Ignored in the past, compact SUVs are now some of the hottest-selling vehicles around. Though our Best Buy Honda CR-V doesn't offer true off-road ability and has milquetoast acceleration, it does mix ride comfort, cargo capacity, and versatility with all-weather traction.

Another car-based mini-SUV, the Subaru Forester, is our Recommended choice. Like the CR-V it doesn't have a low range for serious off-road use, it blends excellent on-road manners with SUV styling.

New this year are the Ford Escape and clone Mazda Tribute. We have been very impressed with early production models and may elevate these two to Best Buys after we get more seat time.

Forester's U.S. calendar-year sales rose 12.8 percent in 2000 to just over 56,600. That's not bad considering Subaru's relatively small dealer network and fairly low level of national advertising.

Subaru has just redesigned the subcompact Impreza models whose platform underlies Forester's design, so a new Forester would seem to be just around the corner. Sure enough, industry sources say it's on the way as a 2003 model. We'd expect U.S. sales to begin by summer 2002, perhaps following a concept-vehicle teaser at this winter's major auto shows. No word yet on specifics, but the redesign should logically mean slightly larger dimensions and modernized SUV-flavored styling. A turbocharged Forester has been available in Japan and Europe for some time, and now that Subaru is getting back to turbo engines in America with its new Impreza WRX, a "force-fed" Forester is not out of the question. Of course, it wouldn't be nearly so high-strung as the WRX, but Subaru should easily be able to push the horsepower of Forester's 2.5-liter "flat four" from the current 165 to, say, 200.