Consumer Guide® Automotive places each vehicle into one of 17 classes based on size, price, and market position. Larger than Compact SUVs, Midsize SUVs offer a mix of car- and truck-type construction, V6 and V8 power, and up to 8-passenger seating. This class also includes crossover vehicles.

Our Best Buys include Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander. Our Recommended picks are Dodge Durango, Ford Explorer, Ford Freestyle, Nissan Murano, Nissan Xterra, and Toyota 4Runner.

New or significantly redesigned models include Hummer H3, Jeep Commander, Pontiac Torrent, and Subaru B9 Tribeca.

A redesigned XL-7 bows for 2007 with a Suzuki-styled body over Chevrolet Equinox/Pontiac Torrent bones. Borrowing the General Motors Theta platform transforms a truck-type body-on-frame SUV into a unibody crossover that's slightly wider and taller but nearly 10 inches shorter on a 2-inch trimmer wheelbase. Like its GM cousins, the new XL-7 offers front-wheel drive or an AWD system that lacks low-range gears and powers the rear wheels only when the fronts lose grip. But instead of a 185-hp pushrod V6, the Suzuki gets GM's so-called "high feature" overhead-cam V6 with an estimated 250 hp. The only transmission is a five-speed automatic with manual shift gate. Suzuki says fuel economy hasn't suffered, quoting EPA city/highway mpg of 18/24 with 2WD and 17/23 with AWD. Rated towing capacity is 3500 lb, the same as Equinox/Torrent. The new XL-7 will offer Premium and uplevel Luxury models with seating for five or seven and standard ABS, stability/traction control and tire-pressure monitor. Seven-passenger models have a fold-in-floor 3rd-row seat. Premiums come on 16-inch wheels, Luxury models on 17s. Leather upholstery is standard for Luxury and available on Premium. Other options include sunroof, navigation system, and DVD entertainment. Sales start in the fourth quarter of 2006. Prices won't be announced until then, but Suzuki says MSRPs should run $23,000-$29,000, considerably above the outgoing XL-7. We'll have more details soon, so keep checking back with us.

Meantime, Suzuki says it will add a pickup truck in 2008, a first for this company in the U.S. market. It's believed to be a rebadged version of the Nissan Frontier, part of a new product-exchange deal between Suzuki and Nissan.