This hotly contested segment has two clear benchmarks; the Acura TL and Lexus ES 300. Both succeed in blending comfort, style, luxury, and sport into an efficient package at an affordable price. ES 300 offers a little more luxury and TL, with it's Type-S, a bit more sport.

We Recommend the sporty and Euro-flavored BMW 3-Series as a rear-drive alternative. The "3" has enough bodystyles and engine choices to suit anyone. At the other end of the near-luxury spectrum is the posh and comfortable Buick Park Avenue--an old-school luxo-cruiser from Detroit.

The smallest Volvos scored an impressive year-to-year sales gain of nearly 200 percent in calendar 2000, but total volume was only about 35,500 units. And sales are down in 2001 by 17.8 percent through the third quarter. But the 40-Series was already halfway through its planned lifespan when it reached the U.S., and all-new models are due for 2004. The replacements are being developed as part of parent Ford Motor Company's global "P1" small-car program that also involves the next-generation Ford Focus and Mazda Protege, a fact that promises a much broader range of entry-level Volvos.

The lineup will begin with a new S40 sedan and retitled V50 wagon likely powered by a 2.0-liter Volvo-built inline 5-cyl engine making somewhat more power and torque than today's 1.9-liter turbo-four. A 2.4-liter version, already used in the midrange S60/V70, may show up in sporty R models, perhaps with light-pressure turbocharging and around 200 hp. Like V70, the V50 should be offered as a front-drive wagon and as a high-riding XC model with all-wheel drive. Despite sharing architecture and underpinnings with Ford and Mazda, S40/V50 will look like Volvos, with equipment and pricing to match.

The P1 effort also includes a 2-dr Volvo hatchback that should bow within six months of the new 40/50--say mid- to late 2004--as the V30. Loosely patterned on the recent Volvo Safety Concept Car, V30 is a wagon-like coupe echoing Volvo's much-loved early-'70s 1800ES. Another likely P1-based addition is a baby SUV related to the upcoming European Focus model that will probably be sold in the U.S. too. Volvo calls its version MXV, for "Multi Activity Vehicle," but a different name will likely appear in showrooms for this four-door AWD wagon with high-rise styling. Finally, perhaps sometime in 2005, MXV will reportedly fuse with V30 into an "All Activity Coupe" (AAC) and All Activity Roadster (AAR), also on a high-riding AWD chassis. Both should be 2-dr two-seaters or tight 2+2s. The Roadster will likely feature a removable roof panel above the cockpit.

While only the S40 and V50 are locked-in right now, any or all of these cars would be sourced from Volvo's plant in Ghent, Belgium. The current S40/V40 are built to a Mitsubishi design at a Dutch-based joint venture that's due to close in 2004, now that Mitsubishi is part-owned by Ford archrival DaimlerChrysler.