When Dodge came off with the SRT-4, people liked it with its 220 or so horsepower (too bad now though. Dodge made a big mistake replacing the Neon with a Caliber). But if Honda ups the horsepower of the Civic with the highest offering getting 197hp, people hate this. I never really understand it. It's sort of a thing we do. Usually, we are talking about what cars are absolutely dull or shouldn't be hopped up simply because it's still boring. Well, the same goes with the latest Civic. Do I think the Civic (especially the Si) should get 197hp? Not really. Doesn't mean Honda won't bump it up.
We end up going back to one of my comments- "okay, the Civic isn't a sports car. Does it have to be?" Is the Chrysler 300 a sports car? I just think this all boils down to "the Civic is better off handling groceries and being a mundane city car." I'm not even going to go into the field stating that Civics don't need the horsepower they are getting. I can recall what Honda tried to do with the Civic, S2000, and NSX. For the Civic, it's more like a practical car which is also sporty. For the S2000, I've thought of it as a sports car that is also practical. With 240hp and rear-wheel drive, it is a sports car which doesn't cost sports car money. The ill-fated NSX was told to be an exotic sports car that is livable. Livable in the sense of an automobile that can still be practical as a day-to-day deal. I don't think people would want to have an exotic car to take to work every day and all that. So it's more like a weekend racer. I guess where I'm getting at is that no matter what Honda wants to do to beef up its cars, they will still be practical and safe. They'll also be built so they become good daily drivers, but also great fun to tune up. Something feels just right about Civics in which people want to mod them up to make them perform better. They aren't going to create a sports car, but again... does it have to be? This even applies to people taking Civics and making them muscle car killers or something. The Civic is NEVER going to be a pure sports car because it wasn't designed to be. The Mini Cooper took on competition in the past in its native United Kingdom and no one complained, so why the Civic?
The main phrase I've been using is "why the Civic?" Many of us like the Fit/Jazz/City that's coming out, but I think Honda just wanted to kick up the Civic. It doesn't mean it's going to pull of 8 minute times at the Nürburgring, out-accelerate a Corvette C6, or anything like that. Does modding up cars seem to be a double standard in regards to the Civic? Like, it's okay to mod up a Focus or a Mini or something like that, but people don't need to hop up a Civic? It's perfectly fine to make a Taurus or a 2000-ish Monte Carlo perform, but not the Civic. It's okay if Toyota bumps up the HPs on its baby, the Toyota Camry or even the Toyota Echo... but not the Civic. I don't like using stereotypes concerning this auto. You won't see me make "Fast and Furious" clichés and all in talking about this car. I could say something like Hummers are better off in off-road conditions than blocking lanes on the highway... and I'd get blasted. I could say that today's Caddilacs don't need to do 0-60 in under 5 seconds or be considered sports cars... and get blasted. I try to take a neutral side because I don't want to paint a negative image about a certain issue, or to use better terms- a conception about something which will have more than 50% disagree with me. My case is that the Civic will still be a sport compact and a great one until some other vehicle surpasses it in all the fields the Civic covers and then some. To end, I usually say that Civics on the road at more like Porsches in sportscar/endurance raicng- all over the place and not for bad reasons. They are there because they are affordable and offer something most other cars don't have, or simply a car people can live with, even if they wanted to save their money for a sports car or something.
I didn't realize how long it took for Honda to come up with this!
Although I liked the funky Civic Si, I was in a minority. Coupe was OK at best(for Honda), sedan didn't look too desirable.
