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 Buy is the car-based Lexus RX 300. Though it lacks a low range in 4WD mode, it's the most carlike to drive and offers all of the versatility of a truck-based model.

Our Recommended choices are all traditional SUVs: the Dodge Durango, which offers optional third-row seating; the best-selling Ford Explorer clone Mercury Mountaineer; the Teutonic Mercedes-Benz M-Class; the utilitarian Nissan Xterra; and the refined but expensive Toyota 4Runner.

Though only in its third model year, the current Grand Cherokee is one of the few SUVs recording lower sales in recent months. Calendar-2000 deliveries fell 9 percent from '99's pace to just under 272,000. The decline has accelerated a bit into 2001, aggravated by the country's sudden economic slowdown and the well publicized soap opera of Chrysler Group's latest financial crunch.

Chrysler's pressing need to conserve cash explains why Grand Cherokee plans have been scaled way back. Originally, a full redesign for 2004 (codenamed WK) was to be followed within 12 months by a new stretched model (YK) with three-row seating to answer rivals offering that feature. Now, however, the current Grand Cherokee will apparently get only a minor freshening for 2002 before being heavily restyled for "2004?". The latter will introduce three-row seating to Jeep's premium SUV, say DaimlerChrysler officials, but it's hard to see how they'll squeeze in that extra seat without lengthening the present platform, and that, apparently, is not in the cards. Interestingly, DC is said to be mulling a new truck-based SUV seating 8-9, but it's unclear whether this would be sold as a Grand Cherokee. Whatever it's called, it could well be based on the next-generation Dodge Durango, now due for '03. Jeep dealers have long lobbied for their own version of Durango.

Left up in the air by the change of plans is the "lift kit" suspension that Jeep was considering for a sport version of the now-aborted 2004 WK. Similar to the system previewed in the Jeepster and Jeep Commander concept vehicles, this electro-mechanical suspension reportedly allows drivers to increase static ride height by up to four inches for severe off-road use. Among truck-based SUVs only the pricey Range Range, Lincoln Navigator and Lexus LX 470 now offer height-adjustable suspensions. Though the Jeep system would seem to be a plus for Grand Cherokee sales, we don't expect it to materialize for awhile, again due to Chrysler Group's current cash crunch.