Although Grande is more responsive, the total time difference to 100 km/h and 160km/h is not a lot. Plus, personally, I love the way the Civic handles. The levels of grip are insane, compared to current gen Corolla and previous gen Civics. There is a lot less understeer and the car is predictable in corners. In comparison, the Corolla feels slow to turn (tested it out with proper metrics) and it has a tendency to snap into small bouts of oversteer when on the edge. Of course, this might be a desired handling characteristic for some people, but the Civic is at a significant advantage handling wise. The center of gravity is low and the seating position is great (for someone who likes 'sporty' handling).
Talking about sporty, both the cars have poor steering systems. There is barely any feedback from the road, and like many people have mentioned here, the throttle response on the Civic is pretty abysmal, so that's a shame. For me personally, the handling is enough to offset the disadvantages of the slow gearbox, so it's a civic for me (in a head-to-head what would you rather buy)
