[BlackDeuceCoupe]

Honda has done it again with 2001 Civic
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY

...Onto that swing-dance floor waltzes a pretty darn conservative '01 Civic, handsome where others are flashy. Can Civic's light-touch blush and faint fragrance stand up to the wild lipstick and heavy perfume of the others? Or has Honda, despite hard work, finally run out of luck, staying restrained when it should have gotten wild?... [The 'new'] Civic won't intercept any spike-haired, cheek-ringed hipsters en route to the Ford Focus store, nor is it meant to...

If Civic stumbles, it'll be almost entirely from relative lack of sex appeal... Honda's got solid reasons to believe that conservatism is the right path. Consider:

• Civic sells mainly to women, often serious-minded, professional women early in their careers. Honda figures they're more likely to favor enduring, appropriate design over exciting design.
  
• Civic buyers are almost rabidly loyal by auto-industry standards. About half come back for another Civic — not just another Honda — and don't even consider something besides a Civic, Honda says its research shows...
  
• Civic buyers come from $50,000-a-year households, plus or minus...
  
• Honda research showed that [Yuppie] Civic owners often have sport-utility vehicles, too, and have trouble getting both into their garages. So the '01 Civic is slightly shorter than the car it replaces, but is taller, allowing it to be bigger inside and have a bigger trunk while taking less garage space. Interior room is up 3%, enough to get Civic classed a compact by the government's standards, up from subcompact previously...

... the car has a bit of the front-end whacka-thump-clunk sound on severe bumps. The harshness has plagued many good Japanese [MacPherson strut] models for years... Civic doesn't sound like the whole front suspension is about to fall out, as some do, but front-end clatter is still annoying...