Didn't Ford come out something similar to the K car about the same time?
Ford Tempo.
When my wife and I were in college, she had a Mercury Topaz 2dr, which was supposed to be a sportier version of the Tempo. It was a slug, but I'll be danged if it wasn't a solid car for as long as she owned it. Cheap car too. Had those terrible motorized seatbelts though. They'd groan and grumble along the doorframe and I was always hitting my head on them.