By FRANK A. AUKOFER, Scripps Howard News Service

Specifications for 2009 Volkswagen CC 2.0T four-door sedan.

Engine: 2-liter four-cylinder, turbocharged, 200 horsepower.

Transmission: Six-speed automatic with manual-shift mode.

Overall length: 15 feet 9 inches.

EPA passenger/trunk volume: 96/13 cubic feet.

Weight: 3,374 pounds.

EPA city/highway fuel consumption: 19/29 miles per gallon.

When the subject is styling, Volkswagen is the alpha and the omega of vehicle manufacturers.

In the early days, it offered the microbus, with all the design panache of a steamer trunk or a soldier's footlocker, though there was some hope because the original Beetle actually had some charming curvy lines.

There's something to be admired about sticking to your roots.

In the automotive world, vehicles get changed about as often as an infant's diaper. Usually they grow up, just like little kids. Two examples: the Honda Fit and Scion xB, both of which started out as nimble little economy machines, then got bigger as soon as the new generation came to pass.

Specifications for the 2009 Nissan Xterra SE 4x4 four-door sport utility vehicle.

Engine: 4-liter V6, 261 horsepower.

Transmission: Five-speed automatic with high-range and low-range four-wheel drive.

Overall length: 14 feet 11 inches.

EPA passenger/cargo volume: 100/35 cubic feet.

Weight: 4,402 pounds.

It smacks of getting in your face.

That's the attitude the Dodge boys bring with their new Ram pickup truck.

At a time when doomsayers, spurred by rising fuel prices, are predicting the decline and perhaps fall of the full-size pickup truck, Dodge is ramming its new truck into the marketplace with announced confidence, if not bravado.

Specifications for 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie crew cab pickup truck.

Engine: 5.7-liter V8, 390 horsepower, 407 foot-pounds of torque.

Transmission: Five-speed automatic.

Overall length: 19 feet.

EPA passenger volume: 121 cubic feet.

Weight: 5,160 pounds.

Towing capability: 7,600 pounds.

Payload: 1,640 pounds.

Specifications for the 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart four-door sports sedan.

Engine: 2-liter four-cylinder, turbo charged, 237 horsepower.

Transmission: Six-speed twin-clutch automated manual.

Overall length: 15 feet.

EPA passenger/trunk volume: 94/9 cubic feet.

Weight: 3,462 pounds.

EPA city/highway fuel consumption: 17/25 miles per gallon.

The 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart may be the best 'tweener available.

Here's the deal: Japan's Mitsubishi makes a whole bunch of Lancer sedans, ranging from the economy DE model, with a starting price of $14,865, all the way up to the track- and rally-bred Evolution, which will set you back nearly $39,000.

The automobile business is all about predicting the future.

With development time for a new model of four or five years, decisions are made on the best information available at the time. Still, it can be a crap shoot.

Specifications:

Model: 2009 Honda Fit Sport four-door hatchback.

Engine: 1.5-liter four-cylinder, 117 horsepower.

Transmission: Five-speed automatic with manual-shift mode.

Overall length: 13 feet 6 inches.

EPA passenger/cargo volume: 91/21 cubic feet.

Weight: 2,604 pounds.

EPA city/highway fuel consumption: 27/33 miles per gallon.