This is by far the hottest market segment right now. Crowded with more than 20 vehicles, midsize SUVs vary in size and type but nearly all seat five adults and offer V6 or V8 engines. Our Best Buys include the Ford Explorer, the Lexus RX 300, and Mercedes-Benz M-Class. Explorer and M-Class are more traditional SUVs with full off-road capability and V6 and V8 engines. RX 300 is a car-based SUV that lacks a low range in 4WD mode, but is the most carlike to drive.
Our Recommended choices are all traditional SUVs: the Dodge Durango, which offers optional third-row seating; the slightly more expensive Explorer clone Mercury Mountaineer; the utilitarian Nissan Xterra; and the refined but expensive Toyota 4Runner.
If you are on a Budget take a look at the old standby Jeep Cherokee. It is cruder than the rest but offers go-anywhere ability, utility, and a low price.

Despite basic engineering that dates from the Reagan Adminstration, Cherokee has shown remarkable sales strength of late. Indeed, demand for this old-soldier SUV actually rose in calendar 1999 vs. '98 (to over 160,000 units), and year-2000 deliveries through April were ahead of that pace.
But nothing lasts forever, and Jeep will finally retire the current boxy Cherokee in favor of an all-new design that enters production next January. Likely to be designated a 2001 model, the new Cherokee is about the same size as the old one except for a reported 10-inch gain in overall height. Spy photos of partly disguised prototypes suggest little-changed ground clearance, so the height gain comes almost entirely from the new-design body, which should mean enough head room for a 10-gallon hat--well, maybe. Styling is definitely more rounded and contemporary, rather like that Honda's popular CR-V, in fact. Insiders tip that existing engines, both 2.5-liter 4-cylinder and 4.0-liter straight six, will carry over, but look for a more sophisticated 4-wheel-drive system to be offered at extra cost.
Not content with redesigning the Cherokee, Jeep has also built a new plant to manufacture it, located just down the road from the ancient factory that has built Cherokees from day one--and a lot of other Jeeps before and since. This implies that workmanship, never a Cherokee strong point, will be improved. We'll know more once we get a look at full production models.