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.
The new generation Honda's got everything we expect from the increasingly conservative refreshes from the company. This isn't to say it's a bad car. The Civic's always been fine transportation, and in the SI Coupe you can see the angular Scion tC clearly got to them as they've added a character line to a car distinctly lacking in any.
For sportier buyers, the new SI features a larger 2.4-liter fourbanger with a new 6-speed transmission, good for 200 hp and a relatively hefty 170 lb-ft of torque, while still raising fuel economy from 29 mpg to 31 mpg. The rest of the lineup improves in the fuel economy department as well, achieving an estimated 40 mpg for the fuel-sipping HF model and 45 mpg for the even stingier hybrid.
It's the kind of minor, subtle improvements that keep fans of the brand from marching to Honda's American headquarters in Torrance, Calif., like a bunch of angry Egpytians or Wisconsinites.