High on the list of things you should definitely read today is this piece by Automotive News' Mark Rechtin detailing just how Honda managed to turn the much maligned 2012 Honda Civic into the it-could-have-been-worse-because-it-was-worse 2013 Honda Civic, which has Honda execs explaining the way its efficient system…

Consumer Repors verified our initial negative reaction, refusing to recommend the 2012 Honda Civic. But there's one missing caveat: everyone means the U.S.-Spec Honda Civic. The European-Spec Civic is something many can get behind.

Yesterday, Consumer Reports removed the 2012 Honda Civic from their "recommended buy" list. Today, Cars.com did the beige consumer autoweb version of an "oh snap" when they explicitly recommended the new Civic. It's like watching a sunflower fight a dandelion.

The new Honda Civic is so mediocre even Consumer Reports, long a cheerleader for the Japanese econo-cruiser, dropped the redesigned 2012 model from its "recommended buy" list after the new model sunk to a rating of just 61 points on the magazine's 100-point scale. That means the newly-redesigned Honda Civic scored too…

Soichiro Honda's fuel of choice in his youth was high-test sake. He marked his wedding by dancing naked, raced through a life-threatening crash and drove a car filled with geishas off a bridge. (Everyone lived.) Then he founded Honda and found his greatest success breaking convention.

Thanks to a Honda embargo, I can't tell you many details about the 2012 Civic line, including the new Si. But I can show you the unfinished commercials a Honda dealer threw up on YouTube touting the Si's 201 hp.

Prior to Honda's grand unveiling — and our first drive — of the 2012 Honda Civic next week during the New York Auto Show, we're getting a chance to see the exterior and interior on the 2012 Honda Civic thanks to the folks at 9thCivic. Run for the hills!

Unsurprisingly, the 2012 Honda Civic looks exactly as uninspiring as the Honda Civic Concept that debuted in Detroit. The look's an update on the slab-sided current generation, but not so radical an upgrade as to disquiet their easily perturbed buyers.