Civics and Vtechs are like Mustangs , they're relatively cheap to make fast hence very popular and I don't even think the Alex Zanardi NSX could beat an M5
The thing with Honda and most other Japanese brands is there was a law in Japan that no car would have more than 285HP ( the law is gone now ) , so they didn't need a V8 to get that type of HP just lightly modify an existing block ( vtech ) made sense from a bottom line standpoint
Thing is, Honda's luxury brand, Acura, is 25 yrs old, and still doesn't commant respect like Lexus, and to a lesser extent Infiniti does. And it point to the FWD and lack of V8s in their line up. It is a tier @ Luxury car brand, and has aspired to be Tier one for yrs. Lexus and Infiniti have done this by bench marking the competition and either keep up or beat them out right. Not Acura (except for the SH-AWD Aucra TL vs. the Audi S4). Honda just like Toyoata has played the conservative route, and Honda is far more conservative, so bad that it hurts their bottom line sometimes.
I realize that about the Honda engines and cars, a modded Civic is like a hotrod '57 Chevy, ubiquitous.
One used to see them everywhere. Where I work, only the poorer people mod them, I see '87 CRx's buzzing around all the time, sometimes with no fenders, hood or bumpers. You see certainlevels of modding depending on income and class of people.
