A perennial favorite, the Honda Civic, is new and better than ever. We love the wide range of bodystyles, engines, and equipment. Civic is a solid car that has good performance, a nice ride, and a high degree of civility. New last year was the Ford Focus. Though we loved almost everything about the Focus, we were reluctant to rank it a Best Buy because it was new from the ground up. After a year of living with a ZTS model, we can say that the reliability is good. Focus ranks a notch below Civic in some areas but costs less. Topping the crowded Recommended list are the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta. They easily could be Best Buys as they are better than the Civic in many ways. However, they are also the most expensive cars in this segment. Other Recommended choices include the no-frills Dodge Neon and Toyota Echo, the slightly-upscale Nissan Sentra, and the roomy Mazda Protege. If you are looking for a budget buy, the Hyundai Accent offers a lot for your dollar, however, it's not as refined as more-expensive competitors.

Honda originally planned on selling 5000 Insights each year, but later upped the U.S. quota to 6500 cars after initial consumer interest proved unusually strong. The company may now be rethinking things, as Insight sales from announcement through the end of 2000 totaled just 3805. By contrast, Toyota's larger Prius hybrid sedan attracted 5562 orders despite arriving several months behind Insight.

No matter. Both Honda and Toyota lose money on every hybrid car they sell. The main reason they offer these high-tech marvels is to cultivate a "green" corporate image, satisfy certain California requirements, and to gain valuable real-world experience for designing better, more mainstream hybrid vehicles.

Insight has already given Honda such experience. The next step is hybrid power in a more practical package, namely the addition to the Civic line planned for 2002. While that car, or something like it, may eventually make Insight unnecessary, the 2-seat coupe should continue for at least another year or two, probably without significant change.