I can know your plight, i too own a black car and it is hell had to maintain. The only method that i have figured out is that either you get your car sealed with a Sealant or use a synthetic wax regularly. This way when you wash your car with either shampoo(rinse free solution) the water will sheet i.e it will slide off the paint leaving very less water to dry making your work easier and thus you will take less time to clean your car.
On a black car with our environment, it is very hard to maintain a swirl free finish. At first try to minimize the swirls and then maintain the finish with the help of microfibers. The most swirls you endue on your car is in the drying process. Look up on google for drying techniques, they will help you understand how to dry your car.
On weekends, do a proper wax session on your car and clean your car throughly. Take some time out and clean the undersides throughly, clean the car and apply a nice coat of wax on the car, this way you would only have to clean the car during weekdays. On weekdays clean the car with a rinse free wash rinse free shampoo use 5-6 microfibers to minimize the chance of swirling. Clean the car every 2 days and if needed give a detailer wipe in between and youre good to go.
Yes hondas paint quality has decreased signifigantly. I had a 2004 city and that had a much better paint job than my 2013 city and 2012 city, heck even the 2012 city had a much better paint job than the 2013 city. The newer cities paint job had lots of orange peel.
