all the cars of that era were a lot better than the cars we have today around us and believe me civic is a gem ,the day u will experience the way it behaves on road u will know ,it cannot be compared to a corolla and u know i had a corolla 2000 for more than a decade ,2000 corolla was the best corolla ever but its rivals the city 2000 and civic 2000 were way too good looking and cool especially the 2000-2003 city exis.From then onwards both toyota and honda started to design cars that look more like an egg