Ignored in the past, compact SUVs are now some of the hottest-selling vehicles around. The two current Best Buys are the Honda CR-V and Subaru Forester. Though they don't offer true off-road ability, they mix the best ride, cargo, and comfort characteristics with all-weather traction. Toyota's RAV4 , which used to be a Best Buy, falls to Recommended based on its noisy engine and cramped rear seating area. Toyota hopes that will change when an all-new RAV arrives in 2001. As immovable as Mt. Rushmore, the Jeep Wrangler continues as our Budget Buy in this segment. Though it has become a status symbol of late, it's most at home crawling over rocks and fording river beds.

A redesigned Wrangler is due for 2002, a year or so behind a new-generation Cherokee sport-utility. This and the fact that both will be built in the same new Toledo, Ohio plant suggests greater component-sharing between these Jeeps than has been the case. Nevertheless, Wrangler will retain the classic 2-door look and format that hark back to World War II, though appearance is said to be further modernized along the lines of the recent Ikon and Jeepster concept vehicles. Think today's Wrangler, but with more exaggerated shapes and much larger available wheels and tires. Price levels and model names will likely be shuffled, but the current 4-cylinder and straight-6 engines are expected to carryover with refinements. The same applies to drive systems. A long-wheelbase 4-door Wrangler, suggested a few years back by the Dakar concept, is apparently not in the cards.