diff --git a/include/fmt/format-inl.h b/include/fmt/format-inl.h
index 7042d2b8..bdf93013 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format-inl.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format-inl.h
@@ -33,11 +33,9 @@ namespace detail {
 
 FMT_FUNC void assert_fail(const char* file, int line, const char* message) {
   // Use unchecked std::fprintf to avoid triggering another assertion when
-  // writing to stderr fails
-  std::fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: assertion failed: %s", file, line, message);
-  // Chosen instead of std::abort to satisfy Clang in CUDA mode during device
-  // code pass.
-  std::terminate();
+  // writing to stderr fails.
+  fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: assertion failed: %s", file, line, message);
+  abort();
 }
 
 FMT_FUNC void format_error_code(detail::buffer<char>& out, int error_code,
diff --git a/include/fmt/format.h b/include/fmt/format.h
index 911628e8..9533c97c 100644
--- a/include/fmt/format.h
+++ b/include/fmt/format.h
@@ -3868,17 +3868,14 @@ template <typename Char>
 void vformat_to(buffer<Char>& buf, basic_string_view<Char> fmt,
                 typename vformat_args<Char>::type args, locale_ref loc = {}) {
   auto out = basic_appender<Char>(buf);
-  if (fmt.size() == 2 && equal2(fmt.data(), "{}"))
-    return args.get(0).visit(default_arg_formatter<Char>{out});
   parse_format_string(
       fmt, format_handler<Char>{parse_context<Char>(fmt), {out, args, loc}});
 }
 
-template <typename Locale, typename Char>
-auto vformat(const Locale& loc, basic_string_view<Char> fmt,
-             typename detail::vformat_args<Char>::type args)
-    -> std::basic_string<Char> {
-  auto buf = basic_memory_buffer<Char>();
+template <typename Locale>
+auto vformat(const Locale& loc, string_view fmt, format_args args)
+    -> std::string {
+  auto buf = memory_buffer();
   detail::vformat_to(buf, fmt, args, detail::locale_ref(loc));
   return {buf.data(), buf.size()};
 }
diff --git a/include/fmt/xchar.h b/include/fmt/xchar.h
index 553e9d30..3d928a45 100644
--- a/include/fmt/xchar.h
+++ b/include/fmt/xchar.h
@@ -197,10 +197,13 @@ template <typename Locale, typename S,
           typename Char = detail::format_string_char_t<S>,
           FMT_ENABLE_IF(detail::is_locale<Locale>::value&&
                             detail::is_exotic_char<Char>::value)>
-inline auto vformat(const Locale& loc, const S& format_str,
+inline auto vformat(const Locale& loc, const S& fmt,
                     typename detail::vformat_args<Char>::type args)
     -> std::basic_string<Char> {
-  return detail::vformat(loc, detail::to_string_view(format_str), args);
+  auto buf = basic_memory_buffer<Char>();
+  detail::vformat_to(buf, detail::to_string_view(fmt), args,
+                     detail::locale_ref(loc));
+  return {buf.data(), buf.size()};
 }
 
 template <typename Locale, typename S, typename... T,
@@ -209,9 +212,8 @@ template <typename Locale, typename S, typename... T,
                             detail::is_exotic_char<Char>::value)>
 inline auto format(const Locale& loc, const S& format_str, T&&... args)
     -> std::basic_string<Char> {
-  return detail::vformat(
-      loc, detail::to_string_view(format_str),
-      fmt::make_format_args<buffered_context<Char>>(args...));
+  return vformat(loc, detail::to_string_view(format_str),
+                 fmt::make_format_args<buffered_context<Char>>(args...));
 }
 
 template <typename OutputIt, typename S,