[carwatcher]

Originally Posted by FireBug

Hope the new honda city and its pricing would result in more sales for the brand. I own a Honda city and is extremely happy with its performance, its definitely the best petrol car in its segment.

I think it is also 'one of the few' or 'only' petrol sedan having waiting period, though entirely due to other reasons than demand only. All diesel sedans are either better or best, but in Petrol only Honda is Best, remaining are only Good.

[prafulasher]

I guess we will soon see a super-premium color option in the city called `Bling Chrome`!

Personally, I have a feeling that the new grill won't look so bad in reality on the road. Will wait n watch!

[Tommie]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

But I don't seem to like the orange music player display which looks out of place in the otherwise blue lit interior. Oops current owners might feel cheated though

+1 I paid 8.5 lacs Ex and 10 lacs on road in Bangalore in 2009 for S-MT without alloys. Honda has really depreciated the Honda's resale value in the market. Some one was mentioning that the resale price for 2009 SMT is just 6.5 lacs.

Originally Posted by blackasta

Honda IMO has got a good spread with 5 trims this time, and one really has to acknowledge that they did not skimp on safety features even on the lowest trim. Everything else can be ignored / fitted after market. Safety features cannot.

If I were to buy, I would choose the Corporate edition and get the rest of the stuff from aftermarket. This would also only save my insurance, registration, sales tax charges. Any way, none of the accessories that are supplied by Honda is not great at all.

Originally Posted by namit

Yes, i do agree that old city buyers would feel disgusted and cheated by Honda.

+1, see above

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

Cruise control is a waste on Indian Highways. Even driving in the USA on week ends the Cruise control is rarely an option given the traffic on the Freeways.

I disagree, I have been driving on South-Indian highways a lot in the last 12 months and I would have really preferred to have a CC system. In the US it is a must to keep the same speed as most of the other drivers will be running on cruise control which would then let all the cars in that particular track run like a train for hours. I used to struggle in one of my rental cars which did not have cruise control to keep up with the high speed lane traffic.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Agree on the tyres bit.

I have upgraded my tyres to 195/60 R15. Initally, I used to feel that the tyres are giving me much better grip. Over the last couple of years, I realized that the ANHC does not really need fatter tyres. The issue with the car is that the body is too light and on highways and curves, the body does not fully behave like a full sedan in the balancing. However, the balancing would completely change if you have two passengers in the back seat or 40-60 kgs of large suitcases in your trunk. This helps the ANHC very much planted on the road. So my advice is, do not waste additional money on upgrading to the larger tyres as this is a light car at the back. Rather, keep some weight in the boot and see the difference. Remember that the fuel tank is also in the center and the weigh balance is pretty bad with just two front drivers.

Originally Posted by Sergei

At 6.99 L, the base version does seem VFM. So VFM in fact, that yours truly, who am interested in a good car with an OTR budget of max 6.5L am tempted to buy this.

+1, I would always advocate for this.

Actually, this is an eye-washer technique by Honda Marketing to attract people to their showrooms and say that we start at 6.99 sedan. Naturally, once a person sees that the next version has some additional features they would go for it. Honda is playing on the Indian psychology especially from the after the learning they had from E-MT model. It was the least selling model and Honda even considered to withdraw the model.My recommendation is buy Corporate edition and get rest of the accessories with After market fitment.

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

What I feel Honda could have included with the face lift is - Wider section tyres. Atleast for the V variant. The current set of tyres are constantly in the line of fire from critics and reviewers alike.

See my feedback about about the tyres after using the larger tyres for nearly 30,000 km.

Originally Posted by FireBug

Hope the new honda city and its pricing would result in more sales for the brand. I own a Honda city and is extremely happy with its performance, its definitely the best petrol car in its segment.

+1, one of the best petro-heads that you can get for the price in India.

[namit]

Hey Axe77 !! you forgot to add the old Optra with kidney grill cosmetically replaced by the straight lines trademrk Chevy designed grill.

Optra thereafter became a turn off to me and even more thereafter when they SRVed it - the current design (part sharing cosmetically with the Chevy SRV)

[PhX]

Originally Posted by Tommie

+1 I paid 8.5 lacs Ex and 10 lacs on road in Bangalore in 2009 for S-MT without alloys. Honda has really depreciated the Honda's resale value in the market. Some one was mentioning that the resale price for 2009 SMT is just 6.5 lacs.

If you'll sell me yours for 6.5 (done less than 25,000 km, I hope), please PM me

If I were to buy, I would choose the Corporate edition and get the rest of the stuff from aftermarket. This would also only save my insurance, registration, sales tax charges. Any way, none of the accessories that are supplied by Honda is not great at all.

This is actually something I hadn't considered. I always thought it'd be good to have the original car accessories from Honda fitted in. You are now forcing me into doing even more research *groan* before making a final decision...

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by Tommie

I have upgraded my tyres to 195/60 R15. Initally, I used to feel that the tyres are giving me much better grip. Over the last couple of years, I realized that the ANHC does not really need fatter tyres. The issue with the car is that the body is too light and on highways and curves, the body does not fully behave like a full sedan in the balancing. However, the balancing would completely change if you have two passengers in the back seat or 40-60 kgs of large suitcases in your trunk. This helps the ANHC very much planted on the road. So my advice is, do not waste additional money on upgrading to the larger tyres as this is a light car at the back. Rather, keep some weight in the boot and see the difference. Remember that the fuel tank is also in the center and the weigh balance is pretty bad with just two front drivers.

+1 to your take on tyres. I have driven my dad's City i-vtec without any passengers or luggage on wavy roads at around 100-120 kmph where the rear of the car swayed and bounced way to much, thus forcing me to back off from pushing any harder.
At the same time I reached my personal top speed of 170 kmph on the very same roads with 3 of my friends in the car. But the car behaved like a much matured car that time. I though fatter section rubber was the reason untill I read your previous post! Thanks for saving the time and money of many City owners who wanted to upgrade for this reason

[andromeda]

Good & desperate effort by Honda and the customer wins
Now Honda wants any and every potential petrol customer in the 6-11L segment (Dzire to Vento) to go for the City. They did not have much avenues left than do something like this to stay relevant for the current year (since their diesel is only expected in 2013).

Will this start a price war (not just offers) in the entry level petrol sedan segment ? The other manufacturers would surely not want to lose their precious few potential petrol customers.

[joslicx]

Does the 699k Corporate Ed City mean its curtains for the spartan Toyota Etios Petrol?

I would be interested in knowing why would anyone choose the T Etios over H City?

[Steeroid]

Only Honda can continuously bring down the prices on account of 'increased localization of components' and still run out of parts to build or repair cars everytime there is an earthquake in Japan or some rain in Thailand.

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

+1 to your take on tyres. I have driven my dad's City i-vtec without any passengers or luggage on wavy roads at around 100-120 kmph where the rear of the car swayed and bounced way to much, thus forcing me to back off from pushing any harder.
At the same time I reached my personal top speed of 170 kmph on the very same roads with 3 of my friends in the car. But the car behaved like a much matured car that time. I though fatter section rubber was the reason untill I read your previous post! Thanks for saving the time and money of many City owners who wanted to upgrade for this reason

Disagree a bit on this. I mostly drive my ANHC on the highway with 2-3 people at the back plus luggage, but am dissapointed with the on road behaviour post 130-140 (am having stock 175ers).

On the other hand, drove a Swift D(old) with similar load couple of days back, couldn't believe how stable it was even at 140-150! Since the Swift has 195ers, I'm pretty convinced wider tyres are the reason.
Unless someone has any other perspective on this.

[Tommie]

Originally Posted by avisidhu

Disagree a bit on this. I mostly drive my ANHC on the highway with 2-3 people at the back plus luggage, but am dissapointed with the on road behaviour post 130-140 (am having stock 175ers).

On the other hand, drove a Swift D(old) with similar load couple of days back, couldn't believe how stable it was even at 140-150! Since the Swift has 195ers, I'm pretty convinced wider tyres are the reason.
Unless someone has any other perspective on this.

Well, that is another observation that I have made too which is there in car which has 195 tyres. This means it has nothing to do with tyres but some thing else. After 130-140, the steering feels too light and it gets stabilized only after reaching 160+. It gets very difficult to control between 130 and 150 kmph. I think this is due to the fact that power steering has some power control changes at that particular speed. Let me know if that is your same experience.

[nitin.rai]

Considering that the Corporate edition is the most VFM & also the fact that i love black interiors on my car; booked one today. OTR Delhi would be 7.8 L. Loved the fact that Honda did not compromise on safety features on a black interior base model!

Intend to get integrated reverse camera ICE with blue backlighting, Alloys, 195 profile Michelins & keyless entry as aftermarket options. Total OTR would still be under 8.5 L.

[p'arth]

I am also evaluating the CE version since its most VFM. Had a few Qs:

- What is your car's waiting period? Is the Thailand flood impact over?
- Any discounts/freebies on offer? Corporate discount on Corporate Edition?

TIA.

Originally Posted by nitin.rai

Considering that the Corporate edition is the most VFM & also the fact that i love black interiors on my car; booked one today. OTR Delhi would be 7.8 L. Loved the fact that Honda did not compromise on safety features on a black interior base model!

Intend to get integrated reverse camera ICE with blue backlighting, Alloys, 195 profile Michelins & keyless entry as aftermarket options. Total OTR would still be under 8.5 L.

[nitin.rai]

Originally Posted by p'arth

I am also evaluating the CE version since its most VFM. Had a few Qs:

- What is your car's waiting period? Is the Thailand flood impact over?
- Any discounts/freebies on offer? Corporate discount on Corporate Edition?

TIA.

Based on some inputs I have received from people, the CE looks good - if you like black interiors.
Car deliveries will start 1st jan so I expect first week of Jan 12.
No discounts offered.

[manojmis]

Wont it make sense to wait for few days to see the offers back?
Also, how does the cruise control work on a manual car?