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-   -   Bored of my Honda City CVT. Sell or keep for a few more years? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sedans/202347-bored-my-honda-city-cvt-sell-keep-few-more-years.html)

Hi Guys,

I am stuck in a difficult dilemma. I have recently bought a Honda City VX CVT with Sunroof (December 2014) model with 43000 on the ODO from a used car dealer in Mumbai. The car is in top shape and drives as its supposed to. The car has all nice to have features and ticks all the boxes. However I am just not enjoying the CVT!!

All the cars I have owned previously have been driver's cars. From the Zens to the Palio to the Civic to the Modified Swift I had. I am just not able to enjoy the CVT no matter how much I try to like the car. The car is fantastic, no two doubts about it, but just not a drivers car.

Now I have two options -

1. Live with the car to absorb the depreciation hit for about 2 years.
2. Sell the car ASAP and buy something I like

Any view guys?

I think the first question you might want to address is what car would you rather have in the budget you allocated for this purchase. I am assuming you bought the City because it ticked a lot of boxes for you (except for the driving pleasure part). I also assume you wanted an automatic tranny.

In my opinion I don't think you will find an alternative that ticks as many boxes. Sure, if you have driving pleasure as the number one priority, there might be plenty of attractive options, but they would be from manufacturers like VW or Skoda. But whether these brands would deliver on other parameters like ease of maintenance and reliability is a different question.

Since this is your first cvt, I would suggest you play around with a little more and get the hang of its characteristics. True, it will never be as good as the DSG, but maybe both car and driver might align with each other a little better?

I think you should give it some time and get a hang of the CVT at first.

Also, try moving to S mode instead of D, that makes a massive difference.

I had a Honda City CVT for a couple of months - was selling it for my cousin. I first hated it, since it was too busy hunting ratios all the time. Then I found that when one progressively adds more throttle, it was okay to drive. i.e. your dynamic inputs matched the gearbox reactive time.

I found it was fine to drive briskly but a disaster if you were trying to race around!

Sell the car and buy something else. If you don't want to spend much, swap your car for a pre-owned manual Honda City. It is quicker around a track than hot hatches like Polo GT Tsi, Punto Abarth, Baleno RS, Figo diesel etc (same track, same driver).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcRFJw6ME-4

But I guess you want an automatic. Just make sure your next car has better steering feel & feedback too. Compared to Civic/Swift/Palio, steering of Honda City makes the driving experience a bit dull.

I presume 'driver's car' wasn't an important item, or it was superseded by something else more important.

Now, the big question is - was an automatic one of the "must haves" that you were looking for?

• If yes, then do soldier on. The CVT's rubberband effect does take a bit of getting used to, but you will eventually adapt your driving style to exploit it well.
  
• If no, then you can consider selling it (as smartcat said) and probably share with us your must haves/nice to haves, so we on the forum can help advise and confuse you.

Oh, and you do have a third option:

3. Drive the Jazz CVT on a longish test drive. After that car's 1.2L engine coupled to the CVT, the 1.5L heart of your City will suddenly feel all that more powerful when you go back to it :)

AT Owner here, but not CVT. I drive a Torque Converter, and for me it doesn't take me far away from the feel of shifting through manual gears.

When I was looking for a new car, I had TDéd couple of CVTs and I didn't quite like it. However, CVTs these days might give you a better FE than the corresponding MT counterpart, even Honda City CVT is claimed to be one of them.

May be you can just give it some more time and who knows, you'll get used to it. I think there's a learning curve associated with how to modulate the A-pedal of a CVT. Suppose you sell off the CVT and get a 7 speed TC or DCT, you may still feel that you're deprived of the fun of a 5 speed MT.

I just realized that this is a pre-owned car. So basically, you need to understand the characteristics of a CVT. It is unlike any other transmission out there in terms of power delivery characteristics.

Tips:

1) Don't step on the accelerator like you would in a manual. Be gentle with inputs initially, and then floor the accelerator.
2) While overtaking on a 2 lane highway or climbing up ghats, switch to S mode or use paddle-shifts.

Remember that there is a negligible 1 second difference in 0 to 100 kmph timings between manual and CVT. All you need to do now is figure out how to access the available power

It is hard to answer without knowing the other cars you have in mind if you decide to replace this car.

I really doubt anything other than VW group cars can offer a better driving experience than City enough to warrant a replacement. The engine is definitely one of the better ones in the market, you just need to spend time to get the best out of CVT and I feel that itself can make an interesting learning experience.

I have the previous gen City AT (torque convertor) and while it is a decent drivetrain, I have many complaints with the car. Soft suspension+low GC combination, poor NVH, light feel, frequent refuelling due to small fuel tank capacity, and so on. I see no reason to sell because I don't see a worthy replacement to justify the cost.

As mentioned by others, the only automatic cars that offer driving pleasure are the DCT's that are ridden with reliability issues.

As I own a EcoSport Torque converter automatic, and also drive my friend's Vento TDI manual, I can very well relate to what you are going through.

Trust me, you will get used to driving a CVT. It's your first AT and every AT has its own unique way of delivering power. You need to give yourself time to understand how the power delivery is.

It took me 2 months to figure out how best to drive my EcoSport briskly.

Give it sometime and you will get used to the CVT, especially in crazy Bombay traffic. You may even begin to like it eventually.

Drive it in S mode and use the paddles all the time, it's like a manual without the clutch.

Cheers

Some solid advice on this thread for you. Just wanted to add that, since you bought an almost 4 year old car, you don't have to worry about depreciation if you sell it. The hit will be marginal.

The bad news for you is, only cars with the notorious 7-speed DSG offer driving pleasure in the mass market. It's not a gearbox I would recommend, especially when buying used.

If you are open to MT, then the world is your playground. Lots of options. But if you want the convenience of an AT with driving pleasure, get a used Jetta / Octavia with the more reliable 6-speed DSG.

Correct me if I'm wrong- OP must have bought the City for the need of an automatic.
If he wanted a driver's car, he'd bought a Linea T Jet or something like that.
Remember:
Replace the word 'fast' with 'exciting to drive.'

I'd say if AT is a must-have, there's nothing more reliable than a Honda City. Else, there's a manual City, Linea T-jet, VW Vento/Skoda Rapid diesel or a S-Cross with a 1.6 diesel.

Having four Hondas in the family incl two ATs (Civic & Brio) what I will say is that Honda's are not exciting but very reliable to run. The ATs (both old 5 speed) have a lag, which may be manifesting itself in the CVT as well, as a Honda trait. I will say, get used to it,

Sell the car as you are clearly not enjoying driving it.

Moreover, it appears to me a case of post-purchase disonance. This could stem, probably, from not being clear what is it that you desire in your car. Before you pick a replacement you need to figure out what is it that you want. What are deal-breakers and what can you live with. After you figure this out go ahead and test drive all available options.