People hate Hondas for one reason. To be trendy and disguise the fact that they know nothing.
Most people over look the fact that Honda along with Alfa Romeo and Peugeot/Citroen and most recently Ford/Mazda (focus, KA, Fiesta, Mondeo, 2, 3, 6), have pioneered the entertaining Front-drive chassis.
Even a base model Civic provides an entertaining drive, with dynamics far better than any other Front-drive Small-Medium Japper. Except maybe the Mazda3.
Or how about 250 bhp out of a 2.0 16 valve N/A 4 Cylinder motor?? Very few have matched that.
Nothing wong with Honda at all, only Ferrari and BMW can out-engineer them.