Consumer Guide® Automotive places each vehicle into one of 18 classes based on size, price, and market position. Compact Cars comprise popularly priced sedans, hatchbacks, and wagons with wheelbases 100 inches or longer.

Our Best Buys include the Honda Civic and Mazda 3. Our Recommended picks are the Chevrolet Cobalt, Ford Focus, and Mazda 5.

New or significantly redesigned models include the Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Versa, and Pontiac G5.

Ion's 2008 replacement is Astra, an Americanized version of GM's German-designed Opel Astra. It's expected to bow with 2- and 4-dr hatchbacks and maybe 4-dr sedans. All will be sourced from a GM plant in Belgium, at least for now. Powertrains and other underskin components won't change radically, as Astra uses the same Delta small-car platform as Ion. So why the switch? Because GM wants to redefine Saturn as a more-upscale brand with "European" flair. What better than an actual European design built "over there"? Astra pricing is rumored to be more upscale with a starting point of around $16,000, some $3500 above an Ion 2 sedan. Sensibly, GM has scaled back projected sales to around 30,000 per year, well below Ion level. Incidentally, Opel's Astra also offers wagons, a sporty 2-dr hatch and even a retractable-hardtop convertible, so Saturn's Astra could conceivably add some or all of these if things go according to plan.