yeah me and the wife used to argue about it i had the civic and her had had the 400 with more power yet i could easily keep up with it when she was driving the 400.
didnt have the vtec unfortunately
there was also alot more issues with the rovers - in the 4 years of ownership other than oil changes it was never serviced as honda made such a balls up of it. but nothing ever went wrong with the civic during the 60k it covered with me, granted i had 2 electrical issues int he cabin.
cant say the same with the rover however