Tuttle

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I always thought the Accord as Honda's small sport sedan segment but it's never been sporty or exciting enough. If the Civic is moving into that space with the right formula and combination of sportiness and refinement then more power to Honda. The small sports sedan segment is a huge pie that the Civic can definitely carve out a piece from if it's as good as billed.
It's also probably one of the hardest segments to break into because there's those cars (3 Series, A4, C Class) that just dominate the segment because they've been setting the mid-size sports sedan benchmarks for decades. Objectively I don't think the regular Civic sedan will be able to be really competitive on paper on paper. It's going to have to be a value proposition alternative. The new Si Sedan could have a good shot at legitimately providing an equal performance type of option though.
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RobbJK88

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It's also probably one of the hardest segments to break into because there's those cars (3 Series, A4, C Class) that just dominate the segment because they've been setting the mid-size sports sedan benchmarks for decades. Objectively I don't think the regular Civic sedan will be able to be really competitive on paper on paper. It's going to have to be a value proposition alternative. The new Si Sedan could have a good shot at legitimately providing an equal performance type of option though.
The regular civic might actually be pretty competitive against something like the A3 however... the A3 has the same base engine as the VW Golf, but in a much heavier car. So i could see honda's 1.5T being competitive. The Si will compete more in the GTI, S3, A4 league of power and performance. The CTR will have a shot at the S4 and Golf R.
 

Kane76

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Yes and no.

While the CUV space is growing, so is the small sport sedan segment. 3 Series, A4, C-Class, A3, CLA. All growing. Only the Mazda3 offers a similar experience in non-luxury territory and it looks like Honda wants to be in that space too, which is a win for all.
True, but the small sports sedan segment is also growing because the cars in that segment have all been getting larger too.

My point is the CUV segment is growing fast at the expense of small cars so it makes sense that manufacturers are also making their small cars larger to fit the current tastes for larger cars. Honda really had no choice but to increase the size of the Civic considering the shrinking sales #s for what's considered a small car, which the Civic was.
 

randY49

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True, but the small sports sedan segment is also growing because the cars in that segment have all been getting larger too.

My point is the CUV segment is growing fast at the expense of small cars so it makes sense that manufacturers are also making their small cars larger to fit the current tastes for larger cars. Honda really had no choice but to increase the size of the Civic considering the shrinking sales #s for what's considered a small car, which the Civic was.
If you think compact car sales are falling, you should check the numbers for mid- and full-size cars. People are buying CUVs to sit higher, not drive something as long as a 70s Cadillac, just look at the booming compact CUV class which offers the SMALLEST CUVs available.
 


 


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