[vvrchandra]

Any chance of the diesel option with automatic transmission? If yes, I'll wait for it else will look for other options now. Thanks.

[av8er]

Whatever you complain of this car we all know it is going to sell, even if Honda prices it high. I mean look at the Innova one vehicle which I feel is ridiculous to buy above the 15L mark OTR but it still sells like hot cakes.

So Honda knows how to play its cards and we the Indian Aam Janta fall for the Japanese tricks.

I know people who blindly would buy it and I literally mean, without a test drive or without even looking at it. "Arey Honda hai aur Deezal bhi, tho kyun nahi".

As I am typing a friend just called and confirmed he is booking on already even without knowing the price or looking at the car.

[Steeroid]

Really bad and disjointed dashboard design, even if the texture and/or material quality is good. Its like somebody went bonkers with a geometry box, using ALL the instruments available. Ditto with the tacky beige inserts on the doors - those look like a really bad aftermarket job by some small 'accessory shop'. The a/c vents in the centre of the dash belong to the bell-bottom era.

Guess a diesel Honda sedan will sell well, however will Honda get too greedy with the pricing?

[vasanthn21]

The complaints with 3rd generation Honda City were mainly:

1. No Diesel option
2. Missing ACC
3. Ground clearance

With 4th generation, they have addressed issues 1 & 2, not sure about 3. Folks may crib about the dash and looks now, but ultimately it will boil down to pricing. If they price it right, for me this would be the prefect sedan! I hope they don't make a "Jazz" out of the pricing this time.

Note: Minor detail, but how many noticed that the "CITY" logo has slightly changed, the 'T' in the city is bevelled on the top right to accomodate the top left of the 'Y'.

[Screwdriva]

I think Honda has done a good job!

The exterior, while evolutionary, is pleasant looking and not as much of a gamble as Hyundai's fluidic designs.

The interiors also appear evolutionary.

The equipment on offer combined with the reliability and performance of Japanese horses just cannot be matched by Hyundai.

Honda is an innovator. Hyundai, as the name suggests, is an imitator

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Any chance of the diesel option with automatic transmission? If yes, I'll wait for it else will look for other options now. Thanks.

Somebody had posted the variant list on this thread and the automatic is only available for the petrol. Your only choice in this price range would probably be the verna.

[CARDEEP]

I knida liked the exterior design, it is on line with the Arrow design philosophy of Honda, but the creases & lines give it a fresh look. But, the puny tyres, alongwith the 2-3 decades old alloy design spoil the party.

Moreover, the front overhang seems reduced a bit (as compared to outgoing model), which is a welcome change, considering the fact that the overhang in old model make it look (on a bit) disproportionate. New model looks much balanced, except the tyres of course.

Coming to interiors, I do like the overall dash design & spaciousness that is clearly more than old City, but the central console consisting of 5-display & other controls, looks unfinished, as if they had just put few things for the sake of having the car ready for display on 25th Nov. Even the rear AC somehow looks un-Honda-ish. I sincerely hope these few quirks will be sorted by the time car is on sale, & if possible, by the '14 Auto Expo.

The 1.5L petrol mill was a gem best in segment, & still will remain amongst the best in segment. I again hope Honda price it sensibly, not going overboard with the pricing just because it got a diesel mill this time (re which nothing is special reve about, except the economy)... & what happens to the CNG variant now, which IMO shouldn't be discontinued.

My question for Parrys, what was the quality of plastics like, like the model it replaces or it has improved, & by how much?

[DeepakS]

This City, by far, has the worst interiors! So much of weirdness in the centre console. It's not proportionate, aligned or even good looking. I feel the outgoing generation is better than this.

[needforspeed88]

Honda have done the smart thing by not drastically changing the appearance of the new model cos the earlier model was already a looker. They have given some botox shots to make it appear newer and have concentrated mainly on improving the interiors and space.

Hyundai's Verna now has a genuine competitor of equal measure although i believe more than taking away the volumes away from the Verna the new city will actually expand the segment by taking volumes away from the immediately higher segment. Verna is filled to the rafters when it comes to the features and City has just caught up now but in my opinion Verna still looks more futuristic and sleek as far as looks are concerned not to forget the silky smooth powerful motor under its hood.The biggest pluses for City would be the Honda badge, reliability, and most importantly the ride and handling balance in my opinion.

Verna and City offer the best of both worlds in terms of reduced footprint, relative affordability and good fuel efficiency on on side and comfort, features and technology on the other.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

The concept of tyre rotation is applied 'Only' to the four wheels supporting the car. The 5th wheel or the spare wheel needs to be used only when one of those wheels are punctured or damaged beyond use.
Please go through the owner's manual, and you will find a line that says -users are advised to get the punctured tyre repaired and the spare to be put back in the boot at the earliest. Infact, many manufacturers provide smaller wheels with thinner weight saving tyres to reduce weight and also to maximize boot space!

The concept of tyre rotation applies only to "four" wheels if the manufacturer is stingy and gives only 4 alloy wheels. So that's what they add in the manual for ease.

Ideal tyre rotation is for all "five" tyres. This ensures the maximum life and even wear on all 5 tyres.

[pande_monium76]

I suspect they did not want to play around too much with the design. The challenge with the Honda portfolio has been the lack of a diesel offering (something they corrected with the Amaze launch) and not the design of their cars.

Having said that, I was a bit disappointed with the finishing of the interiors - some of it can be attributed to photography but some is it does look tacky.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by zenren

Only advantage I can see from that change is that the length of rear door has decreased. With the new design, I guess the rear door can be opened a bit more in tight parking spots since the edge of the door is more inwards with this projection avoided.

I'm not sure how bad the situation was with previous generation. As an owner, you might have a better idea if it was a nuisance or whether it didn't matter at all.

I don't think the length has decreased much. The door seems to be of the same size/shape from all angles. I think the design engineers rounded out the lines which sloped down from the front by providing that extra black bit so that it looks stretched and complete from a distance. My grouse is with the black bit itself - they should have provided a complete body panel instead of that one small bit and let the sloping lines be, without a taper-off. That way it would have looked better and slightly more premium. Makes you wonder how much did they save by excluding a proper body panel and sticking a black plastic bit in that space.

The current one has seen no complaints from the occupants of the rear seat so far. It opens wide enough, ingress/egress is good even in tight spots, only slight problem is the "sitting-down" inside, since it's not a tallboy. Visibility isn't a problem either. The window and the quarter glass provide excellent visibility and bright ambience in the rear area.

Originally Posted by veyron_head

But looking at the features and the new diesel engine, and above all, knowing Honda and their ridiculous pricing, the cost of this car will hover on the civic territory. That would push all their models to the next segment. Civic diesel when it arrives may touch 20 lacs OTR.

The rumors of the next-gen Civic not coming to India are proven by this launch. Honda has targeted two segments with this new City (and with the upcoming Vezel, I am sure). The looks, features on offer and the diesel engine would mean a pricing strategy which overlaps the Civic's pricing. The testing of the next-gen Civic might have merely indicated the diesel engine testing. Honda is completely mum on bringing the Civic back, but has been a bit vocal on bringing in the diesel CR-V at some stage (once the rupee recovers a bit more).

Now they have a car which can cover the 9L-13L section in the petrol segment, and 10L-14L section in the diesel segment (OTR).

The present-gen City was being sold at 10.2L ex-showroom for the top Sunroof model, so it's safe to assume that they will be targeting at least 11L for the VX petrol variant, which is ~12.2L OTR. Which means the AT, currently pegged at 10.95L ex-showroom, should touch 13L OTR easily.

For diesel, they should command a premium of at least 1.25L over the VX petrol. So that means a price of around 12.25L ex-showroom for the VX diesel. That's almost 14L OTR (15L in places like Bangalore).

It's safe to assume that the Civic is no longer in their India plans. The Vezel might come in and be slotted slightly above the City, targeting the Duster, Terrano or maybe even the XUV.

Originally Posted by av8er

I know people who blindly would buy it and I literally mean, without a test drive or without even looking at it. "Arey Honda hai aur Deezal bhi, tho kyun nahi".

As I am typing a friend just called and confirmed he is booking on already even without knowing the price or looking at the car.

Yep, they really meant it when they said they were going to take Honda "mainstream" in India a couple of years back. Brio, Amaze, the new City and the Mobilio all point in that direction.

They are getting into the pulse of the Indian car-buying public and providing them with what they want. Honda is playing it's cards to become a future volume seller in India. Let's hope that their compromise on quality doesn't extend to their technologies. As long as the plastic bits are average, nobody will complain.

It's a Honda, it's a diesel, it's got all the gizmos you can think of. What more can one want? Like someone said, the life of the car driver is spent behind the wheel. As long as he's happy, all is well and good. A pretty average car with a dynamite diesel engine has been selling volumes (the Amaze), and an average handler with a dynamite list of features has been selling volumes (the Verna). It's pretty safe to assume that the City will bring in the numbers as well.

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

Coming to interiors, I do like the overall dash design & spaciousness that is clearly more than old City, but the central console consisting of 5-display & other controls, looks unfinished, as if they had just put few things for the sake of having the car ready for display on 25th Nov. Even the rear AC somehow looks un-Honda-ish. I sincerely hope these few quirks will be sorted by the time car is on sale, & if possible, by the '14 Auto Expo.

Which makes one think if this new 2014 City wasn't a hurried, half-baked product, fast-forwarded to the launch to keep the City's numbers and legacy going?

Honda might be playing smart and safe here. They might have realised that if they launched the Jazz and the Mobilio before the City, the City might not rake in the numbers as it has been in the recent past. Admit it or not, the Amaze has cannibalised some of the sales of the City in the past seven months. Get two more VFM offerings and they might have found no takers for an overpriced City overlapping two segments. Hence they brought in a super-quick, under-developed product, using a lot of bits of the existing City, merged a bunch of features in it, and launched it.

There are so many similarities with existing products which makes one think of Honda ever went back to the drawing board for this new 2014 City at all. Interior = same, side profile = same, front = Civic-ish, rear = all-new, steering = Fit, speedo = C-Rider, dash = same, boot = same, front bonnet = almost same, front grill = Modulo. Looks like the only place where any work or thought went was with the rear tail-lamp section, and even that resembles the YL1/Altis/Elantra/BMW design.

The concept designs looked stunning and promised a great product, and maybe it would have been one if it had gotten more time (maybe another year, end-2015?). I bet there are still a lot of quirks with this 2014 City, and that's why it's important to see how's the fit and finish of this car. I am eagerly waiting for the Team-BHP comprehensive review. That should give us a perfect idea of what to expect from this 2014 City, quality-wise.

[Sarvodaya]

There is no evolution as Honda claimed. Only revolution. When compared to Fludic Verna, the following are missing. Rear Disc Brake, Automatic Option in Diesel. They could have omitted Sun Roof and incorporated at least Rear Disc Brake. The only thing interesting is the Diesel Engine. Also they could have incorporated a bigger screen with Navigation, Curtain Air Bags in Top End Version.

Eagerly waiting for Team BHP review. The final nail will be price. It will also be interesting to watch how Honda will price Jazz.

[y2ksrs]

Originally Posted by Sarvodaya

There is no evolution as Honda claimed. Only revolution. When compared to Fludic Verna, the following are missing. Rear Disc Brake, Automatic Option in Diesel. They could have omitted Sun Roof and incorporated at least Rear Disc Brake. The only thing interesting is the Diesel Engine. Also they could have incorporated a bigger screen with Navigation, Curtain Air Bags in Top End Version.

Eagerly waiting for Team BHP review. The final nail will be price. It will also be interesting to watch how Honda will price Jazz.

What about:

1) Auto on and follow me home head lights
2) Auto folding and heated OVRMs
3) Auto wipers
4) True keyless entry

Does this new City have any of these? These features are in a Hyundai i20, which is a segment lower. I would expect these features in a car, if I'm spending over 12lacs

[spinks_69]

Originally Posted by norhog

So what will be the acronym for this?
2014ANHC, GEN4HC….
Can someone suggest...

Cheers

As the moderators have pointed out it is better to type the full brand name and model for ease of reading for all members and guests.

eg 2008 Honda City 1.5 IVTEC SMT
eg 2012 Honda City 1.5 IVTEC VMT
eg 2014 Honda City 1.5 IVTEC or IDTEC followed by model variant EMT/SMT/VT/AT etc.