Let me just say for starters, I have a particular OCD for keeping my cars right, drive them moderately and let go of them fairly early. I had a couple of cars in the past the Millicento, multiple 800s (one still remains - '03 @ 33k current), the jelly bean carbueretted Zen, Maruti Alto, my precious Nano XTA (current), Hyundai Verna Transform, Hyundai Creta (current) and the recent 80 day old Honda City VMT (current). Now if you observe closely, the cars in the past have had particularly good reviews either in terms of the body or even the reliability. Enough said, the research I did made me exchange my Verna for the City, but little did I realize I ended up with a tin box.
The day I got the City delivered from the Dakshin Honda Magrath Road branch was heaven's day and it poured cats and dogs in Bangalore. The whole delivery process itself was weird uneventful and emotionless if you ask. Possibly because I've been through the drill multiple times earlier and this was yet another one. But this was rather special, a gift for my wife - she loved the City endlessly. The car I brought home was a disaster - issues with the lights, seat covers, alignment and many more. Let me just stop here. It's way too much to type and I rather speak at length about the whole sales experience and the rogue salesman at Dakshin Honda.
Now, to ensure parking for this car at home, I had to break one part of the compound wall and get an additional gate fitted so I could plug this car inside as well. This would ensure that rogue pedestrians with evil minds with the agenda of damaging cars would not harm this one. I didn't realize though that the new gate itself would prove to be the evil master. While backing my car in, the multiple fold in the gate was not be clearly visible in the rear view cam and a slight move in reverse made me hit the gate. Nothing major or so I thought, but then I see this!!! I was shocked. My Nano, Verna, 800 have been through enough in their lives and never did they show this amount of wear. My goodness, it hurt - a new car, gift for wife, new gate. "Ridiculous" was my first impression of the build quality of the City. I wouldn't want to complain of the AFE, since I'm getting about 9 km/l in the city of Bangalore. Possibly because the car had run ~ 800 km in 2 months. Yesterday, wife and I decided to drive down to Chennai for lunch at Annalakshmi and head back to Bangalore. Call us nuts, I'd tend to agree a tad. I love the food there. Along with the ambiance, it just makes me smile. The set menu is way ahead of that in Masala Klub or K&K in Bangalore. That aside. While heading back to Bangalore, we were waiting patiently in line at the Krishnagiri toll to see some anti-social elements squeeze through cars in the opposite direction. As they headed towards mine, I peed in my pants hoping and praying they would leave my car alone - which they did. But, their Honda Activa did the job well. The squeeze through hit my front RH fender making a sound. I presumed it to be the mirror and when i checked, it looked all good. Thank Heavens. As I glided through the Fastag lane, which turned green and went past the RFID detector, a huge thud was felt over my head. Shocked, I simply slammed the brakes and got out of the car to see what had happened. The damned boom gate for some reason banged the roofline causing a dent. Furious, I went to the guy inside the booth and asked and his reply was - it turned green, you should've waited but you decided to go through. That's why the boom gate fell. As he finished saying what he had to, he couldn't care less and went on to billing the next guy. Really, no point arguing with such people, who have no value for other's things. the rogues earlier, the lesser said the better. This morning as I went to check the car, I saw the dent(s) and was shocked. A minor scrape through of a bike leading to such a dent is horrendous. Speaks volumes of the quality of this tin can called the Honda City.
No cribs or qualms about the performance. It is a pleasure to drive on the highway. High speeds? No problem. Great ABS, ESC etc. But the quality remains poor. Considering the traffic in Bangalore now, I'm considering selling off the 80 day old City and going for anther new car. Just too scared to keep this delicate darling anymore.
I have driven enough in the other cars. The Creta does the job of my highway travel and its sole purpose is only that. But, this City is a whole new story.
Pics below. How expensive do you believe getting the bumper, RH fender and the roof fixed would be and is it worth claiming insurance in the first 90 days itself? My second service @ 3 months is due in the next 10 days and I rather get this thing done up along with the service too tomorrow itself.
