Camry vs. Accord vs. Corolla vs. Civic vs. Fit: On two of the occasions when my dealer had my Civic for multiple days trying to fix the wind noise, they put me in a loaner car (Corolla and Camry), which gave me the opportunity to make some interesting comparisons.

The Corolla felt like an economy car and made the Civic seem like a BMW or some other sports sedan in comparison. My time in the Corolla increased my resolve to fix the Civic rather than just walk away.

I was immediately impressed with how good the 06 Camry is and now understand why it is a top seller. It was enlightening to see how two companies (Honda and Toyota) strived to make the same product and ended up with two very similar yet different products (Accord and Camry).

The one big thing that would make me choose Accord over Camry is a drive in the mountains. Whereas the Camry hunts for gears uphill and requires driver input to control speed downhill, the Accord's automatic transmission has the uncanny ability to always pick the right gear and, in concert with the cruise control, makes the hills seemingly dissolve so the driver can enjoy the road.

The average driver, however, may not appreciate the advantages in handling, road feel, engine, and transmission performance of the Accord over the Camry. Toyota has been very smart adding content to the 07 Camry to distinguish it from Accord. If you want a 4-cyl sedan with VSC, TPMS, 8-way cloth power driver's seat, yada yada, Toyota has an answer that Honda can't match. The 07 Camry also has more real-world front seat legroom than Accord, though the total combined front and rear legroom is still comparable. This would be an easy fix for Honda: just give more travel in the front seat track. A big oversight with the 07 Camry, though, is the front door armrests don't extend back far enough to be usable by a 6-1 driver; the B-pillar interferes, similar to the current Accord. The great seat travel for your legs in the 07 Camry is useless if there is not enough room for your arm to be comfortable. The inadequate room combined with the overall driving experience is why I would choose Civic or Accord over the Camry.

Civic vs. Accord is the really tough choice. The Accord certainly feels like a more substantial car than the Civic, and has a level of refinement that is hard to quantify. It's hard to argue with a two-year-old car with 44,000 miles that still looks and runs like new.

The 06 Civic gives up a little of the Accord's ambience in exchange for a slightly tighter feel on the road. The automatic in the Civic holds a lower gear a bit longer than the Accord and gives more compression braking, almost like a stick. The Civic also has some features (SVC, one-touch sunroof, etc.) that haven't made it into the Accord yet.

While either would be a great choice, I would pick the 06 Civic over the current Accord because the B-pillar in the Accord interferes with using the door armrest, similar to the problem in the 07 Camry. If you are shorter and don't position the seat all the way back, this may not be a problem for you. Aside from seat comfort, I find the styling and overall 36 MPG of the Civic very appealing. It's a great car to satisfy a mid-life crisis while still being affordable.

I was expecting the Fit to be more economical than the Civic, but it seems like it will actually be about the same (33/38 Fit vs. 30/40 Civic). The real appeal of the Fit might be the flexibility of its interior seating arrangement. Style-wise, the Civic still wins hands down for me.

Conclusion: The 06 Civic is one of the best cars Honda has ever made, and this is coming from someone who had to struggle through an annoying first-year production glitch. The Civic is affordable, stylish, practical, and drives more like a sports sedan than an economy car.

If I could only have one Honda, it would still be the Odyssey for its overall flexibility and value. Where else can you find a vehicle that will transport eight people, drives like an Accord, and still delivers mileage in the mid-twenties? If you're lucky enough to have more than one Honda, I wholeheartedly recommend the Civic. More than any other vehicle I have ever owned, the Civic forces me to make excuses to go for a drive and take the long way home while I'm at it. Pulling in 36 MPG over 17,000 miles of mixed driving just makes the smile on my face even bigger.