I can relate to most of the things you said so i hope my input will be helpful.
I myself am a Toyota guy and have always preferred corolla over civic. I know the drive and comfort of civic is different but I’ve always preferred durability and reliability of corolla in long-term (please guys don’t roast me on this). However things changed when the ongoing civic model launched because it was very appealing to every eye. But when i drove 1.8 it was way too slow not that I’m expecting it to be very responsive but like i have a Prius also and that would totally destroy civic 1.8 (the new one) so yeah!
Now after driving 1.8 I decided to opt 1.5 Turbo. Now keep this in mind that this is when 1.5 Turbo was temporarily discontinued for the fuel and ECU remapping reasons. I didn’t care for those reasons and started to search for a clean car. I was lucky enough that one caught my eye at a showroom and the owner himself was there to drop off the car. I took it for a drive and that very moment finalized the deal.
Now mine is 2016 and its been exactly 2 years since I’ve owned it. The power and driving pleasure is unbeatable in this price range. I literally enjoy everytime i drive. Even the fuel economy is very impressive if you cruise around and maintainance is just like other car but I prefer to use 0-20 oil and high octane only, everyone has their own opinion on it.
There are no problems whatsoever and you can without any hesitation suggest your friend to go for it!
