NEW YORK: The 2015 Chrysler 200 sedan is a motorized version of the Affordable Care Act. In this case, it is a well-conceived, exceptionally well-executed midsize family sedan that is attractive, complete (when ordered with Premium Group equipment) and affordable, especially compared with midsize sedans costing $30,000 or more.

The new Chrysler 200 is so much improved over its identically badged 2010 predecessor, I am surprised that Fiat Chrysler Automotive, maker of all things Chrysler, kept the car's name.

But make no mistake, the two cars are different in attitude and quality. The first was the product of old Detroit marketing-think: How do we salvage the troubled launch of a car, in this case the midsize Chrysler Sebring? Answer: We make a few styling and equipment changes, call it the Chrysler 200, and hope it can compete with the likes of the Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima.

It didn't work. The new Chrysler 200 will. It is the product of a deep rethinking of what is needed to compete in a hotly contested global market for midsize family automobiles. Credit for the fresh approach goes to Italy's Sergio Marchionne, Fiat Chrysler Automotive's chief executive, who did a few necessary common-sense things, such as consolidating an array of Chrysler vehicle platforms to reduce manufacturing costs and increase the speed and efficiency of turning out new products.

To that, Marchionne affixed what could be called the Chrysler ACA Doctrine. To wit: All Chrysler vehicles will be Attractive, Complete and Affordable.

The new Chrysler 200 is: Attractive. Dressed in what Chrysler's stylists call "velvet red pearl coat" exterior paint, accented with tasteful applications of satin-chrome brightwork, and sculpted to cheat the wind without sacrificing presence or personality, the all-wheel-drive version of the 200C/Premium sedan driven for this column attracted attention all over the Washington area.

After examining the 200C/Premium's cabin — with interior accents of real wood and bronze-toned chrome, perforated soft-grain leather-covered seats, a seven-inch reconfigurable driver-information display cluster, and an 8.4-inch touch screen controlling the car's communication and entertainment systems — invited spectators consistently priced the car $5,000 over its fully optioned $35,900 sticker.

That's exceeding expectations.

Complete. I have complained mightily about car manufacturers nickel-and-diming consumers on advanced electronic safety equipment, such as blind-side warning systems that should be made standard on automobiles, certainly on anything in the luxury category. I have no such complaints here, although Fiat Chrysler Automotive, too, plays the options game (Safety Technology package, Premium Group interior, Navigation and Sound Group, Premium Lighting Group). The difference? You get a heck of a lot more for your money.

All of the above parenthetically listed items were available in the 200C/Premium used for this column. And all that equipment — including the blind-side warning, full-speed forward-collision mitigation and lane-departure warning system in the Safety Technology package — worked as well in the 200C/Premium as any similar systems found in much more expensive automobiles.

Affordable. You don't have to spend $35,900 to get into a Chrysler 200. For $21,700, you can get the base 200LX equipped with a standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine (184 horsepower, 173 pound-feet of torque). You'll be on cloth seats instead of leather. But you will be getting up to 36 miles per gallon on the highway, compared with the 30 highway mpg I experienced in the 200C/Premium equipped with Chrysler's 3-liter Pentastar gasoline V-6 (295 horsepower, 262 pound-feet of torque).

The 200C/Premium is more fun to drive, and you pay more for that motorized levity, as you do for extras found in available 200 Limited and 200S models. But you get commendable innovation and excellent engineering in all four versions — LX, Limited, S and C — represented, for example, by a nine-speed automatic transmission offered as standard equipment.

That's correct: Nine-speed. It's an electronically operated transmission, adjusted via a space-saving, Jaguar-type rotary wheel on a floor-mounted center console, the first of its kind available on a midsize family car.

The 200 is an impressive remake of a car that began as something of a disaster. If it is an indication of what we can expect from future work at Fiat Chrysler Automotive, I eagerly await more.