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

Guys I just completed a 2100 KM trip from Bangalore - Madurai - Kanyakumari - Rameshwaram - Pondicherry - Bangalore. Drove on the wonderful NH7, ECR and some not so great state highways. So following are my likes and dislikes from the journey completed.
First the likes:
1. Superb handling and overall dynamics. It's a breeze to steer into tight corners at faster speeds. Your confidence only grows with every KM.
2. Spacious. Very Spacious. We were 5 including my wife, mom, dad and my 6'2" brother and nobody complained.
3. Strong AC. Loved the climate control. The outside temperature however was also kind to us and hovered around 35C.
4. Comfortable ride. Google Maps messed up while we were driving from Rameshwaram to Pondicherry and had to drive on some extremely narrow and bumpy village roads but the car took them well and never bottomed out.
5. Good braking and ABS. Saved our life when suddenly a herd of cows jumped from the divider and decided to test our brakes when we were traveling above 80Kmph. Thankfully I was able to react in a fraction of a second and my car supported me in braking and steering away from the herd.
6. Mileage. Well mine is a SV MT iVTEC and my overall average for the entire trip was 17.6 kmpl. Impressive.

Some Dislikes :-(
1. Poor Headlights. I don't know if it's only me or others have also noticed that the stock headlight setup is not enough or adequate for night driving. Things become even worse when you are not driving on national highways but on some 2 lane state highways or link roads without reflectors or central dividing line.
2. Soft material of the seats. I drove non stop from Bangalore to Kanyakumari and got a bad backache at the end of the journey. Would have loved a harder compound for the driver's seat atleast.
3. Smaller tank results in frequent visits to fuel stations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesrani (Post 3476784)

We booked a Diesel V on 30.05 from Solitaire, Mumbai, and were promised delivery in July. Now the sales team leader tells me that some Honda plant has shifted and hence they will tell only in August when car may be expected, so even August is not confirmed. This information too I got only after complaining to Honda toll free number.

Was thinking of shifting to Hyundai Verna 2014 but not sure of it's highway capabilities. My monthly 1500 km run includes 50% highway running. I am currently very happy with my SX4 Zxi and that is the benchmark for me.

How does the Verna handle vis a vis the SX4 and the City?

I think the Fiesta is also good VFM but we have owned an Ikon earlier and would not like to repeat. Have never owned Hyundai or Honda.

In short, is the wait for the City worth it?

I test drove both city and verna, in the end went for verna sx. Got the car last week at even lower price than city sv after discount and exchange bonus on our alto. I also have a sx4 zxi. The sx4's handling is on a different level than verna. But the 2014 verna is overall good, especially at city speeds than even city. I personally didn't like the interior of city as well as the exterior.One more point at 120kmph verna's engine is not noisy at all, you will feel like you are driving a petrol car. CITY feels overpriced for its I-dtec engine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnCook (Post 3478015)

Some Dislikes

1. Poor Headlights.

Would suggest you to upgrade the bulbs to Philips Xtreme Vision (60/55W) or Osram NB+.

First do check at your ASC for warranty issues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M124 (Post 3478076)

But the 2014 verna is overall good, especially at city speeds than even city.

Congrats on the Verna. I know that there was some sensible difference in the older Verna and the 2014 Verna when it comes to handling only.

Hyundai has done something silently which has helped matters a bit.

Anurag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M124 (Post 3478076)

Thanks for this. Since I drive quite a lot on the highway am still not sure about going for Verna. If the handling of Verna is worse than SX4 then should not the City be a better prospect? But I also drive at speeds of 120kmph so I hope the City is not noisy. Some owners have commented that the production cars have better NVH compared to the test drive cars. Hope some others can comment on high speed NVH.

Some information on the wait time in Hyderabad. A friend of mine booked a golden brown metallic Sv IDtec on Saturday 11 July and he was given a wait time of 3 months approx & OTR price was quoted as 11.5. He was informed that due to the launch of Mobilo the production would be slowing down for the City.Is this true ? because both the cars are based on different platforms and I thought they would be having different production lines.IMO there is a possibility that Honda may have challenges to keep up with the City's production numbers after the launch of Jazz , any thoughts or inputs from others.

Cheers,
pdma.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harpreetsubhi (Post 3478014)

Congratulations Harry. It's awesome.

Thanks Buddy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by a4anurag (Post 3478018)

Congratulations Harry.

Have a long and happy mile munching journey. Awaiting the ownership report.

Good that Michelins were standard.

Anurag.

Thanks Anurag.
Will write a detailed ownership report after crunching some kms.
My test drive car had MRF and with my cars Michelin i could notice a big difference in ride quality and road noise. There were 2 more City's delivered before me with both having MRF. Guess i got lucky and delay in delivery had some benefit!:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 3478150)

My test drive car had MRF and with my cars Michelin i could notice a big difference in ride quality and road noise. There were 2 more City's delivered before me with both having MRF. Guess i got lucky and delay in delivery had some benefit!:D

Congrats man , wishing you many happy miles with your car , it looks stunning in white! All this wait finally paid off , The Michelins are indeed , much better than all the other tyres city comes with , are you planning an upgrade to bigger tyres?

There were 2 silver Diesel City SVs delivered the day i got my car , one came with Michelin and the other with Goodyear , i got the other one! :Frustrati Although i had to get them upgraded anyways but Goodyears only fetched me 2700 a tyre , whereas Michelins would have gone for about 4500 per tyre.Its all luck i guess because there were about 70 cars delivered that day and most of them came with Michelins. :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocketscience (Post 3478157)

Thanks mate!
I had plans to upgrade to Michelin Xm2 as i was expecting MRF or goodyear as stock. But seeing Michelin as stock changed my mind and will stick with these only.
You are right its complete luck. Usually i am in the unlucky list so the happiness is doubled seeing some ray of luck coming my way:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 3478005)

Took delivery of my City i-DTEC today evening.
Was completely unexpected as we just went to the showroom to finalize delivery day. Evening delivery so everything was fast. Must be a record how fast I did the PDI.

Loving it so far in the few kms I have driven it. Will post more impressions later.

Delivery process was smooth and the GM himself came for delivery due to our good interactions with him.

Best part is I didn't need to go for tyre upgrade as got Michelin Energy XM1 as stock :)

Excuse the crap quality of pics by mobile cam.

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Congratulations Harry. Wish you many more miles of association with that beautiful white i-DTEC. All the best! Eagerly awaiting your ownership thread.

You have opted for reverse sensors. Audio video type or audio only? Can you share the cost of it?

Seran

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vahanam (Post 3477710)

This hike is not related to the budget and primarily due to Honda's input costs. Your cost is not as of booking time but as of invoice time. This means that you will be charged as per the prevailing rates at the time of delivery. So your cost will be the revised cost (as of today), unless there is a further revision.

You are correct. When I checked today there was a 5K difference of Ex-showroom price between the price list that I received on 29th June from dealer and the amount mentioned in my contract list. It was my mistake that I didn't spot it. But when I asked my salesperson didn't inform it.
There is a clear difference of attitude before booking and after booking. I had made 3-4 calls and made a personal visit to dealership for quotation. Yesterday I went to showroom to cancel booking but refrained from it since it is going to cost 1% of Ex-showroom price. If they continue with this cold attitude I will rather bear the cancellation cost and go for Verna VTVT (o).

Quote:

Originally Posted by CapnCook (Post 3478015)

.....
2. Soft material of the seats. I drove non stop from Bangalore to Kanyakumari and got a bad backache at the end of the journey. Would have loved a harder compound for the driver's seat atleast. ....

I have ordered Amron Mini backrest (link) and hope that it will give the necessary lumbar support for long drives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seran Manian (Post 3478232)

Thanks!
They are Audio video type. Cost was 5500 and with discount paid 4500.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 3478005)

Congratulations harry10!
You have been waiting for a long time I remember, glad to know that you got it finally. And the icing on the cake - you got the XM1s. Wish you many miles of Happy and Safe Driving clap: Will wait for your ownership report.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 3478327)

Thanks!
They are Audio video type. Cost was 5500 and with discount paid 4500.

Hello Harry10

Did you get the Reverse parking sensors with camera from Classic Honda itself ?

Which brand did they fit ?
The sensors are body colored ?
Where did they install the camera ?

INR 4500 was inclusive of all installation and labour.

Regards
Harpreet