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Old 8th January 2014, 16:31   #451
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by ambadan View Post
Twin grill look much better than the original. is it providing by Honda? in that case, why can't they provide to all instead as accessory?
Doesn't this twin grill slightly resemble the one we have on Amaze
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Old 8th January 2014, 16:34   #452
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by blacksport View Post
I think joslicx is right here. Resale value depends on the demand. And current bookings reported for City is 75% for diesels. If you look at last month's sales of the Verna, the diesel : petrol ratio is the same (76:24). Hence resale value of petrol City is going to drop. (But, yes, only for the new gen ones)
I really wouldn't worry about the resale value at this moment. Remember guys. There are talks about the de-regularisation of the Diesel Prices. We have already seen the Diesel prices go past 60 Rs / litre in Mumbai. Who knows what may happen 5 Years down the line. Honda had already come up with CNG kit options for the 3rd Gen City in the latter part of its tenure.

I have been working on some LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) related projects and US, Europe & some other countries have already started using LNG as a Transportation fuel in large carriers ships & Heavy load carrying Trailers. Just to give everybody a comparision of the extent of compression of LNG, CNG is Natural Gas compressed 250 times whereas LNG is Natural Gas compressed 600 times (W/o the requirement of being stored under extreme pressure). Currently the biggest hurdle of using LNG as a transportation fuel in cars is the requirement of keeping LNG at -156 Deg. centigrade temperature.
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Old 8th January 2014, 17:34   #453
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The spoilers and grill look awesome. But Amaze's spoilers were insanely priced b/w 10k to 20k. Expect the same in City.
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Old 8th January 2014, 18:04   #454
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

Does the City CVT have the Hill-Hold feature? I think the reviews indicated it did have, but I do not see it mentioned as a feature in the brochure
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Old 8th January 2014, 18:24   #455
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

Had a close look at the 4th Gen Honda City, at a Chennai dealership.

While the interiors are definitely a step up from the existing version, i couldn't help but notice quite a few gaps in "perceived" quality (read that as cost cutting ) on the new car.

Sharing some of the observations: (purely personal, and no offence meant to anyone)

1) Overall looks: Nice. Evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In fact the base and mid variants with the painted grille looks better than the chrome embellished one on the high variants

2) Interiors: Acres of legroom, kneeroom and definitely a step up in quality and steeped in features and gizmo's. However in the sunroof equipped top version, front headroom may be an issue for taller drivers, as the sunroof mechanism effectively lowers the roof liner by several mm. My friend was 6ft1'' and his hair was periliously close to the roof lining. At the rear his head was touching the roof lining. In the non-sunroof version he was more comfortable.

3) Seats: on the face of it cushions are soft and comfy but long haul comfort need to be assessed (especially lower back)

4) Dashboard: Layered styling is subjective. To me it looks a little fussy as i personally prefer a clean look. However if you look closely you will spot that the graining on the dash and plastic parts are minimal - a nod towards cost cutting. Lesser the grains, usually the higher the chances of the plastic attracting and retaining scratches. Time will tell.

5) Panel gaps: Here i was much disappointed. Panel gaps were just not befitting a Honda. Compared to a Verna or even a Linea, the Honda's panel gaps/shut-lines look poor indeed. Boot shut-line, Hood to "A-pillar", Hood to Headlight, Rear door trailing edge along the crease line, fitment of small rubber items such as the front windscreen corner trim :( ..nope, this is definitely not expected from Honda.
Also, if you roll down the front windows, rest your palm on the window sill and gently press the door inner and outer panels - the panel deflection/flex is a good 20-30mm! Reminded me of my old Maruti Esteem! Maybe the manufacturer has compromised on the door stiffener to save money.

6) Half wheelarch liner in the front wheel well and practically zilch cladding for the rear wheel wells. Again a nod to the bean counters. My doddering Gen-1 Swift has full wheel-arch claddings.

7) Naked underside of bootlid looks very, very bad. A cladding should be offered at least as a dealer accessory.

8) Spare wheel (non-alloy) sits in the spare wheel well, face-down. This means that every time one wishes to get the air pressure checked of the spare wheel, one has to take it out, face it the right side up and check the pressure, as the valve tube is effectively facing down, facing the boot floor.

9) Rear head restraints or should they be called neck rests? Doubt their efficacy in preventing a whiplash, in case of a rear end shunt.
10) Expected a Electro-chromic interior Rear View mirror , at least on the top model
11) No auto headlights, rain sensing wipers even on top model.

In these days of cost rationalisation, i agree every OEM is going the last mile to save any amount of pennies, but considering the brand is Honda, is this approach correct?

Hyundai has demonstrated that it is possible to build cars with cost targets and at the same time keep levels of perceived quality high - example Grand i10, even Eon. Maruti has also upped their quality game with the new Swift and Dzire, Tata put in a lot of effort with the Manza top variants and from what we read in the media - even the Nano is being given a leg-up the perceived quality ladder; - but Honda, like Toyota did with the Etios, seems to be going down.

The vehicle, I am sure, will sell very well on the strength of its engines and overall engineering finesse, but shouldn't Honda have taken care of some of these aspects as well - to maintain its image as a top drawer brand in our country?

Overall i did not feel the excitement after seeing a brand new car model, which i usually feel, irrespective of whether i can afford to own the car or not.
Anyways, all the best to Honda.
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Old 8th January 2014, 19:02   #456
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

[ATTACH]Attachment 1188354[/ATTACH]Interesting article in Autocar on comparision with New Honda City and its rival variants

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...-369012.aspx/0
Attached Thumbnails
4th-gen Honda City : Official Review-honda-city-vs-hyundai-verna-vs-volkswagen-vento.jpg  

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Old 8th January 2014, 19:14   #457
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by kryogesh View Post
Hi Guys, came across the white City with twin grill / bumper / spoiler / side skirts kit - absolute stunner
Totally agree, I see this as a move from Honda to make some easy money.They first give pathetic looking alloys & a loud grill , at the same time they sell better looking replacements as accessories of the shelf.
Excellent strategy hats off to Honda .

cheers,
pdma.
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Old 8th January 2014, 19:39   #458
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

I believe these spoilers & grills will be available aftermarket in a short time at fraction of the price. So those who are interested, it could be a wise move to hold on for couple of months.
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Old 8th January 2014, 19:45   #459
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by pdma View Post
Totally agree, I see this as a move from Honda to make some easy money.They first give pathetic looking alloys & a loud grill , at the same time they sell better looking replacements as accessories of the shelf.Excellent strategy hats off to Honda .
cheers, pdma.
I have a sneaking admiration of Honda's marketing strategy and the suspense built up with out a single leak of information of either the car or the pricing in this digital world.
Having said that, Honda needs to retrospect whether their advertisements are not misleading people. For example they are quoting 17.8 KM per litre for petrol engines conveniently hiding behind the fact that it applicable to only one petrol variant E whereas for the others it is around 17.4 KM as compared to the 16.8 KM for the third generation vehicles.
Secondly the maximum power (PS/rpm) has increased marginally from 118PS (3rd Generation) to 119PS (4th Generation) whereas the maximum torque has reduced from 146 to 145. Not exactly something to tom tom about. In a world where AVN is becoming a necessity, lack of navigation features even in high end Honda variants is a misnomer. The three / five inch integrated audio screen does not do justice to the Honda brand not withstanding the fact that there is no touch screen provision!!

Last edited by spinks_69 : 8th January 2014 at 19:49.
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Old 8th January 2014, 20:22   #460
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

Went and had a look at the car in person today. Here is my 2 cents.

Interiors: Its a big step from the previous car. The dials are beautiful. Steering wheel is nice to hold and has all the controls one would want. The sun roof gives a airy feeling inside the cabin. Seats are, as for a honda, comfortable.

Exteriors: This is where everything goes wrong. They have taken the clean lines from the previous car and added curves everywhere. They really look bad. Front grill is an eye sore! Even though the rear looks ok, it is a tad too tall for my liking. Overall, dare I say, it looks like a really cheap rip off of the Hyundai Verna.

Other cribs are that the VX manual variant is 10.16l ex showroom in bangalore which brings it to the 20% tax slab, bringing the final price to more than 12lacs. Not worth it.

Also in the diesel variant I had some difficulty slotting the 5th and 6th gear. I always ended putting reverse.
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Old 8th January 2014, 22:02   #461
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by manjubp View Post
We refused to pay handling and registration charges.... So why to pay.

I did the same when I got my Thar. The dealer quoted 4000/-. I simply told the sales guy that they are making business out of us and they anyways get a margin from the manufacturer. I managed not pay them. But things could be different when there is a huge demand for the vehicle. One could even try mentioning "dealership XYZ agreed to give a discount or a wavier on handling"

Quote:
Originally Posted by uday.ere View Post
Thanks buddy, yes, the white is surely a stunner (and cheaper too, since it comes under their non-metallic shade) Sad to see Honda differentiating based on color, I guess this started when they launched the Brio.
Honda is known for charging insane amount for accessories. I will not be surprised if we could get a Tata Nano instead of the all the accessories!!! I read somewhere that the twin chrome grill might cost around 15K! Not able to find the source now. I even contemplated driving without the front grill!
Having said all these, I will certainly spend whatever they quote for the twin grill.
I am still wondering which idiot in Honda designed the stock front grill!

Quote:
Originally Posted by pdma View Post
Totally agree, I see this as a move from Honda to make some easy money.They first give pathetic looking alloys & a loud grill , at the same time they sell better looking replacements as accessories of the shelf.
Excellent strategy hats off to Honda .
cheers,
pdma.


@ishaanranderia: In one of the earlier posts by Farpatel I read:

"the sales girl did say that they won’t have a problem if a customer upsizes the tyres. I specifically asked if any warranty would be at risk and she said no."
"I also asked if I could install front parking sensors separately, since they were charging a bomb for them and she assured me that I could do so without affecting the warranty. I took this with a pinch of salt and will ask again if I do go in for this car."

Last edited by kryogesh : 8th January 2014 at 22:12. Reason: additional quote
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Old 8th January 2014, 22:19   #462
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

Even though I am late on the bandwagon, let me still say it - Awesome review GTO, deserves a 5 *. Reading the review made me feel as if I have the car in front of me.

I have been an owner of fourth generation (2002–2008) Honda City (as classified in Wikipedia globally - the latest release is classified as sixth generation therein). Having enjoyed the car over 4 years to the fullest, I like where Honda is going with its most significant and celebrated car in India. The Honda philosophy of Man Maximum - Machine Minimum has been further extended in the latest City where they have managed to create more space for the occupants without any significant change in overall dimensions of the car. I believe Honda has got a winner on its hand especially considering the Diesel option and the reasonable prices.

I like the overall looks of the car, especially the rear. Anybody else feels that the rear looks quite similar to Civic (the one launched in 2006)?
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Old 8th January 2014, 22:27   #463
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

I test-drove the City Diesel VX today. I am 6'2" and found the driving position accurate. However, the dashboard is set high so one cannot see the nose of the car properly. However, maneuvering the City in town was easy and there was almost zero turbo-lag which made it great in urban conditions.

Space is good inside the cabin and the rear seats are pretty comfortable as well. I did cross a few speedbreakers and couple of them were pretty huge so with a proper angular approach to the breakers the City managed to cross it without scrapping the underbody.

There is certainly some amount of noise from the diesel engine and it goes up as one revs up. The controls are easy to use. Loved the touch screen AC controls and the rear view camera is pretty much useful.

Overall, from the short test drive I was impressed with the City Diesel. The only fly in the ointment was the NVH levels.
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Old 8th January 2014, 22:35   #464
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by //M View Post

Overall, from the short test drive I was impressed with the City Diesel. The only fly in the ointment was the NVH levels.
Thank You M,

I would like to know if the NVH is the same as the Amaze (in case you had a chance to check the Amaze in the past) because there is a claim that in the City the engine is refined and NVH is better compared to its sibling.
Also kindly add some points around the gear shifts , clutch and also the number of pax in the car when you took those speed breakers head on.

cheers,
pdma.
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Old 8th January 2014, 22:42   #465
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re: 4th-gen Honda City : Official Review

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Originally Posted by pdma View Post
Thank You M,

I would like to know if the NVH is the same as the Amaze (in case you had a chance to check the Amaze in the past) because there is a claim that in the City the engine is refined and NVH is better compared to its sibling.
Also kindly add some points around the gear shifts , clutch and also the number of pax in the car when you took those speed breakers head on.

cheers,
pdma.
I test drove an Amaze diesel long back but I felt the NVH levels on the City are probably lower. However, a back-to-back test drive of both the cars would have revealed the truth.

The gear shifts were decent, clutch travel good and light too. I went over the smaller speed breakers head on and there was no scrapping of the under body. The bigger speed breakers were approached in an angular fashion as I wasn't too confident if the City will be able to go past it without scraping its belly, if taken head on.
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