The performance leader in this group is also our Best Buy. The Honda Prelude will hustle two large adults and their luggage in comfort and luxury to a weekend getaway. Prelude has plenty of power, excellent road manners, and gets reasonable fuel economy.

We also recommend you take a look at the Chrysler Sebring (which will be redesigned for 2001 in coupe, convertible, and sedan form) and the Volkswagen New Beetle. The Sebring offers the most room in this class, while the New Beetle has interesting styling and a nice mix of comfort, performance, and economy.

The current Integra has been around since 1994, an unusually long time for a Japanese car to go without a major redesign. This lull likely reflects two factors: steady demand for the existing Integra--especially the coupe, a popular "tooner" car for performance modifications by youngsters on the West Coast and elsewhere--and uncertainty on the part of Honda/Acura officials as to what to do next.

But some decisions have finally been made, and the next Integra will reportedly go on sale in the first quarter of 2001 as a probable '02 entry. The car will get a new name to bring it into line with other Acuras, with RS the most frequently mentioned prospect. The 4-door sedan will be dropped (it's accounted for only 10 percent of sales anyway), while the new coupe will use a modified version of the 2001 Honda Civic platform. (Integras have always been Civic-based.) Though Civics have long been built in North America, the RS, like Integra, will be sourced from Japan.

Japanese makers work very hard to keep future-model plans secret, so there's little other confirmed information now about the Integra replacement. However, with the '01 Civics being upgraded to a new 1.8-liter 4-cylinder, which is about the same size as current Integra engines, we suspect the RS will be upgraded to a 2.0-liter, perhaps a lower-tune version of Honda's S2000 sports car powerplant with as much as 200 horsepower, with a little more reserved for an image-leading high-performance Type R model. Also likely is a luxury-oriented leather-trimmed version. Transmissions should comprise a standard 6-speed manual, as in the S2000, and an optional 5-speed automatic with the SportShift manual gearchange feature already offered in Acura's CL coupes and TL sedan. Styling will undoubtedly be more dramatic, and word is that the coupe will remain a hatchback.

The industry rumor mill also suggests little-changed pricing. However, as recently reported by an industry trade weekly, Acura says the new Integra "will move up in size, features and price" to be more in line with customer expectations of the Acura brand, even in its entry-level line. However it turns out, the RS should debut at the January 2001 Detroit Auto Show, with sales commencing by the following April or May.