Our only Best Buy in this class, the Volkswagen New Beetle, offers interesting styling and a nice mix of comfort, performance, and economy. The New Beetle is the most practical and affordable in this class.

If raw performance is what you are after, we Recommend the fun-to-drive Acura RSX and Toyota Celica. These cars offer a lot of bang for your buck.

Mitsubishi's number-three seller (after the midsize Galant and Montero Sport SUV) eased 1.3 percent in calendar 2001 after posting a 15.2-percent sales gain in 2000. Spyder convertibles rose 22.6 percent for the period but still sold in much lower volume than Eclipse coupes, whose 7.2-percent decline produced the net loss.

Details are already out on the 2003 Eclipses, which arrive this fall with mildly freshened styling and revamped interiors featuring new-look gauges and door trim panels, plus steering-wheel audio controls as a first-time option. But the big news is a high-performance V6 model called GTS with 10 extra hp, plus upgraded equipment including a 210-watt sound system with 6-disc CD changer, foglamps, side airbags, and 17-inch wheels. Prices won't be announced until just before the on-sale date, but RS and GT models are expected to cost little more than in 2002 form.

A fully redesigned Eclipse is forecast for an early-2005 debut as an '06 model. Its basis will be a new, so-called "flexible" platform being developed by Mitsubishi and its Chrysler Group sibling under the eye of parent DaimlerChrysler, which wants to cut costs and put these subsidiaries back in the black by greater sharing of underskin structure and components among comparable models. Besides Eclipse, the new platform will serve the next-generation Mitsubishi Galant and Chrysler Sebring/Dodge Stratus midsize sedans, all of which are due to arrive for 2005 or '06. Industry gossips have little else to say now, as all these programs are still in their early phases.