To my Igloo neighboor, welcome aboard!
My 2 previous cars where Civics : '90 Si and '00 EX 4 doors. I bought the Si brand new and kept it for 10 years, it was the best fun car I ever owned, even after 10 years of LOYAL services. When time came to replace it, I put my faith into another Civic but what I mistake I had made. That piece of crap can't stay stable in almost any situation. I added a front strut tie bar and a lower suspension reinforcement bar (both Neuspeed), wich fixed part of the problem. Then I added the SiR's rear stabilizer bar and that fixed the swinging rear end problem. Got Yokohama A520 after but I didn't like how fast they ***** out, went back to Avid Touring and found no loss of handling??? Then I finally installed an OMP REC seat to have a seat that did not gave in curbs. After 2 years of complaining, I gave it to my wife. Civics are no longer what they were, believe me.
So I then tried the MP5, and I fell in love. After nearly 4 months and 8000km, I cannot find ANYTHING to complain about this little jewel. It's a VERY safe feeling car, solid and looks great. Ok, gotta admit that it's not as fuel efficient as the Civic but hey, fun has a price. Personnaly, the only thing that bothers me a little is the shifter, and that can easily be fixed.
Go and have a test drive, you'll see why we bought these japanese pearls.
p.s. the OMP seat is for sale (and it's red)