[himanshugoswami]

Okay, Now I know I am stirring a horney's nest given the fanatical following of the Honda city, but i wanted to share this experience witl u guys.

I had been to Delhi yesterday and while there, I met up with a friend who drives a honda Citi EXI (NHC) which is 2 years old.

This car has done 25K with 80% running in Delhi. Now my frind is not exactly a car maintenance freak (he is not a BHPian ), but still keeps his car in reasonable shape. the car has a few scratches and a copuple of small dings, but that is par for the course in Delhi.

But what really caught my attention what the state of the interiors of the car. Now a bit about my frinds habits would be appropriate here: he is a non smoker, ususally the only person in the car most of the times, always drives with his windows up because of the noise and pollution and never eats anything in the car.

Also, at least once a month, his car is vaccumed from inside, apart from the routine cleaning by his cleaner. So u can say that he keeps his car relatively clean inside.

However, the plastics of the car, esp the dashboard were in a PATHETIC state. the coulour was a wierd shade of faded grey with a very brittle look to it. Also the plastics had faded unevenly in places, thus resulting in whitish patches al over the dash. It reminded me of the interior plastics of a Tata sumo Spacio - I kid u not!

the palstics were really hard to the touch and at one point there was a hairline crack at the corner.

when I asked my friend about this, he said that he was really disgusted with the overall quality of the car, esp the plastic parts. Turns out that the left door panel of his car had to be replaced a couple of months ago since one day while the door was being pulled in for closing, the plastic panel just gave way and cracked!

Also, the area around the gear lever which has a shiny pseudo aluminium finish was looking really scruffy.

My friends earlier car was a santro that he drove for 5 years and over 80K, but he had no such issues with it.

Now I am wondering, is this a case of a bad piece (although I serously doubt it) or has honda quality taken a nose dive?

On the mileage front, he consistently gets 12-12.5 KPL in Delhi with AC 100% in summer and heater on most times in winter.

Cheers

Himanshu

[devarshi84]

I guess that its the effect of Sun and heat. The car would have been lying in the sun all day for months. THe car heats up inside and the plastics are affected this way.

But while many expect Honda's to be HONDA'S. They too are made in factories like other cars and hence they too are prone too problems.

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

I guess that its the effect of Sun and heat. The car would have been lying in the sun all day for months. THe car heats up inside and the plastics are affected this way.

But while many expect Honda's to be HONDA'S. They too are made in factories like other cars and hence they too are prone too problems.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that while at hoe his car stands in the open (mostly at nights and during weekends), in office he has covered parking.

[pmbabu]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

Also, the area around the gear lever which has a shiny pseudo aluminium finish was looking really scruffy.

This is true even in cars that are just 2 months old. I have gone through all the cars (about a dozen of them) in our campus and found that all the gear levers had this issue. When I went for the 3rd service, I enquired about the price of wooden finish gear knob cover and it was around 3.8K

I am yet to find a good leather gear knob cover

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by pmbabu

I enquired about the price of wooden finish gear knob cover and it was around 3.8K

I am damn sure that you will get a good piece of teak or rosewood and a good carpenter for less than that much of money. Why go for a "wooden finish" then?

May be even sandalwood...?

[Poseidon]

Interiors in my sister's 2004 NHC EXi have aged gracefully. Maybe weekend outdoor parking in Delhi's hot afternoons is to be blamed.
Was any interior wax/chemical applied by the car wash guy?

[GTO]

My OHC Vtec is parked is exposed to all kinds of climates including long parking hours under the direct afternoon sun. After three years, it still has not aged. The OHC interiors may be simplistic, but they sure are high grade quality.

GTO