Consumer Guide® Automotive places each vehicle into one of 18 classes based on size, price, and market position. Midsize Cars represent the heart of the U.S. car market. Most are price-sensitive, conservatively designed, family oriented sedans and wagons.

Our Best Buys include Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Our Recommended picks are the Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Mercury Milan, and Saturn Aura.

New or significantly redesigned models include the Saturn Aura.

A new entry-level model is joining the Azera line. Tagged GLS, it has fewer standard frills than the SE, the previous base version, and uses a 3.3-liter V6 borrowed from Hyundai's smaller Sonata sedan. A 5-speed automatic is the only transmission. The GLS starts at $24,895, some $1300 below a comparable SE, which now becomes the midline Azera. Incidentally, the SE picks up standard 17-inch wheels and optional leather upholstery as running changes, while the Limited offers a new high-power Infinity audio option. Look for a navigation system to be available for the 2008 models. Otherwise, this Hyundai should see no major change for a while.

Azera's platform reportedly serves a new sport wagon patterned on the recent Portico concept, which is rather like the Chrysler Pacifica in size and format. Look for it as a 2009 addition. Sources mention a 120.9-inch wheelbase, 197-inch overall length, and seating for six or seven. The engine is likely to be Azera's 3.8-liter V6, perhaps tuned for more power. No word yet on name, it won't be Portico, says Hyundai. More news as we get it, so keep checking back with us.

Meantime, Hyundai is poised to add a rear-wheel-drive V8 sedan pitched above the Azera, but priced from well under $30,000, says one executive. This new flagship--the first rear-drive Hyundai to be sold in North America--should be all but identical to the Genesis concept unveiled at this year's New York Auto Show. It may even use that name. The concept looks much like a BMW 5-Series and is similar in size, measuring 197 inches long by 73.3 inches wide and 58.7 inches high on a 115.6-inch wheelbase. A new Hyundai-designed "Tau" V8 gives the concept over 300 horsepower, delivered via a 6-speed automatic transmission. In this form, 0-60 mph takes less than 6 seconds, Hyundai says, though the V8 can apparently be made larger or smaller than the concept's version to suit different markets and/or price points. Hyundai also says Genesis is structurally stiffer than a 5-Series or Mercedes E-Class sedan. The showroom model is likely to come with eight airbags, radar-based cruise control, navigation system, bi-xenon headlamps, and no doubt much more. We should have further details soon, so keep checking back with us.