New Honda City GXi - 60000 kms review

[ashokabs]

I am giving a brief review of the key things that are important in a long term review as I have done a lot more mileage than the other reviews of the New Honda City. Bought a warm silver colur car in Jul 2004.

1. Tyres - I have all the original tyres which were GoodYear tubeless OE tyres. One tyre was damaged when the mechanic drove it for several km after it punctured - he then had a new tube fitted. Not the fault of the tyre. Still some tread left. Got the wheel alignment done from Courtesy Honda at 50K km and always got wheel balancing after a puncture repair.

2. Mileage - Initially I was getting 12-12.5 km/l in Delhi traffic with AC. This was when the driver was driving. Subsequently from 30K onwards was self driven. The fuel efficiency improved to 13 - 13.5 km/l. However, in the last year I have been getting 14 - 14.5 km/l. Quite surprised with the improvement and have no explanation!! Mileage was not very consistent initially as after each service it varied. Seems to be steady now at 14-14.5.

3. Mechanical Wear/Tear - I had to have the front shockers mounts replaced at 55K km. The front suspension needs some replacements costing around Rs 12000/- but were not done owing to lack of spares. The front brake disk pads and disks had to replaced at 45K km. At 45K km I had a humming sound from the rear RHS which was a faulty wheel bearing.

4. Electrical - interior light bulb fused at 45 K km.

5. Body and Interior - the beautiful biege plastics in interior need quite a bit of effort to keep clean in the grimy atmosphere of Delhi. The beige upholstery also gets very grubby and I have had it steam cleaned twice in 4 years. The interior plastic was finally cleaned to the original colour with vim, a little water and a stiff bristle toothbrush. Lot of labour but looks good now.

All the maintenance was done on schedule as per the manual and I must say that all in all a very good user experience. Car engine is still silky smooth. I have driven upto 130-140 kmph and it is was effortless.

When I have more time I will work out the cost of all the repairs and servicing. I think I have all the invoices with me.

Cheers.

[hellstar]

Originally Posted by ashokabs

1. Tyres - I have all the original tyres which were GoodYear tubeless OE tyres. One tyre was damaged when the mechanic drove it for several km after it punctured - he then had a new tube fitted. Not the fault of the tyre. Still some tread left. Got the wheel alignment done from Courtesy Honda at 50K km and always got wheel balancing after a puncture repair.

thats a nice review , but are you still running with the tube in the tubeless tyre and then attaining speeds of 130-140 kmph ? IMHO thats very risky. do a search, i belive the thread is somewhere in the tires and alloys wheels section

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...less-tyre.html (Using Tube in Tubeless Tyre!)
.

Originally Posted by ashokabs

3. Mechanical Wear/Tear - I had to have the front shockers mounts replaced at 55K km. The front suspension needs some replacements costing around Rs 12000/- but were not done owing to lack of spares. The front brake disk pads and disks had to replaced at 45K km. At 45K km I had a humming sound from the rear RHS which was a faulty wheel bearing.

these kinds of things are expected given the Indian road conditions and i believe is normal. brake pads for me also lasted 45k kms .

Originally Posted by ashokabs

5. Body and Interior - the beautiful biege plastics in interior need quite a bit of effort to keep clean in the grimy atmosphere of Delhi. The beige upholstery also gets very grubby and I have had it steam cleaned twice in 4 years. The interior plastic was finally cleaned to the original colour with vim, a little water and a stiff bristle toothbrush. Lot of labour but looks good now.

must have a lot of patience to go over all the interior plastic with a toothbrush and vim hehe

Originally Posted by ashokabs

When I have more time I will work out the cost of all the repairs and servicing. I think I have all the invoices with me.

Cheers.

will look forward to the maintenance cost ..... and yes some pictures would have been appreciated.

[loving_alaap]

NHC is am excellent car, which as one more highly satisfying owner.

Nice review dude, these wear & tear are expected on Indian roads.

[c.sridhar]

HI, i can share a few more thoughts on this. I also have a HOnda New City -Exi. Bot in May 2004, I have logged 112000 kms so far. The engine is still silky smooth. I have hardly had any maintenance probs. Except that I had to change the fuel filter once at around 26k kms due to adulterated petrol and having driven the car by mistake till almost the last drop of petrol. But for that, the vehicle is in wonderful condition. changed tyres at around 72k kms (shifted to tubeless). recently drove the car from MUmbai upto Coimbatore and back (appx 3200 kms). no issues whatsoever. I have changed the battery once and almost all the bulbs had given up once till date. I wld recommend new car owners to try this wonderful piece of art - Honda New City. Excellent. kudos to the technical superiority. I live in Mumbai and almost from day 1 the mileage is about 12.5 kms to a litre.

[ashokabs]

Originally Posted by hellstar

thats a nice review , but are you still running with the tube in the tubeless tyre and then attaining speeds of 130-140 kmph ? IMHO thats very risky. do a search, i belive the thread is somewhere in the tires and alloys wheels section

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...less-tyre.html (Using Tube in Tubeless Tyre!)
.


these kinds of things are expected given the Indian road conditions and i believe is normal. brake pads for me also lasted 45k kms .

must have a lot of patience to go over all the interior plastic with a toothbrush and vim hehe

will look forward to the maintenance cost ..... and yes some pictures would have been appreciated.

Hi,
Thanks for the tyre tip! You can be rest assured that the tyre is only a spare. I would anyway hardly do 140-150 kmph except as a test and for very short durations, late at night on an empty expressway!!!

Seems the tyres were waiting for me to praise them. One failed at the tyre wall when I drove for a couple of 100 metres with a flat tyre. The other which was a spare had a puncture which was in close proximity to three other punctures. Got new tyres yesterday but am happy with 65,000 km with a set of OE Tyres.

Cheers

[Max]

i too have honda city 2004 gxi bought in july 2004. Engine is still very smooth, no maintenance except regular maintenance, spark plug changes + tyre changes at 33,000. battery changes at 50,000km (after 5 years).

average is around 11.5 - 12kmpl in mumbai traffic with 100% air conditioner ON. Nice car IMO. I am not too car enthusiastic. I have completed 53000km run. Recently, i bought office near my home so now days driving is less then 500km / month + peace of mind.

Since the time, i bought office near home, my life has become very good, really driving in mumbai is hell like experience. If you want to curse some one curse him to drive in mumbai traffic, let it be BMW.

[GTO]

Long time since a new thread on the NHC was created! I'd never buy an NHC for myself, and could never get myself to accept the weird design. But I have to admit : It was one heck of a practical C segment sedan. Refined engine, great interiors, good space, excellent fuel efficiency, all this at a price point lower than the outgoing OHC 1.5. No wonder the market lapped it up the way they did.

Thanks for sharing your ownership experience with us. How about some detailed pics?

[vasudeva]

[quote=ashokabs;1283923]
1. Get wheel balancing and alignment done after every 6-7K. Anyway since your tyres seem to be in a good condition to you, seems like you are taking good care.
2. Mileage: this is not unusual as I have found it. Drivers are good for comfort of the owner and nothing else (unless you pay top money in 5 digits). My Corsa FE improved by the same amount (+1 kpl). Think more clutch usage.
3. Can consider leather for interiors if you plan on keeping the car. Get beige since they show dirt earlier and that can be cleaned off before it gets too ingrained.

[shantyrocks]

great review!
Iam amazed that there are not too many NHC reviews on the forum.
This car did better than even the OHC .reasons being that it seemed better built than the OHC,better spacious interiors and peppy engine(if not as powerfull as OHC),light controls and better suspension.Even now its doing well in the second hand cars market and sells at a premium.

[ashokabs]

I think we do not see more reviews of the NHC as the new model is out and everyone has mentally moved on. However, I think for most people it could be a good choice of a second hand car.

Regards,

[Ashok Kumar.T.]

I have recently purchased a NHC of 2003 Dec-done 65 th km . I am facing these problems:
1) when i travel over a speedbreaker moderately,the bottom touches when there are 4 people in the car
2) braking from 80 kmph suddenly is not efficient

Anyone facing similar problems???
Any solutions???

[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by Ashok Kumar.T.

I have recently purchased a NHC of 2003 Dec-done 65 th km . I am facing these problems:
1) when i travel over a speedbreaker moderately,the bottom touches when there are 4 people in the car
2) braking from 80 kmph suddenly is not efficient

The speed breaker problem can only be solved by taking extra care to slow down / take an angled path over it.

With almost 38000+ ks under it my 2007 CVT has good enough brakes, but my speeds are usually 70 or below. Mashing the pedal gives far less efficiency than being gentler on the brake pedal.

[ashokabs]

Originally Posted by Ashok Kumar.T.

I have recently purchased a NHC of 2003 Dec-done 65 th km . I am facing these problems:
1) when i travel over a speedbreaker moderately,the bottom touches when there are 4 people in the car
2) braking from 80 kmph suddenly is not efficient

Anyone facing similar problems???
Any solutions???

Hi,

The road clearance is 160 mm and this is only a little more than 8 inches. Badly designed speed breakers will create problems of bottoming. Just be careful. Can't do anything else.

Secondly, you mention braking is inefficient. Since the car has done 65K km and you do not know how the brakes were used earlier I suggest that you get the brakes checked thoroughly. It may be one of several problems - simplest being brake pad wearout.

Enjoy your car. Mine has now done 65K km and is in top condition mechanically. No problems with braking etc.

Regards,

Ashok Singh

[ashokabs]

Hi All,

Pictures of the Honda City GXi to go with my 60K review which started this thread. Sorry for not uploading these earlier. Please note the inside panels and door fittings which I cleaned with soap and toothbrush to bring them to almost new looking condition. The biege colour gets very dirty quickly in Delhi. I find that the ANHC colour is a little more dirt friendly.

Regards,

Ashok

[Ramsagar]

You have a very reliable machine in you lap. You are maintaining it very well.
I say its still a "virgin" can do another 60K easily with regular maintenance.
Keep checking the tire pressure & fill her with regular fuel from a reputed filling station. Would return nice mileage with light foot.

Wanted more pics.