Best Concept; Buick Bengal.

In a year of lumpish concept vehicles, it wasn't hard for us to name Buick's beautiful Bengal Best Concept for the simple reason that it's an elegant car. Call us reactionary, but we like its understatement. With clean lines disappearing from most design syntaxes and the gaudiness of Chrysler's concepts, it was Buick that had an authentic vision of a ``should-be'' production vehicle.

Bengal is a convertible with a Saturn-like third door and rear seating that accommodates either two golf bags or two humans. While we'd guess Buick's young design team might be a bit embarrassed at the import given to the sport of middle-aged men, the four-seat roadster idea is good. Where a Buick two-seater seems an oxymoron, Bengal could be the image car to bring those too young to know what a ``Buford'' is into dealerships. Visually and dimensionally, Bengal isn't that far from the Porsche Boxster. At 175 inches, it's four inches longer; width (73.5 inches) is 3.4 inches wider. But comparisons with the Porsche end ...