[gauravdgr8]

Did a test drive if the City Hybrid on Thursday. Before commenting on the car few observations about the showroom and current conditions

1. I simply walked in and the receptionist was surprised that I am a walk-in customer. Took down details and called in a shabbily dressed SA

2. Absolutely no ribbon cuttings on that day. They had 3 Amaze, 3 City and 1 WRV standing all in Silver shade. Standing outside were 4 White City's. This means Honda is surely a laggard in sales, specially in a city like Chandigarh where people splurge on brands

3. SA gave me a test drive and also promised to get the car home on Saturday for a longer test drive which never happened

4. White, Silver, Brown, Grey have a waiting of 6-8 weeks. I enquired about the Red City Hybrid and the SA said, I will take a booking amount of 1,00,000/- and still not give you a date and it will all be non-refundable. This became a instant downer and I clearly told him, that shouldn't I be treated on priority with 9x the down payment. SA mentioned it could take 3,4,6,8 months and I cannot commit. This SA should get the reward for turning away a promising customer

Coming to the car:

Misses:

1. Electric seat height adjust
2. Front parking sensors for a car in the 20Lacs price range
3. Ventilated seats
4. Boot opening with feet sensor
5. Small boot can take in 2 medium size bags and a couple of laptop bags

What's Good:

1. Super super silent car
2. The interiors, door pads, arm rest are of good quality and do not feel cheap
3. Host of ADAS features Auto Braking, Lane change mitigation are very usable in the city
4. The demo car showed a mileage of 26.2/litre
5. I am 5'7 and used to having the seat upright and pushed back, with seat height up. In that seating position, the rear passenger had quite a lot of space to spread their feet
6. Boost mode: seriously crazy. The wheel spin is mind boggling and the car literally takes off
7. The camera on the left ORVM came up automatically when taking a tight left turn with wall on its side, similar to the reverse came with grid lines

The brochure says that the city has ADAS level 3, which means it's way ahead than XUV 700 and the Astor which use Level 1 and 2 respectively

Now the mind is stuck between the City Hybrid and Nexon EV max.

My wife has recently got a job as the Head of Primary school in a prominent Residential school in the hills of South India, and the family would be moving in there, therefore am not sure how would I charge the car if I go for he Nexon EV, if there is no charging plug in the parking area. I would have to rely on the local charging points, which does not make it a viable option. On the other hand this sort of show stopper doesn't exist with the City.

Will wait till July and decide.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

I will take a booking amount of 1,00,000/- and still not give you a date and it will all be non-refundable. This became a instant downer and I clearly told him, that shouldn't I be treated on priority with 9x the down payment.

Anyone asking a 1L non refundable booking amount run away from the dealer. There will be competitive dealers happy to take your booking for the regular nominal amounts. If needed buy from a larger market like NCR with temporary registration.

[skarthiksr]

Originally Posted by skarthiksr

Another thing I noticed is that the collision mitigation braking system(CMBS) seems to have only an ON/OFF setting as shown below and has no way to control the sensitivity(High, low, medium) like that of Astor. The SA had no idea about this feature at all when I asked him whether this setting is available elsewhere.

I stand corrected and yes, the setting is available under overall "Settings". Honda has uploaded the manual of e-Hev and there is a mention about this setting below.

[sarav100]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

4. White, Silver, Brown, Grey have a waiting of 6-8 weeks. I enquired about the Red City Hybrid and the SA said, I will take a booking amount of 1,00,000/- and still not give you a date and it will all be non-refundable. This became a instant downer and I clearly told him, that shouldn't I be treated on priority with 9x the down payment. SA mentioned it could take 3,4,6,8 months and I cannot commit. This SA should get the reward for turning away a promising customer

Asking 1 lac as non refundable deposit is a strict no-no and I’m a bit surprised that it’s a Honda dealer that has asked for it. If you don’t mind, could you please let us know which dealer it was.

Honda city hybrid is a nice sedan and their sales and service experience is supposed to be better than other brands. Don’t get deterred by one off dealer salesman. I’m saying this since I was impressed by their sales team during purchase of Honda Amaze recently. Both Galaxy Honda, Jalandhar and Prestige Honda, Amritsar acted professionally and their car delivery process was the nicest one I’ve experienced so far.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

4. White, Silver, Brown, Grey have a waiting of 6-8 weeks. I enquired about the Red City Hybrid and the SA said, I will take a booking amount of 1,00,000/- and still not give you a date and it will all be non-refundable. This became a instant downer and I clearly told him, that shouldn't I be treated on priority with 9x the down payment. SA mentioned it could take 3,4,6,8 months and I cannot commit. This SA should get the reward for turning away a promising customer

Is it even legally allowed to not refund the booking amount. They can deduct a percentage of booking amount, but fully non-refundable sounds absurd. You should definitely look at some other dealer.

On showroom experience, cant agree much. In December I had planned to pick a Jazz, the showroom experience in Bangalore was such a downer. It was very dull and I feel they had even switched off all the lights - overall it gave a very negative vibe. Plus the lack of energy from the sales guys. This was one of the main reason for me to ditch Jazz and buy i20.

[attinder]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

Is it even legally allowed to not refund the booking amount.

I think it is fair if the dealer feels a particular colour or model will be a difficult sell if the booking is cancelled.
I don't see many red cars on road.

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by attinder

I think it is fair if the dealer feels a particular colour or model will be a difficult sell if the booking is cancelled.
I don't see many red cars on road.

Absolutely fine for them to make it non refundable and letting me know before hand, however mentioning that they can't commit delivery timeline is absurd.

More to it. The SA did not bother to call in Saturday or Sunday. When I called on Monday and asked him if he is interested in selling, he tells me there is nothing to get hyper. Wow so much for customer satisfaction. Had to give him a piece of my mind.

[gauravdgr8]

Originally Posted by sarav100

Asking 1 lac as non refundable deposit is a strict no-no and I’m a bit surprised that it’s a Honda dealer that has asked for it. If you don’t mind, could you please let us know which dealer it was.

Honda city hybrid is a nice sedan and their sales and service experience is supposed to be better than other brands. Don’t get deterred by one off dealer salesman. I’m saying this since I was impressed by their sales team during purchase of Honda Amaze recently. Both Galaxy Honda, Jalandhar and Prestige Honda, Amritsar acted professionally and their car delivery process was the nicest one I’ve experienced so far.

Before I name the dealer, would give them another chance to keep their commitment for the coming weekend. Will give more info basis a longer test drive

[neon_daytona]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

6. Boost mode: seriously crazy. The wheel spin is mind boggling and the car literally takes off
.

Pardon my ignorance. What is the boost mode? I thought the car had a Brake mode to have the most regenerative braking.

[z_3en]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

Did a test drive if the City Hybrid on Thursday. Before commenting on the car few observations about the showroom and current conditions

Aaahh! Just the treatment we recieve every service as honda customers. It's the same drama here in lucknow. Had gone in to buy an amaze for STALLION HONDA, lucknow. Upon enquiring about red color the SA tells me that red is loses it's shine within a year and not to go for it. Bought a grey amaze instead. Fast forward to the services: while the initial process goes relatively smooth. The way they handle these cars is terrible. Their driving is so rough with customer cars it's almost as if they've never got their hands on a car. While the servicing team is excellent the staff on the front are very casual with little to no technical knowledge. Thank God the cars have close to no issues otherwise dealing with them would be a PAIN.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

My wife has recently got a job as the Head of Primary school in a prominent Residential school in the hills of South India, and the family would be moving in there, therefore am not sure how would I charge the car if I go for he Nexon EV, if there is no charging plug in the parking area.

I assume that if the school is providing accommodation for your wife and family, it will be a small independent property. If there is a porch of some kind provided to park the car, I am sure you can draw a 16A line to charge the car. Even if you need to resort to using a public charger, the frequency will be once a week, assuming you're not going to be traveling over 150km a week.

I was a boarder at Kotagiri Public. Was not so prominent back in the day. Even then, families of teachers who lived within the school property had a small independent house provided. I assume this situation is similar (should be better today) for your wife.

[arun_m5]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Unlike VAG cars where everything is simple and accessible through the stalks, all the controls in the City are scattered all over the steering wheel:

Great review, but I sense bias in this comment, the VW cars stalks aren't visible at night and you'd have to rely on muscle memory, a damn torch or trial and error to know what the cruise stalks are gonna do. The Honda ones in comparison are leagues ahead in usability in all types of driving conditions. The VW stalks use a slider to cancel and is quite fidgety even at its best while the Honda system are buttons that are marked clearly, legible and have a very low learning curve since it's all push buttons and no funny physical interfaces like the VW. I'm speaking out of experience owning a Vento and a 2020 Accord. The latter has the same steering wheel from the City.

It doesn't take a lot to realize that controls of such safety critical systems AT THE VERY LEAST need to be illuminated for ease of use at night and must be intuitive and the VW cruise interface is the worst I've ever tried.

Moreover, the ADAS system in use by Honda is from Mobileye, which is the same supplier for Mahindra, the Germans and the Japanese. The manufacturers decide on how much leeway the system allows. Honda is fairly tuned to be on the safer side, yes if you drive on a road filled with cows and bullock carts, No system on this planet will behave at its best. On the highways, it does want you to be in control all the time unlike other systems where you can avoid touching the wheel for as long as you want. The Honda system in my humble opinion brings a good mix of driver engagement, self driving and safety.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by arun_m5

Great review, but I sense bias in this comment, the VW cars stalks aren't visible at night and you'd have to rely on muscle memory, a damn torch or trial and error to know what the cruise stalks are gonna do. The Honda ones in comparison are leagues ahead in usability in all types of driving conditions. The VW stalks use a slider to cancel and is quite fidgety even at its best while the Honda system are buttons that are marked clearly, legible and have a very low learning curve since it's all push buttons and no funny physical interfaces like the VW. I'm speaking out of experience owning a Vento and a 2020 Accord. The latter has the same steering wheel from the City.

I beg to differ, the cruise control switch on the VW, it a distinct On/Off slider lever which can be identified by touch...unless you expect the indicator stalk to be illuminated also. The settings are controlled by the rocker setting on the end of the stalk. You dont have to take your eyes off the road.

The Honda, you would need to visually check initially perhaps. In the case of the BHEV City, there are too many buttons due to the ADAS and other stuff. This makes things very confusing

It doesn't take a lot to realize that controls of such safety critical systems AT THE VERY LEAST need to be illuminated for ease of use at night and must be intuitive and the VW cruise interface is the worst I've ever tried.

I felt the VW is much more intuitive as also other German cars - Maybe I have my wires crossed or a super genius!

On the highways, it does want you to be in control all the time unlike other systems where you can avoid touching the wheel for as long as you want. The Honda system in my humble opinion brings a good mix of driver engagement, self driving and safety.

I have spent extensive time with the Volvo (around Jodhpur and again Mangalore to Madikere!), like the Honda, you cannot avoid touching the wheel for as long as you want. Have you tried the Volvo and the Honda systems first hand?

[Palio_2005]

Has any one booked the Hybrid? When I went to test drive the City I had a great experience at Viva Honda, Santacruz. Liked the car but found the asking price on higher side as compared to the quality and features provided. Other than the ADAS, I expected power and ventilated seats, better finish, some goodies foc. When I asked them about delivery they said 6 months. Does this mean that they have a lot of bookings? Booking amount is 21,000 rs.

[Mumbaiker]

Originally Posted by Palio_2005

Has any one booked the Hybrid? When I went to test drive the City I had a great experience at Viva Honda, Santacruz. Liked the car but found the asking price on higher side as compared to the quality and features provided. Other than the ADAS, I expected power and ventilated seats, better finish, some goodies foc. When I asked them about delivery they said 6 months. Does this mean that they have a lot of bookings? Booking amount is 21,000 rs.

Yes, I have booked the car in April itself. I went for a test drive to Prabhadevi Honda. Experience was good. I test drove the Hybrid and the Petrol back to back. To be very honest, the Hybrid feels much powerful and better compared to the petrol. Also the braking on the Hybrid was much better. I also got to experience the adaptive cruise control on the worli sea face and it works great.
The SA asked me to book through the Honda website as the booking amount is Rs.5000 compared to the booking amount of Rs.11000 at the showroom.

I recently checked about the Red and Silver and I was told the waiting period for Red and Silver is higher as compared to the Grey, White or the Brown variants. Not sure how much is the waiting period though.