If the buff books are to be believed, this little car is just about as quick as my '63 Dodge 440 with its 383-330hp engine and (one-year-only) Borg-Warner aluminum close-ratio T-10 four-speed, which in '63 clocked 15 flat at 91 mph at Atco Dragway in NJ. This was with a 3.23 rear that gave the car a nearly 130-mph top speed. It was possibly the quickest car in the town where I grew up.
One of the Hot Rod Magazine editors wrote that if you don't look back at your car after you've parked it and are walking away, you really don't like the car all that much. I find myself turning back to look nearly every time I park the new Civic!