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

Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

- Official New Car Reviews (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/)

- - 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/145656-4th-gen-honda-city-official-review-11.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganeshsp (Post 3324350)

Sorry, that is not the context I'm putting forward. Nobody will bother when others overtake. However, one will definitely complain when they are not able to overtake (at that need of the hour) despite paying a premium.
Indians do have a soft spot for the City. But that does not mean we will start to take everything that Honda throws at us. Although, an oil burner option for the City was long due, I expected a sincere commitment from Honda when they do make it available. But the one for the city seems like, it is there just for the sake of being there. They have compromised a lot to achieve ARAI rating. What is the need for it? History is the proof that the mileage was not a deterrent of the City sales.

I suspect that you have a different image of the City than what Honda had so far tried to portray. City was always the class leader when it comes to fuel efficiency (mileage). I guess nothing else came close.

Now, about your comparison to Amaze, the City is a better sedan than the Amaze in every conceivable aspect. Currently Amaze is the only diesel Honda one could buy. Now that we have the City diesel coming, many are going to move to it, "performance" notwithstanding.

EDIT: This is where I get down, cos so much have been spoken in this subject already. I'd rather we discussed other aspects as well.

Great Review as always GTO... I like the way you capture the most minutest of the details. :thumbs up

Just to add my few cents on the car, since I was following the All New Honda City ever since the first rumors of the car getting launched popped up.

I have being using the 3rd generation I-vtec City VAT Sunroof pack for almost 1 year 9 months now and trust me, the Torque Converter AT box with paddles shifters is absolute fun to use, especially during high speed cornering maneuvers and doing sequential down-shifts at the same time, which sadly I think will be missed with the CVT gear box in the 4th generation, even though there are imaginary 7 gears to play with.

Even with 1,160 KG, the car does not give confidence while driving at triple digit speeds on the express-ways, this can be attributed to the puny stock tires, and with the new City which is even more lighter and with similar stock set-up, drivers will feel jittery at high speeds.

Mileage derived by me after having clocked 24000 kms on board has been consistent around 11 km-pl in City drive, and 18.5 km-pl on express-way drives, using extremely light foot. However, switch to pedal to metal mode, the mileage extracted was 9 km-pl in City drive and 15.5 km-pl on express-way drives. Undoubtedly, amazing numbers here considering the power on offer. My Hyundai i10 AT, doesn't give me more than 10 km-pl, no matter how lightly I try to drive it. CVT, should be able to better those fuel efficiency numbers.

The accuracy of the MID software needs to be seen, as I have been facing this issue ever since I got the car. If you go by the DTE figures displayed on the car MID, you will sure shot end up stalling the car on the road. Many a times, the service team have tried to reset the software, however it simply refuses to throw accurate data. For instance, If the reserve tank capacity is of 7 ltr, and that is when the low light comes up on the console, then ideally, the car should show the range of maximum 70 kms, considering an average of 10 km-pl. If not that, even if the car calculates the average of 5 km-pl, the range displayed should be at-least 35, but the MID displays the range of 25 kms. Moreover, even after the range comes to Zero, one can still drive the car for at-least 40- 50 odd kms. However, I would not advise to try this gimmick. I hope the software glitch is solved in the new car.

The driver door power window switches are not illuminated in the 3rd generation car, and I find the same mistake in this generation car also. It really is distracting while driving to operate the switches typically during nights. What irritates more is, you accidentally end up opening the wrong window. :Frustrati

However, I have no doubt that the 4th generation City will put the sales chart on fire for Honda. It has majorly addressed all the grouses of the 3rd generation car, whether in terms of features, power to weight ratio, pick-up problems in low gears, bottom scrapping capabilities, etall. I simply wish, Honda don't act extremely pricey with this car.

This is definitely another hit from Honda. I would expect a ratio of 50:50 sale of City between petrol and diesel models given the changing dynamics of fuel pricing in the country and the petrol model's better ability to perform the double role of city and highway cruiser.

The dashboard looks much better than it looked in the launch pics due to better lighting and obviously better photography. I would like to see how it will look for lower variants, which may not have ACC and/or ICE. Do we have any pics of the S/SX model ?

So much being said about the low power output with same state of tune as Amaze, my response is.

1. Call Tune-o-Tronics and get a proper re-map done.
2. Replace the tyres with better grippy ones at least 195R70, to handle power.
3. Mask the excess chrome with 3 M CarbonFibre Masking.

Lo and behold you have a fabulous car, provided priced decently.

Cheers
MKP

The 100BHP is not that bad. The Vento is 105BHP although more explosive and more fun to drive. In the real world it maybe much closer. The 6th gear is also a huge advantage.

The Fiesta has a 90BHP motor similar to Ecosport and no one has really said that they lack performance.

As posted before, slap on 195 tyres and better alloys and you will have a fantastic all round sedan.

Friends,

I have pre booked the Honda City Petrol with Arya Honda Prabhadevi. I have finalized on the top end petrol since my average daily running is just 25 km. I am already a proud owner of Honda Jazz since last 4 years and have enjoyed the fuss free ownership. No niggles so far (touchwood) even minor in my Jazz which has clocked 38K km.

Initially i was actively considering the Vento TSI but decided in favor of Honda City due to VW not offering the extended warranty beyond 2 years. GTO's review of MT petrol has helped in the pre booking. I will however do a test drive of both CVT and manual and then decide finally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 3324663)

There is significant difference in the torque figures = 200NM for City whereas Vento has 250nm of torque to play with so that will matter I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vid6639 (Post 3324663)

As posted before, slap on 195 tyres and better alloys and you will have a fantastic all round sedan.

Wouldn't 195 tyres affect ground clearance marginally? I was thinking more on the lines of 185. I ask because I've booked a diesel and I'm going to change the tyres as soon as I get the delivery (If I decide to buy the car after driving it)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pats (Post 3324759)

Same here. VW not offering the extended warranty on the TSI was a deal breaker for me. After all the 7 Speed DSG on the Vento TSI is probably the most talked about/unreliable gearbox in the world. Google it once and you know you should get it only when you are assured warranty for 5 years.

Fantastic review as always. You people are doing a fabulous job in keeping the forum reading experience a breeze. Back to topic. It is a "Sarkari Babu" like attitude of someone in Honda who has selected this choice of alloy wheels and tyre sizes for such a fantastic car. In my opinion this is the ugliest OEM alloys in our car industry till date. A potential enthusiast buyer may need at least another 30 to 40K for alloys and tyre up gradation after shelling out a huge amount for this lovely near perfect car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganeshsp (Post 3324248)

Imagine, the Amaze and the City starting parallelly and the Amaze cruising ahead because of its light weight!? The city diesel owners will be left furious, disappointed and embarrassed for their mistake of paying 2-3 lakhs of premium. What is the justification Honda will have for them? I mean, how did they arrive at this conclusion to run both the cars at the same state of tuning?

You may quote the interiors, build etc... But at the end of the day what matters is, what is under the hood!

Going by the same logic, the Brio should scorch an amaze petrol, and it does.. does that mean the amaze owner is fumed ??

Quote:

Originally Posted by adityasiera (Post 3325014)

Going by the same logic, the Brio should scorch an amaze petrol, and it does.. does that mean the amaze owner is fumed ??

It's unfair to use brio vs amaze analogy against the City. City is from a different league altogether and it is natural/obvious to expect a better performance from that of the amaze.

Let me quote an example. Take a look at what Mahindra did with the XUV 500. It is powered my the same mhawk engine that is doing the job in Scorpio, but in a different state of tuning. XUV delivers 140 bhp of power which is 20 bhp above the Scorpio. It is this differentiation that is missing in the City.

One more example.. In the swift review, GTO had mentioned that Ritz is a perfect alternative for swift at a lower cost, but it is NOT as much fun to drive! This is exactly the context I'm referring to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adityasiera (Post 3325014)

Going by the same logic, the Brio should scorch an amaze petrol, and it does.. does that mean the amaze owner is fumed ??

Brio & Amaze are like Swift & Dzire (Hatchback & Sedan Twins). Comparing Amaze and Honda City is like comparing Dzire & SX4 (although SX4 is a big Market dud lol:), but certainly the engine and power of the two (Dzire & SX4) cars are completely different.

The big 'E' factor comes into picture. There are a lot of Indians with a big ego who would say that when I am paying 3-4 lakhs extra, I need more power in the car although they may never actually use that amount of power ever in that car.

A very detailed review GTO & team, thanks.

i-Dtec + Honda badge + the brand equity city enjoys, it surly will set the sales charts on fire.

Verna/Vento/Rapid should be worried lot.

IMO, Honda definitely is looking to price it competitively (don't want to do a Jazz again) and that could be the reason for putting the Amaze spec diesel here, and I don't see this in any way will affect the sales. 100 hp is enough to do the intended job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganeshsp (Post 3325076)

Having the same engine with the same state of tune in two different segment cars is not new. We have so many examples of it. Be it Skoda (1.8 TSi) or BMW (2 litre diesel)

It all about keeping the cost of the vehicle low.For some reason Japanese manufacturers like Honda and Toyota struggle to keep the cost down of their vehicles as compared to their Korean counter parts.