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 Buys are the Acura MDX and Toyota Highlander. Both offer competence, convenience, and attractive pricing and design. They lack serious off-road 4WD systems, however.

Our Recommended choices feature more-traditional SUVs: the Dodge Durango, which offers optional third-row seating; the top-selling Ford Explorer; the utilitarian Nissan Xterra; and the refined GMC Envoy. If you don't venture off-road too far take a look at the car-based Lexus RX 300 as well.

Rodeo had been accounting for half of Isuzu's U.S. sales, but was up to 75 percent in the first nine months of 2001. While all Isuzus lost sales ground in the period, Rodeo did well to slide only some 8 percent year-to-year, handicapped as it is by the oldest basic design among midsize SUVS and the general economic downturn.

A redesigned Rodeo hadn't been expected until model-year 2005, but late word has it on the agenda for '03. Basic design and engineering are Isuzu's own, and also turn up in Chevrolet's 2003 Colorado compact pickups, which replace today's S-10s. That suggests Rodeo will remain a truck-type SUV, though more refined than the outgoing model, we hope. We don't expect three-row seating, however, as package size likely won't change much. Styling, of course, will be all-new.

Little else is known now, but the platform sharing with Chevrolet makes it possible that Rodeo will abandon Isuzu's own V6 for the GM 4.2-liter inline 6-cyl that powers the new Chevy TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy SUVs. An entry-level Rodeo may come with a 5-cyl version of that engine that's slated to be offered in Colorados.