Ford's progressively styled and hiply marketed Focus is selling briskly. Onto that swing-dance floor waltzes a pretty darn conservative '01 Civic, handsome where others are flashy. If Civic stumbles, it'll be almost entirely from relative lack of sex appeal, because there's a lot right about the car, based on a day booting coupes and sedans, automatics and stick-shifts around here, and a week commuting and running errands back home. Honda's got solid reasons to believe that conservatism is the right path. Honda figures they're more likely to favor enduring, appropriate design over exciting design.
Civic buyers are almost rabidly loyal by auto-industry standards.
Such buyers aren't likely to want a Civic they can't recognize. Honda research showed that 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. Honda redesigned and relocated steering and suspension components to take less space so people and luggage could have more. More power is always welcome, even among conservative drivers.