This hotly contested segment has a clear benchmark; it is the Acura TL (and its 2-door cousin Acura CL). The TL succeeds in blending comfort, style, luxury, and sport into an efficient package at an affordable price. If you are leaning more toward the luxury scale, the Lexus ES 300 might be a more practical purchase. We also recommend the sporty and Euro-flavored Audi A6, the comfortable Buick Park Avenue, the affordable and fast Infiniti I30.

BMW's best-seller line has been selling better than ever, with year-to-year U.S. deliveries up 27 percent in calendar 2000. But though all 3-Series models have now been redesigned and "re-engined," BMW is working on new variations. Among them are a stripped-down M3 coupe with a rumored 380 hp and a U.S. debut by early 2002. It's aimed at Mercedes' forthcoming C32 AMG performance sedan, but also Porsche's 911. Assuming it's sold here, the racing-oriented M3 will be a pricey limited edition. Also mooted is a regular-tune M3 Sportwagon, but that one seems a long-shot for U.S. sale. Not so the "X3", a kind of junior X5 sport-utility that's being designed as a heavily modified 3-Series wagon instead of using an all-new platform. BMW has confirmed this "crossover" for U.S. sale as a 2003 model; we expect it by mid-2002. X3 will be sourced from Germany, though with a drive system much like that of the American-built X5. On sale in Europe is a new-design 3-Series Compact, a successor to the old-style 318ti 2-dr hatchback that never caught on in the U.S. BMW recently said the new one won't be coming here, but that could change if Mercedes' new C230K Sport Coupe, another a 4-cyl hatchback, catches fire. Further out is the much-discussed 1-Series, an all-new 4-cyl BMW that's smaller and more affordable than even the least expensive 3-Series. BMW recently reversed itself by announcing that the 1 will be sold in America as well as Europe. It should come here during 2004, perhaps as an '05 entry. Latest word is that the 1 will bow as a 4-door sedan, but a 4-dr wagon, 2-dr hatch and perhaps even a convertible will reportedly be added later. All will hew to BMW tradition by having rear-wheel drive, not front-drive as previously thought. Engines will likely comprise BMW's new British-built 1.6-liter and/or 2.0-liter 4-cyl units. Both have the company's Valvetronic variable-valve-timing system that Americans see first in the redesigned 2002 7-Series flagship sedans.