Cool is in the eye of the beholder?

The Civic. Once again, hats off to Honda for doing such a great job at making the Civic so very cool.

Now, the only question I have is why give the U.S. a tamed down (looks-wise only) version of the Civic?

On my trip back home to India, I saw the Civic floating around the streets of Aapli Mumbai. And DANG. The Civic there is SO MUCH MORE COOLER than its sister here in the U.S. The most significant difference I found was the lights, and front and back treatment.

Heres the Civic sold in the U.S. from the front:
Ho-hum.

And heres a Civic sold in India from the front:

Disregard the runway - slightly over-optimistic. But the front here is so much cooler! I'd say the other one is comparatively border-line lame.


Heres the back view:


















Any guesses which Civic belongs where?











Ohh forget these minor differences. What about the Civic in Europe?!! That one is the best of the lot! Its awesomely cool! Perhaps its too flashy for mass appeal here in the U.S. so they didn't bring it here. But, man, look at it:




























Thanks to cars.com and japanesecarfans.com for pictures.