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.

Until recently, Detroit moles thought Park Avenue would be replaced after 2004 by the car-like midsize Signia sport wagon (see News under Buick Regal. But in an apparent rethink, Buick has put Signia on hold while stepping up development of a high-style multi-purpose sedan based on the 2000 LaCrosse concept.

Whatever happens, the familiar Park Avenue seems doomed. Calendar-year sales dropped a steep 25 percent in 2000 (to under 48,000), and the Buick flagship does interfere somewhat with Cadillac's related DeVille. General Motors is struggling for market share, and though it may have killed Oldsmobile, it still wants to weed out other models that don't earn their keep. Park Avenue hasn't been a strong seller in some time, and thus looks a prime target for corporate cost-cutters. If the model does survive, it may be simply become an uplevel version of the next-generation 2005 LeSabre.

The production LaCrosse may or may not replace Park Avenue (or use that name), but is sure to reflect GM's newfound fondness for "transformer" vehicles like the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche SUV/pickup. The concept LaCrosse was a coupe-like design with small rear-hinged back doors and a novel rear end that could be converted from conventional trunk to pickup-style cargo box. These features should survive to the showroom, though Buick will likely tone down the concept's styling and simplify some other elements for the sake of quality, price and sales.

Buick is also said to be "productionizing" its well-received 2001 Bengal concept, a shapely two-seat convertible measuring 25 inches shorter than a LeSabre on a Park Avenue-size wheelbase. Also featured: a supercharged 3.4-liter V6 with 250 hp, prototype 6-speed automatic transmission, and numerous electronic widgets. Details are still being decided, so it's unclear how many of these and other concept features will appear on a showroom Bengal. Timing is also a guess at this point, but GM probably couldn't have it ready before model-year 2004.