The Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS is one of those cars that harks back to those thrilling days of yesteryear — when Detroit iron ruled the road and was big, stylish and fast. That’s true to a point with this car. The big rear wheel-drive V8 is history, but the available 200-horse front wheel-drive V6 marries practicality, a fair amount of luxury and respectable performance to an affordable price.

Having come on the scene in late 1969 as a 1970 model year “personal-luxury car,” the rear wheel-drive Monte Carlo boasted the longest hood in Chevy history and its famous “rat motor” — the monster 396 cubic inch V8. With first-year sales of over 130,000 units, it buried its costlier market rival, the T-Bird, by over 50,000 units that first year.

I remember being envious of my friend Chick Perez, who, because of his close friendship with Skip Slaton, son of Ft. Lauderdale’s largest Chevy dealer, was able to score the first 396 Monte Carlo SS sold there. One stint behind the wheel made me start to hate my baby blue T-Bird.

Due to lagging sales, Chevy dropped the Monte Carlo nameplate in 1988, but reprised it in 1995 as a boring 2-door version of its front wheel-drive V6 yawner, the Lumina sedan. That didn’t excite anyone.

Today, two Monte Carlo’s are offered — the base LS and our test vehicle, the better-equipped, more powerful SS, which carries a $21,735 base price. The major difference between the two is trim level and horsepower.

The LS features GM’s off-the-shelf 3.4-liter 180-horse V6, which sits under the hood of various other Chevys Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles. It offers decent performance, and is seemingly aimed at people who want to be seen cruising in an stylish coupe.

The SS is aimed at more serious drivers, featuring GM’s venerable 3.8-liter V6. It puts 200 ponies to the pavement with more torque, making 0-60 happen in a fairly quick 7.6 seconds — not bad for a car this size.

Both are old-style pushrod motors that produce strong low and mid-range torque. Both powerplants are coupled to a smooth, responsive 4-speed automatic, and both run on 87-octane, regular unleaded. The 3.8 delivers an estimated 20 mpg city and 29 highway. Again, not bad for a fairly large, 3,340-pound midsize car.

Interiorwise, the Monte Carlo is nicely laid out, with fairly big, easily accessible controls that work smoothly, and lots of instrumentation — just like the original. The front seats have acceptable support, and there is good head and leg room for four adults.

It also has a large trunk with a low opening for easy loading, but the pass-through area between the trunk and rear-seat area could be larger.

Both Monte Carlos come pretty well equipped. Standard are A/C — with dual-zone controls on the SS — AM/FM/cassette, power windows, tilt wheel, rear defroster, split-folding rear seatbacks, anti-lock 4-wheel disc brakes, 16 inch wheels and a handy tire inflation monitor.

Optionwise, leather upholstery will set you back $625, and a power sunroof another $700. There’s a $918 option package for the LS that includes styled aluminum wheels, remote keyless entry and more. The SS has a $736 package with items like a power driver’s seat.

Besides the larger engine, standard on the SS are two additional gauges — voltmeter and oil pressure, leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, keyless entry, body color rear spoiler and rocker panel moldings — and, naturally, dual exhaust. Traction-control is also standard on the SS and not available on the LS.

On the highway, handling is fairly good, but the Monte Carlo SS feels mostly like a comfortable, straight-line highway cruiser. The firmer, fully independent suspension and higher-performance tires mounted on special alloy wheels deliver a relaxed ride, and on a trip down I-5 to Portland, it was extremely comfortable. But steering isn’t all that sharp, and it suffers from the same understeer that all GM front wheel-drivers do. The highway is this cars element, not a winding, two lane mountain blacktop.

The new Monte Carlo has its own, unique exterior styling, and doesn’t look like anything else in the Chevy line. But it’s built on the same platform as the Impala, which helps keep the price down. Chevy stresses the tradition of the first Monte Carlos rather than the later mediocre ones, noting the same long hood/short rear configuration of the first ones, and trademark vertical taillights which also resemble the taillights on James Bond’s trademark Aston Martin.

The Monte Carlo is especially popular in the South because of its strong performance on the NASCAR circuit. It’s no secret that NASCAR cars haven’t remotely resembled street cars since the 50s, but this car takes advantage of a racing inspired front strut brace and aluminum engine cradle that gives the powertrain, steering and front suspension a very solid foundation. Because of that racing-type rigidity, the car feels solidly built and promises a long, rattle-free life.

Whines: This car has very long, heavy doors that can make it a hassle to get in and out in tight parking spots. Rear entry and exit is hindered by placement of the seat belts. The semi-vague steering could use some improvement.

Applause: The Monte Carlo is a well put together, stylish, all-American, highway cruiser that’s comfortable, solid, and reasonably fast for car this size and weight — especially when you consider it’s powered by a V6.

Bottom Line: Although it has no direct competition, the Monte Carlo does battle in the marketplace with coupes like the Toyota Solara, Honda Accord, Chrysler Sebring and its sibling, the Dodge Avenger. It kicks butt on all of them where interior room is concerned and performs as well or better than all. Even with all that going for it, it probably still won’t steal fans of foreign coupes. And in the end, I’ll bet many of its buyers — especially those that owned one in the 70s — will secretly will wish it still had a V8 under the hood and rear-wheel drive.