I have the same car in charcoal grey and i find it to be a very good ride. Its now been driven 9500 kms. Ive driven it down to multan and on the motorway to islamabad. Avg mileage on long distance trips is from 16-17 km\l and i know for a fact kaay ive taken it from Thokar to Fort colony in Multan in 22 litres of petrol. If u dont gun the car too much in smaller gears and dont try pushing over 120 on long stretches tou i think its quite economical.
I think its an alright looking car and the back lights aint that bad... they grow on u after a while. Interior is very basic as far as im concerned and i find it very dissapointing that there is no airbag in the steering. From the looks of it the steering was basically designed for the purpose.
As far as the knocking issue is concerned tou that happens no matter what u do. But its more prominent when ur engine oil is over 3500 kms driven and that also affects the performance of the i-vtec.