Published July 23, 2017 on blogspot.com

Back in 2011, I wrote a blog about Honda. More specifically, I wrote about my disappointment with Honda. I felt Honda had lost its charm both on the design and performance sides and started producing boring cars, especially in North America.

Towards the end of that post, I wrote about my anticipation for the 2012 Civic considering the last generation (2006 model) was such a great car. Well, to put it mildly, Honda continued down the disappointing path. The 2012 model was a bigger disappointment than I had anticipated and led me to wonder what will it take to awaken the people running this iconic brand.

Well, it seems the all-around criticism for such an endeared (and mainstream) model did the trick and Honda majorly revised the Civic for the 2013 year. Major revisions within one model year are rare, if not unheard of and almost always are forced due to the costs.

Since then, Honda has done a great job with "almost" every model in its lineup. The 2013 Honda Accord was refreshing after the bland (Saturn L300ish) styling and Honda has managed to keep it fresh every year since. CRV has continued its presence managing to remain inconspicuous but contemporary. As expected, CRZ is dead and Accord Crosstour is gone. Ridgeline is a good truck but it doesn't fit the image of a mainstream in the same way those from Toyota and Nissan do.

I want to go back to Civic but will spend a minute on the Pilot. The declining share and continued innovation by its main competitor the Highlander, forced Honda to launch a major refresh. So finally, the 2016 model was the launched. It is hugely different (and advanced) than the one which dragged for almost a decade but honestly, is closer to a minivan than an SUV. I am not saying that's a bad thing. Minivans are the most practical cars and this one perhaps gets Honda the minivan buyers.

But, the primary reason I am writing this is because of the great work Honda has done with Civic. The 2016 model was a sweet departure from its predecessors. What excites me the most though is that Honda decided to compete with the hot hatches. The Civic Type R is an effort to reclaim some of the glory this model enjoyed. Having the courage to appeal to hardcore buyers by offering a manual only version deserves huge accolades.

I wish Honda continues down this path and keeps bringing us more awesome cars. Go Honda!