Honda's redesigned 2016 Civic breaks cover

New spy photos of the 2016 Honda Civic sedan show that the redesigned compact car won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

The last time Honda reworked the small sedan -- the 2012 model, which arrived in the spring of 2011 -- it was criticized for lackluster styling, a cheap interior and carryover base powertrain.

The 2016 Civic sedan rips a page from Nissan’s notebook. The styling is wild by Honda standards, with the hood extending deep into the area once occupied by the front fenders, large air intakes in the front fascia, taillights that extend from the rear quarter panel into a truncated trunk lid, and splashes of chrome trim on the grille, door handles and window trim.

The car shown in these photos was parked on Fifth Avenue in Ann Arbor, Mich. Honda plans to reveal details of the sedan next week in Los Angeles and Detroit.

Details on several other models in the Civic family, including a coupe and hatchback as well as a performance-oriented Si version, will be dribbled out in the coming months.

Based on the latest images published by Civicx.com, an online forum for enthusiasts, it looks as if the new Civic has grown again. The car has gotten bigger, heavier and filled with more technology with each successive generation.

The Civic is the No. 2 selling compact car line in the U.S. after the Toyota Corolla. U.S. sales of the Civic have slipped 4.2 percent this year through August to 221,471 in a compact segment that has grown 1.1 percent but an overall car market that has dipped 3 percent.