These were my first thoughts.
Didn't even finish reading the post. You're becoming a father, you have a baby on the way. You do NOT need something with more power underneath the hood. You don't need to worry about speed. I don't even care if the kid isn't in the car. You do something dumb speeding and angela will be left as a single mom. You should be concerned about the safety rating for your kid. Also, you're gunna want cargo space for strollers, diaper bags, pack n play (if you go on vacation thats what they sleep in and those are pretty big) etc. You want great gas mileage to be saving money. Kids are expensive so most likely this will be the car you own for like 10+ years. When the kids into sports and you have to haul around all their sports n school crap and their friends crap then you won't be able to in a civic. When you're not a parent you don't think about a lot of the little things that could make your life easier. Bending down to get a baby out of the car is fine when they're young. Once they start getting heavier its a pain in the ass lol. An xb is up higher so you're not bending over to get the car seat out. Another example that comes to mind is it's ideal to have multiple diaper bags so you don't have to haul the same one around everywhere. Idk how big a civics trunk is but i know the xb has plenty of room to keep a spare one in. Just crap like that adds up.
Tbh, if i were you, i'd be looking at subaru foresters. Same size and space as an xb but you have the AWD for the snow in the winter. I know you guys get a lot of snow in Upstate NY and my subie is a tank in the snow
I really don't care if that came off as harsh. In fact i hope it kinda did to make you really think hard.
EDIT: wow just read the rest of it and all of the responses. Maybe i'm in the wrong here but i don't think sports cars and babies mix. Just my opinion i guess....