I'm going to have to stick up for the honda here lol, I've owned 2 civics, an (1997) EK and (2003) EM2, my mrs has a (2003) EP hatch and my brother has a (2002) EP3 type r pushing 250bhp, which annoyingly is faster than my scoob but thats another story.
As far as N/A goes I agree with nick, They are the best and most fun engines you can get plus they are bullet proof on reliability. For what you get they are pretty cheap to buy and run which in turn attracts some of the muppets to buy them but what can you do. They don't have the punch of a turbo like the Impreza but they don't half sound good screaming its nuts off at 8k rpm :)
They handle like a !Removed! go-kart too. All in all a very good car in my opinion.
Obviously I saw the light and upgraded to the Subaru world though and I am much happier with it,