A perennial favorite, the Honda Civic, is as good as 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. We also love almost everything about the Ford Focus, but 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. However, they are among the most expensive cars in this segment. Other Recommended choices include the no-frills Toyota Echo, the sporty Nissan Sentra, and the roomy Mazda Protege.

Spectra used to be the slightly sportier hatchback spinoff of the Sephia sedan, but Kia's larger subcompacts are all Spectras as of 2002. On a year-to-year basis, these cars dropped 4.1 percent in combined sales for the first nine months of 2001. Sephia was off 21.8 percent, which may explain why that name has been dropped. Spectra soared an amazing 126 percent, but that's misleading, as the hatchback wasn't sold for nine months in 2000.

A redesign had been rumored for '02, but that obviously hasn't happened. Just when it will is unclear, but some reports now say model-year 2006 at the earliest. Whenever it occurs, the new Spectra will be a platform cousin of parent Hyundai's next-generation Accent, also expected for '06.