Cool cars from the Los Angeles Auto Show

Honda's Civic is the best selling compact car on the market, but it's taken a beating from critics. It was the first Civic that Consumer Reports ever failed to recommend purely over its quality and performance.

But Honda insists it didn't need Consumer Reports or anyone else to tell its designers and engineers the Civic wasn't good enough. They could tell that just by comparing the Civic to what competitors were offering, a Honda spokesman said.

So Honda set about immediately remaking the car inside and out. The result is the all new 2013 Honda Civic.

It's not often I get to test drive a car before it's even officially unveiled, but Honda brought one of these to our offices for a quick spin. Indeed, it rides more nicely and quietly than the old model and it looks much better inside and out. Honda also says crash safety has been improved.

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