Honda Civic: What's the Difference? Introduced on Thursday: 2013 Honda Civic What it is: What Honda calls the "much-anticipated" re-do of the critically trashed ninth-generation Civic compact, which was introduced just last year. So much cost-cutting was evident in its predecessor, one reviewer labeled it "a betrayal." What it isn't: Despite promises of more expressive exterior and interior styling, upgraded cabin appointments, and refined ride and handling, the 2013 Civic may not be different enough to distance itself safely from the smoking crater left by the 2012 model. The same economical but power-challenged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine that pulls the current model. The hopped-up Si version raises the standard 140-horsepower output to 201. Priced comparably to the $16,000-and-up Civic that is getting the heave-ho. If you like it, you can buy one immediately - Thursday, in fact, is the day this new Civic goes on sale. That's hardly soon enough, even though sales for the disappointing 2012 model have been quite good. Our take: It looks more Accord-ish, but it still has too much ninth-generation Civic in this gen-9½ model. Still visible: the pallid palette of exterior paint colors (Urban Titanium Metallic?), indifferent interior styling and the cut corners. There's not enough of the DNA of the previous eight generations of the fun-to-drive, pleasure-to-own, value-retentive Civic that America grew to love. Something to look forward to: the 10th-generation model, when it comes in two or three years, is to be engineered entirely in North America.