[jcp123]

Originally Posted by niky

Older Civics, well, you'd have to look at Honda's overseas products, like the Brio... but those don't quite meet NHTSA or NCAP crash standards like the Fit does.



Mirage. What some of us here are driving now.

Of course, it's nowhere near as good to drive as an old Civic... the pogoing on the racetrack is insane, and the MIVEC variable valve timing is nowhere near as entertaining as the VTEC on an old Civic Si... but five star (NCAP) crash safety and even decent small overlap crash safety... plus incredible mpg... what more could you ask for?

Unlike the majority of the motoring press, I actually secretly admire the Mirage. It's the rare honest car out there which makes no claims it's not actually trying to back up. It just works. It's not pretty, but it doesn't have to be. When I was car shopping early this year, the Mirage was one of the first searches I did: I'd hoped resale had dropped these things into my microscopic budget. I'd like to try driving a triple, anyway.

My '97 Civic though, despite some things I'm still not a fan of, has really shown me why I shouldn't have let the bespoilered and bestickered Fast & Furious crowd lead me to hate these cars. It's neither fast nor exactly sporty, yet it's fun, light, and engaging in a way which reveals far more engineering than an inexpensive car of the era deserved. And we're all the better for it.