yes, the 97 civic was driven by my dad, and he is a very calm driver, i have never seen him speed up, except for 2 or 3 times.
it is not about high revving. it is about how a car is maintained. there are cars which are high revved but still have perfect engines for a long time. u know that civic is the car of choice for almost all the racing people, lots of boys high rev lots of civics everyday
but there is a limit to everything. if i just floor the pedal and dont listen to what the engine has to tell me, then surely the engine will go bad some time soon. one has to understand how his car responds, one doesn't have to think
'bechni to hai, lagao iski rair'
if i smash the doors while closing them and speed up on bumpy roads, the body of my car will bear.
similarly, if the car develops some problem, and one continues to drive it like 'chalti ka naam gaari', then obviously the problem will increase. one fine day when the car would give up, the owner, not expecting such a disaster on that day, would just go to any road side mechanic and try to get the work done in the least amount possible. such mechanics will misplace small things in your car like nuts, covers, will break the dipstick holders, etc. as they'd have to do 'chalooo' work, they'd fit low quality stuff and do low quality 'jhatka' work, which in turn will cause more harm to the car.
such a car my friend is known as an abused car. now it doesn't matter how good it looks, how awesome sound system, rims, tires and other accessories that car has, the car is messed up. and believe me, that car will nudge you every now and then with small but unique problems.
so, my advice would be to pay the extra buck when buying a car and get peace of mind. and yes, when you get a civic as good in condition as your corolla, then compare it, you'll find it better