[WanderinNomad]

Originally Posted by Hamza123

Another take on the above.
Why don't u go in for a 3rd gen Automatic Honda City. U will find some pristine examples of it at less than half your budget (there was a maroon example in showroom condition done 19k kms with sunroof for 5 lacs available a while back!)
Speaking as an owner of a pre loved Honda 3rd generation one for 4 years ( car is 8years old 55k kms done)

It's the best looking Honda city in my opinion in all 5 generations and does not look out of place even today.
The engine is a gem.
The interiors are hard wearing. Even today there is no rattle or squeak.
With the extra budget u can update the few weak points. Nicer headlamps fatter tyres a high end music system.

Attaching a picture of my baby
Attachment 2185166

Even I support this view. This was the last generation of city that was built like a proper Honda.I own a 15 year old Honda city which has aged much less than my 5 year old Maruti and have both the 3rd gen and 4th gen city in my close circle. There is a huge degradaion of quality in the 4th gen as compared to 3rd Gen.

If you can find a good example of 3rd Gen city, I would recommend you to go and check out such a car to see its long term durability. Futhermore, you can be rest assured it will look and work the same at 15 year mark.

[abhatt]

We went for new 4th gen V model over 5th to save 1.5 l.

There was nothing significant except the feeling of having a newer car.

Its like choosing between iPhone 12 and 11 today, you are spending more for novelty and some newer features, and that's a personal choice.

[Nav-i-gator]

Originally Posted by abhatt

We went for new 4th gen V model over 5th to save 1.5 l.

There was nothing significant except the feeling of having a newer car.

Its like choosing between iPhone 12 and 11 today, you are spending more for novelty and some newer features, and that's a personal choice.

Hmm, extra 2 airbags, Electronic stability control, traction control, hill launch assist, Brake assist, projector headlamps, rear seat adjustable headrests, passive Tyre pressure monitoring system are the main differences between V Variants of 4th gen and 5th Gen. Hardly novelty factors. And the price difference is 1 Lakh, ex showroom.

Just saying.

[Durango Dude]

I don't think the 4th Gen City comes with an automatic any more, if you want a CVT you'll need to go for the 5th Gen City. That said I've a 4th Gen City and it drives well but the body has a rust problem, even though I keep it parked in a covered parking lot always.

[Aravind_M92]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

Not following. Is this a typo ?

No! The 4th gen has SOHC Engine. Less components = less problems
And 5th gen has DOHC Engine. Mo Powah! And enigine refinement

That’s why I posted them under pros. Correct me if I’m wrong

[Bibendum90949]

City for years has been the numero uno choice for many in the segment. As the market caught the fancy of crossovers and compact SUV's the "City" segment has been on the wane but City is the literally the last one standing as most of it's competition ceased to exist. It's still an attractive proposition for sedan lovers.

As @ Shreyas Jain mentioned, there are better cars out there for the budget you mentioned. In case you love driving, City is just not the car for you especially in it's CVT guise. It's best driven in sedate fashion. The front and rear overhang of the 5 th gen is much more than it's predecessor. I've heard people mentioning about the front scraping on slopes at apartment, mall parking etc. You may want to keep this in mind too in case you end up picking City itself.

Other better cars in the budget and that meets your listed criteria could be Ford Eco Sport AT, Brezza, Creta etc.(incidentally all C-SUV s )

[abhatt]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

Hmm, extra 2 airbags, Electronic stability control, traction control, hill launch assist, Brake assist, projector headlamps, rear seat adjustable headrests, passive Tyre pressure monitoring system are the main differences between V Variants of 4th gen and 5th Gen. Hardly novelty factors. And the price difference is 1 Lakh, ex showroom.

Just saying.

Wow. That's a good list, specially the airbags. I admit I was not aware of this entire list however the price difference is 1.5l considering the on road price.

For city and mild highway driving I would still go for 4th gen as all apart from 2 extra airbags are a good to have.

[MaheshY1]

Between the two, the new City is an easy choice. It has a significantly better engine than before. It still revs like the old one but the drivability from the improved bottom and mid-range torque is undeniably better. So, you won't have to rev it as hard to get a decent acceleration and this will give you better fuel efficiency as well. The old one had everything concentrated at the top end.

Besides a more drivable and efficient engine, you get a newer gen model, which:
- will hold its value better
- is as big as a D-segment sedan
- has more features

Wait it out. My recommendation is that you don't get picky with the variant. With the new one, even the base trim is pretty well loaded with almost all must-haves. City V compares well with the top variant of an affordable sedan like the Ciaz. In terms of value, the base variant of the new City shines.

[07CR]

Thank you everyone for your guidance.

To sum up, I can find the following pointers-

1) 5th Gen City is worth the three lakh premium I would be looking at.
2) GC issues will persist with either of them (5th gen a bit more)
3) Interior and build quality doesn't isn't in the league's of Ford/VAG cars. I was aware of build quality, but came out disappointed with interior quality.
4) Not necessary to go for the ZX CVT only, as even the lower variants are pretty well loaded.

That said, I should have been a bit more specific as to what I was expecting from the next purchase. So some background-

1) We are a family of 3 (would be 4 soon). Currently we have a Ecosport S TDCI, which is primarily driven by dad(retired individual), (courtesy my WFH, which will continue for atleast till January 2022).

2) Post January 2022, I might require a car to travel for the daily office grind. I would always prefer an automatic, due to the major city travel involved.

Considering above points, my requirements-

1) This car will coexist with the ecosport. Therefore it should atleast be in the league of Ecosport or better than it. I feel City comes a bit short on this, in terms of highway driving manners, build and interior quality, and general noise insulation.
2) It should be spacious, a large boot is an advantage, but not an utter necessity.
3) Should be hassle free to own, hate visiting SVCs repeatedly.
4) Features I would like- Ventilated seats, remote start option, Panoramic sunroof, LED/HID lights, Cruise Control, Auto Hold function (lack of auto hold isn't deal breaker).
5) Should have decent road presence. Have maintained the Ecosport very well and even after 3 years in it's all black S trim, it makes heads turn. I expect similar, better experience from the next car. Attaching a recent pic of Ecosport.

Considering these requirements I would like to conclude-

1) I feel there is no point in rushing through with purchase now, and will definitely wait out another year. If required, may even stretch the budget to 15L. We keep our cars for long (7 years atleast has been the norm), and don't want to compromise on this ride.
2) 4th Gen City is out of equation as I feel I would be compromising on a lot of my requirements.
3) Still not sold on the 5th Gen city. I had a test drive yesterday and overall impressions are mixed. While space, looks and visibility from car is excellent, I am not happy with the overall noise insulation, build quality and the ground clearance of the car.
4) I feel cars like Hector CVT, Elantra (pre-facelift), Corolla Altis, upcoming MG Astor and Seltos might be some other alternatives I should look at.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by PetrolHead2272

....every time we exceeded 100 Km/hr, the car started bumbling at certain intrusive vibrations started to be felt on the steering.
...

Looks like a classic case of an imbalanced wheel (or bent rims or uneven wear of tyres to a lesser extent, get these aspects checked too)

At higher speeds, any weight imbalance on the wheels get amplified and felt on the steering column. This is typically not felt at lower speeds.

A proper wheel balancing job at a reliable tyre service should fix this issue.

[PetrolHead2272]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Looks like a classic case of an imbalanced wheel (or bent rims or uneven wear of tyres to a lesser extent, get these aspects checked too)

At higher speeds, any weight imbalance on the wheels get amplified and felt on the steering column. This is typically not felt at lower speeds.

A proper wheel balancing job at a reliable tyre service should fix this issue.

We did get this issue fixed though only after the tire bursted. It turns out, due to the low usage of our City, we hadn't changed the tires of it. But the one time we drove it on a highway nearly after a couple of years, the tire bursted. Luckily, we were doing just 25 Km/Hr, so no accident happened.

[CarMaster_059]

I'd say wait till the year-end. That's the time when every brand opens up their generous discounts. You'll probably loose some money in resale later on but then the discounts bundled up with extra benefits like accessories and all might be worth it. It might even cover up the value you'll loose in resale. So in all prospects, the 5th gen City is the one to go for.

[FrozeninTime]

Originally Posted by 07CR

Hi everyone, I wish to buy a car in the budget between 8-13L.
With this in mind, can someone help me in determining if the 3+L premium for a 5th Gen City would be worth it, or should I go with the 4th Gen City ZX CVT rightaway? How good is the 5th gen WRT to 4th gen in following criteria-

1) Space
2) Ride quality
3) Handling
4) Refinement
5) Performance of CVT
6) Mileage
7) Interior quality of materials
8) Build quality and safety
9) Ground clearance and possibility of bottoming out.

Any inputs would be appreciated.

As a person who had evaluated both 4th and 5th generation Honda City before zeroing on 5th generation Honda city here is my take:

1. Space : Both cars have good space but ingress and egress is slightly better in 4th generation than 5th generation Honda City due to slightly higher roof height. Also Boot is better designed on 4th generation.

2. Ride quality: Not much difference in ride quality.

3.Handling: The 5th generation Honda City has bit more roll in corners than 4th Generation Honda City.

4. Refinement: 4th generation Honda City is more refined. Engine is more noisy in 5th generation Honda City and so are motors used to operate external ORVMS.
An irritating issue in 5th generation is when you switch on high beam you hear click noise.

5.Performance of CVT- can't comment

6.Mileage: 5th gen slightly better by 0.5km/l. but it depends on driver and traffic.

7. Interior quality of materials: Both are similar but switch gear for stalk control is better in 4th generation. Also 4th generation infotainment has quality issues

8. Build quality and safety: Build quality is quiet similar but 5th generation Honda City is far more safer due to addition of ESP and minimum 4 airbags even in base variant.

9. Ground clearance and possibility of bottoming out: It is similar in both. Tall speed breakers do cause you to slow down.

10. Service: 6months in 4th generation vs 1 year 5th generation Honda City

All in all 5th generation is worth buying as it is a new product with loads of features at the price point.

[car_guy1998]

As a 2014 4th gen City Diesel user, which has run 1,17,000 Kms, I would prefer going for 5th gen City as it has much better safety features and better rear seat comfort and space due to increased wheelbase though 4th gen is also same in terms of rear seat space and comfort and never felt discomfort whenever we travel on highways.

I myself was looking for the replacement for our 4th gen City Diesel and had checked each and every so called sub 4M C-SUV's like Nexon and Sonet but none impressed me in terms of rear seat comfort and leg space. Even my mom, who travelled in her cousin's Nexon for couple of times, told that the rear leg space is very poor in Nexon and told that our City felt much better in this department.

If I want to replace our City Diesel, it'll be a City CVT hands down.

[anirudhbb]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Here’s the thing. It’s is understandable that you want to buy the City as you are smitten. Perfectly acceptable argument. But do note that if you think objectively, there are better cars to be had for the money you are looking to spend, especially as you are open to buying pre owned. It is 2021 and the Honda City is nobody’s first choice, except those who want a City only. 4th Gen or 5th becomes moot.

Curious, for someone considering a new sedan, isn't City the best option out there, though not the most VFM? What are the good alternatives, looking for a Petrol automatic? CIAZ is another one am exploring.