Monet replicas are everywhere.  You see them in offices, elevators and yes, even McDonald's restaurants.  Has it ever occurred to you why such an excellent artist as Monet had to be contented on seeing his works displayed along side Ronald McDonald?  The answer is simple really: it's inoffensive and bland.  Much like a Big Mac or McChicken is bland, a Monet doesn't really stand out.  It may look great to the art critic's eye, but for the rest of civilization, it's nothing more than a piece of decoration: greatly unnoticed, ignored and never appreciated.  What a Monet replica is in the world of furniture, is what the Mitsubishi Lancer GSR is in the world of automobiles.

With the amazing debut of the Ford Lynx Ghia, one begins to wonder if Honda's grasp on the 1.6-liter market would begin to fade.  In terms of market share, it seems that it hasn't happened just yet.  In fact, Honda has maintained a healthy second place in sales for the 1.6-liter segment despite having a car that is nearly five years old and is becoming too common to be called different.  So what makes the Honda Civic a big seller then?  Why do people keep on flocking Honda's way when they could get cars with much more features for the same price?  I decided to find out for myself.