You know, one thing about my “lesser quality” Civic is it did get excellent fuel mileage. It was a 1.6L 4 banger with a 5 speed manual, and it typically got 38mpg on the interstate and nothing less than 33/34 around town.
A few times during temperate weather when I could run with just the vent, no a/c, and the windows up, I got 42mpg on two different occassions driving a 300 mile round trip on the interestate. That’s a bit better than some hybrids.
True but not an even playing field.
Make that 98 Civic pass the current safety and emissions levels.