[yogesh.8984]

Honda city (White Lilly) goes off-road!

This is a story of a mini adventure. Adventure of taking White Lilly to a place not many would dare to imagine. The picture below with "Live To Drive" moniker exemplifies the spirit of exploring and conquering the unchartered territories and achieving great sense of satisfaction having triumphed the odds of making it!




Hi All, recently visited a place called Anjarle in Kokan belt along west coast of Maharashtra for a weekend getaway. During afternoon while there was nothing much to do, planned for a quick excursion at a place called Friends Point (location), which is accessible by a foot trail from Anjarle–Ade road or by a small trek from a sea shore. It’s a beautiful place with a great view of sun going down the sea during sunsets.

However the major attraction of this excursion was to take my Honda City right at the top thru a foot trail avoiding rocks and creeks and balancing the wheels in a way not scraping the under belly. It turned out to be a great fun.

I will let below pictures do the talking.

Started from Anjarle village on Anjarle–Ade road and took left after about twenty minutes of drive.



Since its just a foot trail, was careful driving thru creeks and rocks and avoiding off balancing.



The picture above and below gives a sense of occasion and the sense of adventure that we were up to.



Reached the final destination and settled into a comfortable setting.



Overlooking the Arabian sea and its grandeur.



This was such a amazing feeling to be sitting in a car at such a place and waiting for sunset in the evening.



There is a newly built light house on the other side of the road which is yet to become operational. Can be seen in the below picture.



A quick photo shoot ensued capturing the moments as we had enough time for sunset.





Slowly the sky and sea started turning orange with sun trying to dip into sea far west. Cool breeze and mesmerizing shades of orange was a spectacle to behold of.



After sunset, it started getting dark very quickly. With no network coverage on any of the cell phones, we started making way back to our place of stay in Anjarle village.

Took the same path to get back on the road as it was getting dark and there was no time for experiments.





Our gang couldn't resist clicking pictures while car was making way back to the main road with headlights switched on.



Vastness of Arabian sea vanishing in the darkness in the background.



Once back on road, it was a smooth sailing back to the den with mind filled with pride and some awesome memories!

[sreejithkk]

That is really an achievement. With my in-laws Amaze, I am extremely cautious to avoid the underbody scrapping on Ramps and medium humps, and you covered such a trail in a City is truly amazing. I believe, most of us will never dare to do this in a low GC car like Honda City.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by sreejithkk

and you covered such a trail in a City is truly amazing. I believe, most of us will never dare to do this in a low GC car like Honda City.

The GC of the 4th generation city is much better than most people expect / know. Its enough to not scrape even a single speed breaker in Mumbai.

[Ceyen]

It was smart of you to take it just over the hills. My overconfident friend who is also a gear head took his for a proper off-road adventure filled with stones and gravel and ended up towing the car with a hefty bill!. Damn nice pics, Especially the last one, shows off the sharp styling of the car. Honda made a mess with the current generation by making the front blunt, It has lost out on that sharp appeal, The 2nd and 3rd gen city's were the best in my opinion.

[kadanaJ]

According to Carwale, the latest Honda City has a ground clearance (GC) of 165mm.

Compared to that
Kia Seltos / Hyundai Creta - 190mm
S-Cross - 180mm
XUV700 - 200-205mm (not from Carwale. Found different numbers from different sites).

My question is
1. Do these GC numbers have any real world relevance? Should buyers give them much weight?
2. Even if accurate, how much of a difference could 1.5-3 centimetres even make? The differences seem miniscule to me.

I'm a pure sedan guy, but I am tired of my Altis scraping on large speed breakers. I'm trying to understand if it's GC that makes a difference, or is it soft vs firm suspension set-ups, or some other factor?

[Nav-i-gator]

A couple of months back, we drove the City (5th Gen, with even longer overhangs) to our village in Uttarakhand. This was just a few days after the heavy rains induced calamity where most of the roads leading to the hills were washed away.

This is nothing as compared to what our city had to endure. I was extremely cautious and painfully slow in crossing those water streams flowing through the broken roads, with big rocks and boulders scattered all around (and some more falling from the hills). It did scrape on a couple of occasions, but no damage whatsoever.

While City can definitely take on such occasional off-road trails with proper and skillful driving, there are many stretches where we opted for the mountain goat aka Bolero Taxi to go through. Sedans are not designed to be "enjoyed" off the roads.

[PapaBravo]

Wow. Such a beautiful place yogesh.8984. It looks like our very own 'Isle of Skye'. And good to see you take sedans to such places. Thanks for Sharing.

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

My question is
1. Do these GC numbers have any real world relevance? Should buyers give them much weight?
2. Even if accurate, how much of a difference could 1.5-3 centimetres even make? The differences seem miniscule to me.

Yes, GC numbers do have relevance but are not the sole deciders on whether your car will scrape or not. The wheelbase, suspension softness & knowing your car's underbody (the low points) makes a difference as well.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

My question is
1. Do these GC numbers have any real world relevance? Should buyers give them much weight?
2. Even if accurate, how much of a difference could 1.5-3 centimetres even make? The differences seem miniscule to me.

I'm a pure sedan guy, but I am tired of my Altis scraping on large speed breakers. I'm trying to understand if it's GC that makes a difference, or is it soft vs firm suspension set-ups, or some other factor?

I think it is a combination of GC along with wheelbase and the suspension

tuning. Altis (own a 2014 model) comes with a respectable 175mm GC and the wheelbase is similar to that of my previous gen Ertiga(around 2700mm). Hence I find Altis to be very capable for our roads as long as there are a maximum of 2 adults and 2 kids at the back

However the suspension behaves differently when the car is fully loaded and does end up scraping sometimes on unscientific speed breakers(again if the speed is above 20kmph) .

[sankdadevil]

yogesh.8984, your post inspires confidence to push a nifty sedan to its boundaries. It's adventurous.

I believe belly scraping is not a simple GC question. As indicated by others, a lot depends on suspension setup, wheelbase, speed and load in the car.

[aniket13]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

According to Carwale, the latest Honda City has a ground clearance (GC) of 165mm.

Compared to that
Kia Seltos / Hyundai Creta - 190mm
S-Cross - 180mm
XUV700 - 200-205mm (not from Carwale. Found different numbers from different sites).

My question is
1. Do these GC numbers have any real world relevance? Should buyers give them much weight?
2. Even if accurate, how much of a difference could 1.5-3 centimetres even make? The differences seem miniscule to me.

I'm a pure sedan guy, but I am tired of my Altis scraping on large speed breakers. I'm trying to understand if it's GC that makes a difference, or is it soft vs firm suspension set-ups, or some other factor?

May I know which Altis do you have? If I'm not wrong the pre-2014 gen was prone to underbelly scrapping. Post-2014 Altis had a much better GC-suspension setup.

I have taken the Honda City to unspeakably bad roads, tricky terrains, and all types of speed-breakers and not a single time it bottomed out. I definitely won't say that glides through rough roads - one needs to be very careful in judging the road condition and drive accordingly on a bad patch/bump, whereas on the cars you've listed above, you can be a bit overconfident

GC is already compromised on a sedan as you already know, I feel most of the time it is the suspension tweaks saving you from scrapping. My friend's Verna with a bit stiffer suspension is more prone to touching down than the City. The only grunt I have are the pointed edges on the front bumper of the City, as they are prone to touch on a steep ramp (luckily have had only near-misses!).

[kadanaJ]

Originally Posted by aniket13

May I know which Altis do you have? If I'm not wrong the pre-2014 gen was prone to underbelly scrapping. Post-2014 Altis had a much better GC-suspension setup.

Mine is a 2011 model. When I look at the car from the front/side, it looks like it has pretty good clearance.

I'm 90% sure that the scrapes are only when I have rear passengers. So in my case, it must be the soft rear suspension.

I assume that a sedan like a Skoda Octavia with a stiffer set-up should fare much better.

[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by yogesh.8984

Honda city (White Lilly) goes off-road!

Once back on road, it was a smooth sailing back to the den with mind filled with pride and some awesome memories!

Congratulations, very nicely done . I have always believed that the ability of a car depends a lot on the driver's skills.

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

My question is
1. Do these GC numbers have any real world relevance? Should buyers give them much weight?
2. Even if accurate, how much of a difference could 1.5-3 centimetres even make? The differences seem miniscule to me.

Yes, these ground clearance numbers do make a difference but ground clearance is only one of the many factors that can decide whether a car's underbody will get scrapped on bad roads or small obstacles. As some of my fellow Bhpians including yourself have mentioned above, the other factors include the suspension setup, load on the car, speed, wheelbase, etc. However, a much simpler way to determine whether a car will go over an obstacle without its underbody getting scrapped or not is by being informed about the car's approach angle, breakover angle and departure angle. These three parameters are the most frequently used ones by dedicated offroaders. I hope this helps

[sc15523]

Originally Posted by yogesh.8984

This is a story of a mini adventure. Adventure of taking White Lilly to a place not many would dare to imagine. The picture below with "Live To Drive" moniker exemplifies the spirit of exploring and conquering the unchartered territories and achieving great sense of satisfaction having triumphed the odds of making it!

Your article is awesome. I am planning to visit this weekend. Can you share the location of that lighthouse particularly that open stretch?

[yogesh.8984]

Originally Posted by sc15523

Your article is awesome. I am planning to visit this weekend. Can you share the location of that lighthouse particularly that open stretch?

Thanks, sc15523. This is the location.

[Guru_Shikhar]

Feels so good and confidence inspiring reading about Honda City taking such challenges.

This region of kokan already takes toll on the bottom of sedans on internal roads as you are not able to predict how the roads will be.

Good experience for you as well as fellow sedan owners on the forum.

Cheers.