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.

Rio faces tough sledding as a new entry in the cut-throat small-car market, where sales have been mostly flat. Kia sold some 16,600 Rio sedans from the model's July 2000 launch through year-end, a fairly mediocre performance for the class.

But sales help may be on the way for 2002. Bowing this summer is a 4-door wagon that's trimmed and equipped like the sedan but priced a few hundred dollars higher. The exact price is still pending, but Kia says this Rio will be America's lowest priced wagon by a good margin. By early 2002, Kia will add a Rio hatchback. No word on the number of doors, but we'd guess it will have four, plus slightly upscale equipment and pricing in the same way Kia's larger Spectra hatchback was spun off from the Sephia sedan.