[aravind.anand]

Okay, the car might not be brilliantly impressive at the moment, that is mainly due to two reasons - competition has progressed a lot, the previous car is still a favourite amongst segment buyers. Its never easy to replace a highly successful model - That is precisely why FIAT is still designing the next-Gen Punto and Toyota is still not touching its Innova.
I'd rather experience the car myself and see how it stacks up for 'my' requirements, rather than look at pictures and read through other reviews.
Well, frankly, when my dad upgraded from an Accent to the City in 2009, we simply did not find the silver finish to be cheap - as the City had the best quality interiors of all cars we had owned. So just go with an open mind, check all the prospective cars personally, and then take a decision

[Joe M]

I liked the design very much. Really would've booked one, had I been in a position to buy a new sedan now. This colour, especially in low light conditions doesn't show the design and flow well. But maybe in a different shade, and under sunlight I think the car should look awesome. With the premium feel(overall), improved rear seat comfort(though independent suspension is a real miss), sunroof etc and the refined and frugal diesel engine, this car surely is going to sell in huge numbers.

[StarScream]

I see one advantage to Honda retaining the old 1.5 i-VTEC engine and not introducing direct injection. The old engine can be easily modified to run on CNG. It seems to me they won't pass on the chance to play the green card and we may see a CNG variant in the line up soon.

[vvijay]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

but the door pad design harks back to the first Gen city! More attention should have been paid to the design there.

Was wondering was it just me or the design itself has this letdown but for the hi-fi blue dials and LCD audio. Also the gear lever, to add to your list

[the_skyliner]

I think the 3rd generation city is still the best looking one. In this one they have put on too much chrome at the front which gives it a "wanna-bee" look. For me the highlight is diesel engine option and a better music system, that's it. Will be interesting to see the pricing for diesel. If priced reasonably it will sell like hot cakes!

[microaubin]

The prices, trims and variants have not yet been announced.

If only all prospective buyers could apply some restraint and not jump at pre booking, maybe Honda would be forced to price it sensibly. If they garner so many pre bookings before the price announcement, they would be in a much better position to hike the price as they wish.

I think one should see the product, feel it and even test drive it to one's satisfaction before plonking your hard earned money on it. After all a car would be used for atleast a minimum of 3- 5 years.

My dad was once offered the opportunity to prebook the Fortuner. While many of his friends prebooked it, I advised him against it. We waited and test drove it and finally decided on the Innova. No offence to Fortuner owners, but just that we found the Innova more suitable/functional for our requirements.

[dipen]

Originally Posted by microaubin

I think one should see the product, feel it and even test drive it to one's satisfaction before plonking your hard earned money on it. After all a car would be used for atleast a minimum of 3- 5 years.

My dad was once offered the opportunity to prebook the Fortuner. While many of his friends prebooked it, I advised him against it. We waited and test drove it and finally decided on the Innova.

While you are practically correct, there is always a lure for being among the first people to get the delivery of a newly launched car. The "owner's pride, neighbour's envy" phrase holds true.

In this case, the booking amount is 100% refundable if one does not like the price or car after test driving it. So overall, one does not stand to lose more than the interest on the booking amount which is negligible.

[i74js]

The car has been essentially designed for India and thus pricing it right would be a major concern for Honda. They have tasted success through Amaze and also most of the buyers were happy with the 3rd generation arrow design. The disappointment was from the interiors on which Honda engineers have worked now and the 4th generation may seem to be a facelift from outside but is a happy car from inside.

I am sure this will continue to bring smile for Honda as well as for buyers. Honda in its present phase would not like to sell their products on discount and thus with their expansion in production base and launch of new city, they will adjust production between to cars to optimise availability in the market (lean production policy) keeping the company hedged against discounting of product cost in the merket.

Cheers

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Have they listed the color options that will be offered with the new City?

The two on display are Carnelian Red Pearl & Alabaster Silver. Taffeta White is a regular. That's three.

Out of the rest, there's Bold Beige, Urban Titanium & Sparkling Brown. I think they will retain Urban Titanium and Bold Beige. I would personally love if they brought out a black shade. The rear and the flowing central body line would look absolutely smashing in black.

Wish they gave us an option for all-black interiors as well (one of the main reasons why I love my 2012 Corporate so much). Those beige floor-mats and seat covers are a drab to look at (no offense beige lovers), will be a pain to maintain, and don't go well with the dash color combo IMO.

On that note, wish they gave us an option for the front grille too. Even a honeycomb-styled one with minimum chrome will do. This one looks very, very loud and garish.

My wishlist is getting longer, and that's not a good sign.

[Vid6639]

Just looking at the detailed pics from parrys I made a few observations:

1. Alloy wheel design is very poor. It looks like some local chinese alloy wheel design. The current City has better alloy design.

2. Wheel well cladding is minimal in front and absent at the back. I can see the body paint colour clearly. Even Etios now has a coating in the wheel wells.

3. Rear bumper is too slim and almost flush with the boot lid. Similar to older one but you really need to be careful when reversing and even a small touch at the back will result in boot lid sheet metal getting deformed. Have seen this on some current City's also. Comparatively Vento and Verna have a couple of inches bumper protruding.

4. Silver strip on the dashboard around central ac vents and on left side looks cheesy. Just too much silver paint and does not look premium. The Jazz had this as black and looked better. The silver just looks garish. They should have made this as beige cause right now the dash is all black but door pads and carpeting are beige.

5. All beige carpeting is a strict no no. Will get dirty. They should have added beige in the glove box lid or on top instead of silver rather than carpet.

6. Rear parcel tray is really out of place. It's way too high and you cannot store anything on it without blocking rearward visibility. Why does it need to be so high. And why beige? It will reflect on the rear windshield completely.

7. Rear headrests are integrated. Should have been adjustable.

8. Door pads design is very boring and looks out of place. The triangular cut in the door pad and straight lines looks too basic. This is especially true at the rear.

9. Boot lid has no cladding carpeting. The cables and wires hanging loose looks really shabby and cheap. Again Toyota Etios has added this carpeting in the boot lid.

10. Rear seat has a raised central portion. I don't remember there being such a prominent raised centre in older City.

[D'Artagnan]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

6. Rear parcel tray is really out of place. It's way too high and you cannot store anything on it without blocking rearward visibility. Why does it need to be so high. And why beige? It will reflect on the rear windshield completely.

On another note the rear parcel tray is slanted, I doubt if we can store anything at all without it sliding down on the passengers head.

[aniketi]

Honda has gone Maruti way for sure. Instead of changing the car completely, they have kept the design similar to the previous generation car. In my honest opinion is not a bad thing but they could have done more. It will be lost easily in the market as its very similar to outgoing model, specially from the front. Rear design is changed a lot & looks more classy now. The double tail lamps looks way upmarket. As far as interiors are concerned, i liked it. It is suited to current young generation with display & touch screen. Young people are just going to love this for sure. I will also prefer such interiors which are easy to use. Older generation, i am not sure weather they will like it. AC controls also via touch is good but surely old people will hate it IMHO (My parents don't like such controls, not even for mobile. Its way too fast & sensitive for them). Legroom is looking very decent & Indian will love it for sure. Side profile i find similar to new Verna.

Now success of this car will all depend on how they price it. Anything in the range of outgoing city will be great. I guess they will add 50-100 K models & feature wise over older city. If they can do that, that will be really great. This car must be heavier than Amaze by 250-300 KG, so i am not sure how the performance will be for Diesel motor & what economy it will give.

Overall my rating for this car is 8 out of 10. That can change after the pricing though

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Just looking at the detailed pics from parrys I made a few observations:

10. Rear seat has a raised central portion. I don't remember there being such a prominent raised centre in older City.

True. This was one of the main highlights for back seat comfort in the outgoing model.

Could be due to structural support for the increase in wheelbase?

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by vasoo

I dont think that is a fair comparison given that the interior shot of Honda City is taken in bad light/flash which dies not really provides a good comparison to better shots of the Hyundais.

While I agree that the Honda dashboard shot was taken under harsh and uneven lighting conditions, my point is more directed towards the design and color combination itself and not exactly the quality of materials used. A well taken photograph under near ideal lighting conditions could hide the 'flashiness', but the poor design (which I have explained in my previous post) will continue to remain.

At this point, Hyundai beats both the Japanese stalwarts, Honda and Toyota, when it comes to interior quality by a significant margin. Civic was the last Honda which had a timeless exterior design and stunning interiors.

[vb-saan]

First look video of the new City - from Autocar India:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUTPvGOsmFg&sns=em