coupe, and if that were the only criteria the ZX2 would be a sell out.

But the ZX2 will be measured by other standards, and against some compelling competitors--the Honda Civic, for

example, and the sassy Chrysler Neons.

How does it stack up when all the blanks on the scorecard are filled in?

We strapped on a brand-new ZX2 for a few days to find out.