Team-BHP - 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAAP (Post 3843307)

Having just bought a VX CVT after testing out the Vento TSI AT, I can assure you that ride quality, driveability, comfort and overall package is better than the Vento. Although Vento scores in the price department, with Honda you have peace of mind wrt service and spares.

Highway driveability is fine due to the 7 speed CVT gearbox where the engine cruises at 1500 rpm even at 100kph. Steering feels a bit light on highways, but otherwise it feels just as stable as Vento.

Must mention that the front seats on the City VX are far more comfortable than the Vento for a person with broad shoulders. Hope this helps to make a quick decision.

Thank you AAAP for sharing your views.already booked City VX CVT and expecting delivery in early december.

Helped my father (he is retired) buy a Honda City MT SV petrol model. He stays in Lucknow while I stay in Bangalore. His monthly drive is around 350 kms and he likes keeping his cars for around 10-12 years.
Our last car Accent was bought in Jan, 2004 and did about 22000 kms over the past 12 years lol:. We sold it for 1.8 lacs yesterday which I think is pretty generous and commend my father for the skills. I was telling him that if he gets 1 lac he should be more than happy. I felt like an idiot once he told me the final figure. Also it seems 3-4 people were ready to pay him this amount and not one unsuspecting fellow.

Coming back to the Honda City, I convinced the dealer/SA to provide us free mud guards, perfume, idol, PU leather seat covers, foot light and car cover. I had to convince him that I am a PRO in this field (I am not but reading team-bhp gives you enough tips) and have helped many people buy cars and he is not doing me any favour by providing me a HONDA. Finally he relented and the whole conversation lasted 10 minutes so I would say time well spent. As my father only drives in the city, I asked him not to take RSA (he knows folks who will come faster than the Honda people), and also asked him to stick with Honda Assure so that he has his peace of mind. Personally for both my Ecosport and Grand i10, I got it online after going through 15 insurance quotes. Also asked him to let the extended warranty be renewed before the 2 years got over.

The final price was exact 10 lac which was his specification.

Coming to the cars he tested (I forced him as from the start he was hell bent on Verna), he tried Vento, Verna (his favorite from 2011-2014), Ciaz and City. Below are his opinions:

1. Verna - His old love but I convinced him to let it go as I was bored with the design.
2. Vento - He found it ordinary and I am still not convinced he even took a test drive because he gave me no answers about any aspect of the car.
3. Honda City - Do not why but for him it is a premium brand and he just loves the looks of it from top to bottom, front to end. He also felt in his exact words "great with a smooth ride" while test driving it and the H sticker at the front made him feel good.
4 Ciaz - He loved the car and told me that he could not even figure out that the engine was on when he was driving it. Also he was getting one of the top ends in his price range. Have to confess here that I gave slightly negative opinion about the car specifically the small engine and personal dislike for the brand (no offense to any of the brand loyalists, one of best friends bought Alto and exclaims how it is better than his Honda City as he is able to zip past in Bangalore traffic :Frustrati). He also felt the same and consented and finally made the call.

The test drives started from Monday to Thursday with one car on each day, final test drive of Honda City and booking on Friday and delivery on Monday i.e. Dhanteras. So super smooth process from start to finish.

Finally I believe he chose the proven horse. Wishing my Dad some happy miles!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sibot (Post 3842455)

Good people of Team BHP! My Old Honda City 2003 model got stolen recently. The Insurance company's investigator asked me how many keys I had, to which I answered 2. The car was purchased second hand and we only got two keys from the previous owner.

He said that Honda gave three car keys and I'll need to get a letter signed by the previous owner that he only handed me two keys. Can someone confirm whether Honda gave three or two car keys back in 2002-03? Thanks a lot in advance!

Hi Sibot,

Incidentally I lost a set of keys of my Honda City 2006 and was surprised that we had 2 spare sets of keys.

Asked around if this was common and found out from a friend that his Honda City of a similar Vintage of yours, i.e 2004 too had 3 sets of keys.

I guess its standard for Honda.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa (Post 3765735)

... need to head for the Second Paid Service at close to 24,000 kms ... What are the key items to get checked during this service for a diesel City?

I've covered about the same close to 24K and gave it for the second paid service.
The bill came to 10.8 K and I feel over charged. Even after having given cars for service at Maruti, Hyundai, Fiat over the years and after being fully aware of service advisor tactics, feels like :Frustrati when you know it was a rip-off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by malgudi (Post 3766271)

For My 30K Paid service of Diesel City following was done
- Paid Service
- Engine oil change
- oil filter Change
- battery inspection
- Wheel Alignment
- Additional greasing requested by me

Total Bill was about 5K for above.

Hind-sight, I should have been more vigilant. The 30K KM paid standard service cost is exactly what you've mentioned. In fact my bill shows Rs 4927 for the same.

Most of the items in the second page is unfortunately where the unnecessary items are.

1. AC Blower cleaning : Rs 515 (Is this not part of the standard service ? )
He asked for my permission and I agreed.
2. Brake Bleeding: Rs 900 in all. I'm OK with this in the interest of safety when he mentioned that braking performance was sub-optimal, it was necessary to remove the air bubbles. braking performance is better now.
3. AC cleaner and disinfectant: Rs 858 . I never asked for it and surprised to see this in the bill.
4. Motor care treatment: Rs 709 - Totally unnecessary I believe. Looks like this is a gimmick.
5. Wheel Balancing: Rs 900+ (I'll never get alignment and balancing during service again.)
6. Rodent Repellant: Rs 1004. I had agreed to it because I've had a bad experience in the past with my previous car. A rat chewed up the RPM sensor cable and my car had stopped in the middle of the road. Felt it would be worthwhile, now the repellent smell in the engine bay is so strong, its a real pain to sit in the car. Smell should subside in a few days hopefully.
7. Wiper Blade replacement: Rs 800 ( I had asked for it).

In total, items AC blower cleaning, AC disinfecting, Motor care treatment are unnecessary that would reduce the bill by Rs 2000/- and wheel balancing is avoidable at service which would reduce the bill in total by Rs 3000/-

Also they only put the used wipers in the boot and not the other consumables like oil and changed oil filter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockporiom (Post 3779310)

The service estimate for my car came to Rs.13675 which is eye watering(includes pads and discs worth 5500). Considering 2 services in a year if we take out the brake pads it would cost about 20k in a year to maintain the car which is too damn much considering my car runs only 8-9k kms in a year.

End of the day, the lesson learn't is to be very careful when giving for service and look for rip-offs.
This is not specific to any car brand, I've seen this happening time and again at most dealerships

Surprisingly, I've had a very good experience with Fiat Service for 12 years. Never ever got ripped off or unnecessarily charged at Fiat service.

My worst experience has been with Hyundai, most of the SAs I encounterd were rip-offs. Polished in their dealings but give you a bloated bill unless you're careful.

4th-gen Honda City : Official Review-2nd_paidservice_bill_page1.jpg

4th-gen Honda City : Official Review-2nd_paidservice_bill_page2.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by for_cars1 (Post 3848252)

I have been in the same ordeal last year when I gave my Honda City for 20k service last year. Paid over a staggering amount of over 10k. And most of the items just like your case were either not required at that time or were simply waste of money.

I clearly tell SA to only perform jobs that I ask while signing the job card. Any other specific addition should be informed to me and if I approve then only that job should be carried out.

Same is the case with Maruti SVCs - been servicing my WagonR for 8+ years at authorised SVCs only and these SVCs take no chance of missing out on ripping off money.

We take our cars at authorised SVCs for the love of our machines, peace of mind and reliability. Else neighbourhood garages can do the job as well.

Got my car the City VMT Petrol for the fourth, ie 1st paid service to Deep Honda, Bathinda today. The estimate is approximately Rs 2150.00 My last servicing was done in the month of June and the car has run only 2300 km since then. In view of this and after reading the previous posts, I opted out for the air filter change, pollen/dust filter change and ac vent cleaning. However, one problem needs to be mentioned here. During the last free service it was noticed that there was seepage of oil from adjacent to the sump. The senior service personnel were summoned and it was inferred that the seepage is due to slightly loose drain plug. Now, in the next service, the same problem has been noticed again and it has been inferred that the main seal is damaged and needs to be replaced. Though the part is covered under warranty, the service centre personnel are of the opinion that the gear box and clutch assembly have to be removed to replace the seal and will involve 3-4 hours of task. Has anybody else faced a similar problem? The car otherwise is extremely smooth to run and has no issues till now thankfully. Please advice and share if any info on this particular snag is available.

During the long drive I had recently, I faced a couple of issues and need your advice.

1. At around 2000 km, suddenly the malfunction light came on. It wasnt blinking, but stayed on in yellow. p483 of the manual says its related to malfunction of the emission control system (?). I stopped the car, checked the underside near the muffler and exhaust, it was all intact. Called up RSA (the toll free number doesn't work btw) and they said if its yellow and staying on continuously, its safe to drove the car. I drove the car onwards, since it was 8.30 in the night and in the middle of nowhere, 120 km from Indore, the car felt absolutely normal. What I did notice was that the green ring that appears around the speedo on economical driving or while lifting off no longer worked. It always stayed blue, but the real time FE indicator did show correctly whenever i coasted and lifted off. Was the malfunction because of this? After about 40 km, we stopped for a bit of rest. On restarting the car, the malfunction light miraculously went away. The green ring also started working now. Any insight? How do I approach the service centre? I've just finished the 1st free service before the trip and I don't want to wait another 2 months for the free service to resolve this event.

2. One day in the morning, while driving on a state highway, a couple of koyals or cuckoos suddenly came out of the bushes out of nowhere and I panic braked but couldn't avoid the collision. Both of the birds sadly died. There was blood all over the bonnet. I feel extremely sorry for the loss and I seriously couldn't do anything about it. But, they did leave a damage on the car. They collision broke the mountings of the front right fog lamp. The lamp assembly itself is intact and still working, but the mountings broke and the assembly was left dangling inside the space there. We tied the wires connecting it to the base of the frame so they don't move around. What do I do? If I go the service centre now, how much do you guys think I'll have to pay?

3. For touch up jobs do they ask us to pay extra even during free service? A couple of slum kids did scratch the bootlid when it was parked at a place and there was another scratch due to a rock on the side.