Showroom

Subaru’s Impreza WRX, the world rally cup-winning stuff of automotive legend, finally makes its way to the United States in 2001 and it’s a shoo-in for a slot in Sport Compact Car magazine’s Eight Great Rides issue. That’s the WRX on the right.

The annual paean to entry-level vehicles that reward the motoring enthusiast with character, great handling, decent power and plenty of fun will hit newsstands March 6.

But Highway 1 gives you a holiday tease by revealing the identities of the eight vehicles--judged on everything from chassis performance to practicality--selected by Sport Compact Car’s staff.

Detroit, take note: There’s only one domestic on the list, which concentrates on cars aimed at the youth market (defined by SCC as 18 to 32) and priced under $30,000.

In alphabetical order by make, the way the magazine lists them, they are: the Acura Integra Type R; Ford Focus ZX-3; Mazda Miata; Nissan Sentra SE; the Impreza; Toyota Celica GT-S; Toyota MR-2 Spyder and Volkswagen GTI 1.8T.

In addition to price, size and their fun-to-drive quotient, one thing all eight have in common is a long list of available custom and performance parts.