"B-b-but the Si..." god that seems to be the cry of the Civic owners. Does the fact that the current market Civic is outdone by several rivals hurt you that bad?

Face it, the Si is only a small portion of Civic sales, and has very limited appeal in the small car market. The vast majority of Civic sales is DX/LX/EX models, and that is what the Forte is meant to compete with...and it looks to compare quite favorably.