The auto industry is fertile territory for numbers crunchers and those who need to know which cars are best -- and worst.

There's no shortage of companies, government agencies, advocacy groups and authors who apply subjective and objective analysis to come up with lists of who is doing well and who isn't.

That's what this is all about -- a series of top 10 lists that clap hands or point fingers at the cars, trucks, vans and sport-utilities on the road today.

From the Polk Co., which monitors vehicle registrations, we see that the cars and trucks sold by Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet and Honda are the most popular in California.

IntelliChoice, based in Campbell, has been rating the overall cost of vehicle ownership for 14 years. And annually, the company releases its list of best overall values in several car-type and price categories. IntelliChoice factors in depreciation, maintenance, repair costs, fuel, fees, financing and insurance to determine its rankings.

Jack Gillis is another longtime auto industry profiler. His annual rating guides -- "The Car Book," "The Truck, Van and 4x4 Book" and the "The Used Car Book" -- have been combined for 2000 into "The Ultimate Car Book 2000" (HarperCollins, $25). With an emphasis on vehicle safety, Gillis produces a list of best bets, as well as ranking vehicles by the number of complaints they get, how they do in government front and side crash tests, how their fuel economy ranks, what their preventive maintenance and repair costs are and other categories.

Now in its third year, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's "Green Book: The Environmental Guide to Cars and Trucks" (ACEEE, $8.95) is designed to "help you select a vehicle that does the least harm to the planet," write its authors. The list of greenest vehicles is populated with cars that are propelled with electricity or compressed natural gas. Only three gasoline-powered vehicles -- all of them compact cars -- make the 10 best list. And the worst list, which the council describes as the "meanest vehicles for the environment," is full of four-wheel-drive trucks with V-8 engines.

The Highway Loss Date Institute, part of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, recently released a survey showing that sports and luxury cars have the worst claims losses for crash-damage repairs while vans have the best results. Average loss payments per claim for the Dodge Viper, which the institute identified as having the highest claim cost, were $26,000, or seven times the average for all cars.

Almost all the vehicles with the lowest collision claim losses were vans or minivans, including all the top 10 and 14 of the top 20. The average claim for the Honda Odyssey minivan, for instance, was less than half of that of the average car.

The best and worst

The 10 Greenest Vehicles

1. GM EV1 (electric)

2. Nissan Altra (electric)

3. Honda Civic GX (natural gas)

4. Honda Insight (electric-gas)

5. Toyota RAV4 (electric)

6. Toyota Camry CNG (natural gas)

7. Ford Ranger (electric)

8. Chevy Metro/Suzuki Swift (gas)

9. Toyota Echo (gas)

10. Nissan Sentra (gas)

The 10 Meanest Vehicles for the Environment

1. Chevrolet Suburban

2. Dodge Ram 2500 pickup

3. Ferrari 550 Maranello

4. Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra

5. Ford Excursion

6. Dodge B2500 Van/Wagon

7. Chevrolet K2500 pickup

8. Cadillac Escalade

9. Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon

10. Toyota Land Cruiser/Lexus LX 470

--Source: "ACEEE's Green Book: The Environmental Guide to Cars Trucks, Model Year 2000"

The 10 Highest Overall Collision Coverage Losses

1. Dodge Viper 99

2. Audi A8 Quattro 97-99

3. Porsche 911 coupe 99

4. Jaguar XJ-Series 97-99

5. Hyundai Tiburon 97-99

6. Lexus SC 300/400 97-99

7. BMW 3-Series 97-99

8. Mercedes-Benz SL-Class 97-99

9. Jaguar XK8 97-99

10. Jaguar XJ-Series LWB 97-99

--Source: Highway Loss Data Institute

The 10 Lowest Overall Collision Coverage Losses

1. Honda Odyssey 99

2. Pontiac Montana 99

3. Chevrolet Astro 4WD 97-99

4. GMC Safari 97-99

5. Chevrolet Astro 97-99

6. Chevrolet Venture 97-99

7. Mercury Villager 99

8. Nissan Quest 99

9. Oldsmobile Silhouette 97-99

10. Ford Windstar 99

--Source: Highway Loss Data Institute

The 10 Most Complaints

1. Kia Sportage

2. Chevrolet S-Series

3. Toyota Tacoma

4. Ford Windstar

5. Honda Passport

6. Chrysler Sebring

7. GMC Jimmy

8. Ford Crown Victoria

9. Isuzu Rodeo

10. Chrysler Cirrus

Based on ratio of number of complaints to number of cars on road

--Source: "The Ultimate Car Book 2000" by Jack Gillis, HarperCollins

The 10 Fewest Complaints

1. Acura RL

2. Honda CR-V

3. Saturn SC

4. Cadillac Seville

5. Nissan Altima

6. Mazda 626

7. Toyota Corolla

8. Dodge Intrepid

9. Toyota Camry

10. Lexus ES 300

Based on ratio of number of complaints to number of cars on road

--Source: "The Ultimate Car Book 2000" by Jack Gillis, HarperCollins

The 10 Best Car Values

1. Honda Civic CX/DX/HX (subcompact under $14,000)

2. Honda Civic LX/VP/EX (subcompact over $14,000)

3. Saturn SL/SL1 (compact under $15,000)

4. Honda Accord LX/EX coupe (compact over $15,000)

5. Honda Accord LX/DX/SE sedan (midsize under $20,500)

6. Honda Accord V-6 sedan (midsize over $20,500)

7. Subaru Outback (midsize/large wagon)

8. Toyota Avalon (large car)

9. BMW 323i sedan (near-luxury car)

10. Mercedes-Benz E320 AWD sedan (luxury car)

--Source: IntelliChoice

The 10 Best Truck Values

1. Nissan Quest GXE (minivan under $22,500)

2. Honda Odyssey LS (minivan over $22,500)

3. Nissan Frontier XE King Cab (compact pickup 2WD)

4. Ford Ranger XL SuperCab (compact pickup 4WD)

5. Ford F-150 XL Styleside SuperCab (full-size half-ton pickup 2WD)

6. Chevrolet Silverado K1500 (full-size half-ton pickup 4WD)

7. Honda CR-V (compact sport-utility)

8. Toyota 4Runner (midsize SUV under $25,000)

9. Infiniti QX4 (midsize SUV over $25,000)

10. Lexus LX 470 (full-size SUV)

--Source: IntelliChoice

The 10 Best-Selling Cars in California, 1999

1. Toyota Camry

2. Honda Civic

3. Honda Accord

4. Toyota Corolla

5. Ford Taurus

6. Ford Mustang

7. Ford Escort

8. VW Jetta

9. Saturn

10. Chevrolet Cavalier

--Source: The Polk Company

The 10 Best-Selling Trucks in California, 1999

1. Ford F-Series

2. Ford Explorer

3. Chevrolet Silverado

4. Toyota Tacoma

5. Ford Ranger

6. Ford Expedition

7. Dodge Ram

8. Jeep Grand Cherokee

9. Toyota 4Runner

10. Dodge Caravan

--Source: The Polk Company

Published 4/8/2000