Perennial Best Buys Honda Accord and Toyota Camry continue to shine with refinement, model diversity, and comfort. Both come in coupe and sedan forms, offer economic 4-cylinder or sporty V6 power, have room for four adults, and are reasonably priced.

Recommended models include the import-flavored Chevy Malibu, plain-Jane Ford Taurus, and the good-looking Pontiac Grand Prix. All come with V6 power, offer lots of standard equipment, and have pleasing road manners that will suit a variety of driving styles. The restyled and larger Nissan Altima is new to the Recommended list this year. We are impressed with interior room and road manners, but disappointed by the budget-level interior materials and assembly.

Launched in summer '99 for model-year 2000, Saturn's midsize line earned generally favorable early reviews, but was slow to catch on; even when it did, sales lagged way behind projections in the first 18 months. Lately, though, the L-Series has been holding its own despite a much more difficult market, year-to-year deliveries actually rising a bit in the first nine months of 2001.

Many critics say ho-hum styling has hampered the L-Series' appeal. General Motors seems to agree. Indeed, the 2002 L-Series may be a short-timer, as GM is reportedly rushing to get restyled '03 models into showrooms by spring 2002, some six months ahead of schedule. The basic underskin design won't change, but those who've seen the heavily facelifted L say it's much more visually interesting, even rather "European."

A fully redesigned L-Series is slated for model-year 2005 on GM's new Epsilon front-drive platform, thus becoming a not-too-distant relative of the next-generation Chevy Malibu and Pontiac Grand Am. That reflects a major change now going on at Saturn. Though conceived as an independent subsidiary mandated to create innovative vehicles standing apart from other GM models, Saturn is now being folded into the main GM organization as part of the company's global effort to cut costs, improve profitability and build market share. As a result, all future Saturns will have much more in common with other GM products, at least under the skin.