Score: 7.8
This doesn't look all that bad. The rear end is a nice improvement especially, but overall I think the Sedan is a little sedate. Not that sedation is a bad thing in this category, it's what customers expect. I'm sure it will sell handily, unless it really screws up the interior (as it sort of has with the Civic, which is too "out there" for some potential buyers who ended up getting a Corolla, or, hopefully a Mazda3).
What are even more interesting are the new engines under the hoods of these cars. Apparently, the word on the Temple of VTEC from a month or so ago was that these engines (both the four cylinder and V6) would represent the debut of A-VTEC, a system similar to BMW's double-vanos, basically giving pinpoint control of the engine valves throughout the rev-range, meaning maximum efficiency at that end of combustion. So, if Edmunds is correct, 180hp should be plenty from the four-cylinder, hopefully while putting it within the 25-26 mpg city range (although the EPA has redone their testing, so 21-22 is probably more realistic). This kind of extraction of energy is becoming increasingly important with energy conservation reaching even the most hardline of anti-environmentalists, in the pocket-book if nowhere else.
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