[uday.ere]

Congrats Charthom, welcome to the ANHC club - the Caska unit is indeed very nice, the dealer here in Blr is asking 56k for the same, but they wont pay anything in exchange for the existing head unit (not that there is a cd player to give back though :-)

Excellent choice of going for exclusive (avoiding the chrome bit was an even better decision I must add - never liked that).

Happy mile munching in your ANHC

Cheers
Uday

[venkateshs]

Congrats on the ANHC. It is a fantastic machine and I'm sure you will love it. I bought a VMT white in April. Forget the price cuts - the car is a pleasure to own and drive safe...

[M00M]

@Charthom: congrats on the car. It will do you good service for a number of years. just dont look at the price in fuel differentiation. . BTW im considering the VMT City right now and was wondering about your Caska music system. Can you throw some light on it because in Mumbai the dealer dint inform me when i asked about something of this sort.

[bluevolt]

Congratulations on your Honda City. You bought the best petrol C segment sedan. No other car in this segment can match the refinement and reliability of Honda City.

I am in love with this beauty for the past 5000 KMS and today I got the best mileage of 18KMPL.

Wishing you many years of Happy Driving.

[Ram_NP]

Congratulations on your new Purchase! Being an owner ANHC for a year now, I can safely say that your family will enjoy the ride.

Would request you post some details pictures of the head unit. Fit and finish of the HU replacement work looks very good.

The 3D mats has really fit very well. I am also planning to switch to 3D mats in my "City", hope to do it soon.

[dot]

Congratulations. Really enjoyed your review of the City. Wish you miles of back-pain-less drives. I can understand this since I have a weak back myself and sold off a Santro many year back for the same issue.

Originally Posted by charthom

”Appa(father), this is it, please. The Verna is no match!”

Thats something interesting. New Verna has lots of bling, but on class, it is still not a match for the ANHC.

Originally Posted by charthom

The original leather seats are good. After market fitments including Stanley will reduce the leg room

I feel that Stanley leathers dont last very long. I have seen them cracking at pressure points. IMHO, the Honda OEM leather has better quality.

Originally Posted by charthom

I have installed beige coloured 3D kagu mats

What do they really do?

Originally Posted by charthom

the slight change in the engine sound filtered into the cabin was embarrassing initially-now we are used to it.

If you ask me the note of the Vtec engine is pretty addictive.

Originally Posted by charthom

Present FE is less. Hope it will improve. With instructions to use only premium fuel, the running expenses are definitely high.

Again, based on my experience on the Civic, regular fuel should be good enough for the i-vtec.

[libranof1987]

Congratulations on your City! That colour and the Exclusivity looks smashing!

Whoa! Is that a review or what?! You gave mdsaab quite some competition w.r.t. freebies!

I'll just go thru' your dislikes :

1) Expensive : In fact you're lucky you bought it before the price reduction. The deal was sweeter earlier. But yes, City as a whole is expensive.
2) Couldn't agree more about the features list. I would have loved some ACC and Cruise Control (wishful thinking!)
3) No problem with GC but the suspension. Just master the art of not scraping.
6) FE : Wait for a while before you judge the poor thing! Most owners have reported good figures. I've got some 18+ km/l on the highway and 15 km/l in the city. 100% a/c + AT could get it down just a l'il bit.
7) Let's not get there. I've had a long mail chain with Honda regarding this. They "recommend" a checkup every 3months/5k kms and service every 6months/5k kms.

Overall, the car is a gem to drive. Awesome HU btw!

Some more pics please!

PS : What is with the rear centre arm-rest? It looks like a leather job not done right. Think you can get that corrected?

As dot asked, what do 3D mats do?

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by charthom

The AC is reasonable. I have to figure out how the A/C could be adjusted for better flow to rear passengers-as seen on Bluevolt’s post.

Hi charthom, I just read that now.

The rear AC ducts are present under the front seats directed towards rear seats. You have to select the mode control dial of the A/C at position other than 'only front' position. Refer to manual page number 114 for more details. Make sure the ducts are not covered by the rear floor mats.

And yes once again congrats for the all new City.

[pamishra]

Hi Charthom, I have one question regarding the Caska unit - Say you are in the GPS mode; can you simultanously listen to music too from CD/USB. Or does it only operate one feature at a time; either GPS or Music?

Similarly, if u are listening to music and you slot the reverse gear. I guess, the display will automatically switch to the reverse camera. But will the music keep playing?

Thanks..

[jk007]

Originally Posted by pamishra

Hi Charthom, I have one question regarding the Caska unit - Say you are in the GPS mode; can you simultanously listen to music too from CD/USB. Or does it only operate one feature at a time; either GPS or Music?

Similarly, if u are listening to music and you slot the reverse gear. I guess, the display will automatically switch to the reverse camera. But will the music keep playing?

Thanks..

Yes, it does play the music while you reverse or watch the sat-nav for directions.

You can also control the volume of the voice over for sat-nav.

[charthom]

Guys,I am overwhelmed with your responses and appreciation.Thanks from the bottom of my heart.Can you give me some time for more snaps?I am right now not in full health.Recovering from illness-hope it will not dampen the enthusiasm.

Love you all,charthom.

vb-san:Congratulations Charthom! From the title, it did not look like an ownership thread
That’s an awesome colour, and the leather cladding on the door looks great.
I have to agree on Honda dealership in Cochin. Twice I interacted with them,
and I was thoroughly impressed with their professional and friendly behavior.

Thanks vb-san.I got your hint about the caption.Comical understatement is my favourite style!!

Glad you liked the colour and door claddings.

I am feeling relieved by your comment on the Cochin dealership.How's Cosmic Honda?

srishiva:-Congrats Charthom, very well written. Looks you are very satisfied. The trunk lid's function is only to cover the trunk and might be contributing

to the FE, see if putting some damping sheets can bring some thicker sound. Enjoy.

Srishiva,thanks.I am super satisfied and thrilled to the core.The trunk lid sounds and feels ok.I just put down my observation.

theexperthand-Congrats Charthom. A very well laid out detailed ownership report

The Caska HU looks interesting - did the dealer source it for you?

the mats looks good - it will help you a lot in keeping the car clean.

Some more pictures of the car please.

@theexperthand-Thanks for the nice words.Yes, the dealer sourced the HU for me.More pictures in due course.

mayankjha1806-Why bother if others are buying Honda or not, I am glad you bought what you liked. Congratulations on your new buy.

Earlier they had the highhandedness (the likes you see in VW these days) but these days they are very much grounded (Good things competition brings).

@mayankjha1806-Thanks for the wishes mayank.Regarding the dealer behaviour-when I called the Hyundai dealer 3rd time to talk about the Fluidic Verna,he had no

time to talk to me even!They never returned my call,nor did they send me the car for TD! 5000 bookings for ANHV and Hyundai forgot a faithful customer of 11 years!!

raghu230506-Congratulations on your new ride, drive safe and have fun.
Head unit looks cool,

Thanks raghu.Glad you liked the HU.

jk007-@Charthom,

Congrats on the wonderful city! The AT is a pleasure if you don't mind the gas prices and under 10 kmpl mileage.

Love the CASKA. And how much did you pay extra for MapMyIndia to be integrated with CASKA instead of SatGuide?

Drive Safe!

JK

JK-Thanks.The AT is really heavenly.I paid 2000/- extra for Mapmyindia.

GTO-Congrats on the most sensible petrol sedan in the market; just can't go wrong with a H City. Ask those amongst us who have owned these cars for several

years together. Thanks for sharing a thoroughly unbiased, detailed review. It's these kind of threads that uphold the values that this community was built

on. Clicked Thanks & rated thread 5 stars.

@GTO-have been savouring and liking all those great reviews.

Thanks for the wishes and appreciation.Happy that my write up has measured upto Team-BHP's expectations.

Get well soon mate

I am recovering slowly.Thanks for the wishes again.

Great looking HU! I've been hearing of an awful lot of Caska units on the forum. Clearly, they are doing something right. Hope to play with one in the near

future.

Caska HUs are car specific and blend completely with the Car's controls.Sound quality-average,versatility-excellent.

Useless. Didn't you research on Team-BHP?

Some old habits don't die fast.My apologies.

Agreed. I'd made exactly the statement about a year back, though the Civic itself is poorly equipped.

It is from you that I got that statement! Sorry for forgetting to acknowledge it.It was not intentional.

souravc-Congrats on your fantastic buy ! I loved your review too , straight from the heart just as your buy is

Thanks for seeing into my heart souravc.It is this comradeship that attracted me to this forum.

volkman10-Congrats on the owing the most sensible petrol sedan currently in the market. In times when most are talking of the Vento, Fluidic Verna, new

Fiesta, etc Honda seems to regain some lost ground. IMO Honda Iis still and would hold on to being the King of the C segment (Petrol!)

Thanks volkman.In full agreement with you.Honda will regain the grounds if they play their cards straight and smart.No other car listed here enjoys the

superiority in design of the City.They are only encashing some good features and are not desirable complete cars.Honda has to just fill in the blanks to

propel the City miles ahead of the competition.


___________

[sydras]

Congrats on your purchase. I also own a City AT (non exclusive version) and I agree with many of your observations i.e. the AT being better than the MT. I did not like the amount of clutch travel on the MT and the gear shift was just ok.

I quite enjoy the drive in my City AT. As per my observations, the in-cabin space is really good, seating has right amount of firmness (not too soft like the Corolla), electronic power steering and handling are precise(not excessive like the Hyundais), suspension is soft yet stiff enough(and not bouncy like the Hyundais) although there is scraping on Bangalore bonebreakers with people in the back, cabin is silent(can't tell whether engine is on at idle) though a tolerable amount of outside noise comes in at medium to high speeds most of it seeming to be from the MRF ZVTV tyres, cannot tell whether a/c is on or not as there seems to be no detectable drop in performance etc.

I still debate on whether I should've gone for the Exclusive version. I liked the factory fitter leather design but I did not want the extra chrome bits that were on offer. In my opinion, they spoilt the look of the City. You're right about the badging. They could've provided an "AT" badge at the rear.

My only regret is that the City should've been refreshed since 2009 and come with more features in 2010 (when I bought my car). As of today, it is an absolute requirement if Honda wants to survive as the City feels outdated w.r.t. features. Given what petrol prices are these days, even I would've chosen the Vento Diesel over the City.

My only concern with my City AT nowadays is the mileage. Like you, I am getting 8.5-9 kmpl in the city (but I don't use an accurate system of measurement, I simply go with what the trip meter tells me) and it dropped to 7.5 kmpl recently after which I switched to synthetic engine oil in my 3rd free service and asked them to replace the air filter.

I have not quite liked my servicing experience so far at Whitefield Honda. While they seem to do an ok job, they seem to have done nothing in the first 3 free services other than cleaning the car (even that was not done properly in the last service). I have been asking them how to improve my FE and they don't seem interested in my suggestions like fuel injector cleaning, fuel filter replacement etc.

During my recent visit to the showroom during my 3rd service at Whitefield Honda, I noticed a City fitted with Yokohama C-drive tyres. They looked good though I'm not sure whether they offer a benefit in mileage and noise.

[RemingtonSteele]

Congrats Dude!!!
As rightly said by GTO, you can't go wrong with the best Petrol sedan in 'C' segment.
Good review.
Good choice of colour.
Great HU.
Nice looking 3D mats (as others said, I am also eager to know more about them). But one question here: The beige colours mats in coastal monsoon - wouldn't Black mats be better choice??
Wish you many many Happy miles with the addictive i-VTEC gem.

Lastly, please upload more pics

[autofreak]

Originally Posted by charthom

Does anyone buy a Honda City anymore?! Oops! I did-and fell in love with it!!

Thats (thread title) enough for me to rate your thread 5 stars. Awesomely penned down man. Many wishes for you and your family on the new acquisition.

The dash feels far better in caska than the tacky all silver unit. Hope honda replaces the only grouse, dated rotary aircon knobs in the coming update.

Wish you miles of happy & safe motoring.

Rgds
autofreak

[charthom]

bharatbs-Do you mean 10mm? I think 10cm is to much.

bharatbs-Thanks for the great words.As you know,any seat cover will reduce the total leg room inside a car.It is an extra covered cushioning-leather,art leather,cloth whatever.The

aftermarket leather seats be it Stanley,is doing exactly the same.I calculated it approximately 10 cm total front and rear.So if you want to retain the leg

room,leave the original seat alone!Just see how thin seats have managed to generate cabin space inside an Etios.

Is that a ANHC specific Kagu mat or did you use the Vento one? because I have seen only VW owners with Kagu mats.

Of course they are ANHC specific mats,he he!Why should the Vento guys have all the fun!!?

Lastly, how do you rate the Caska in terms of sound quality? Because I have seen many people mention that touchscreen units do not offer the same sound quality as regular 1din/2din HU.

Caska sound quality is average.But the HU is very versatile.

uday.ere- the dealer here in Blr is asking 56k for the same, but they

wont pay anything in exchange for the existing head unit (not that there is a cd player to give back though :-)

Excellent choice of going for exclusive (avoiding the chrome bit was an even better decision I must add - never liked that).

Thanks Uday.My Honda dealer handed over my original HU nicely and tighly packed !!Happy that you too are not a fan of too much chrome.

venkateshs-Congrats on the ANHC. It is a fantastic machine and I'm sure you will love it. I bought a VMT white in April. Forget the price cuts - the car

is a pleasure to own and drive safe...

Thanks Venkatesh.

M00M-@Charthom: congrats on the car. It will do you good service for a number of years. just dont look at the price in fuel differentiation. . BTW im

considering the VMT City right now and was wondering about your Caska music system. Can you throw some light on it because in Mumbai the dealer dint inform

me when i asked about something of this sort.

@M00M,Thanks for the good wishes.It is great that you too are considering an ANHC.Regarding the Caska HU- ours is model no.IN3631G.It is City specific.I paid

55000/-with Mapmyindia and reverse cam.They are promoting Satguide as original equipment.So insist on Mapmyindia.Also remember to opt for Reverse cam,not

just a sensor.Mumbai nos:Matrix Corporation-9987554535/26603014.

bluevolt-Congratulations on your Honda City. You bought the best petrol C segment sedan. No other car in this segment can match the refinement and

reliability of Honda City.

I am in love with this beauty for the past 5000 KMS and today I got the best mileage of 18KMPL.

Wishing you many years of Happy Driving.

@bluevolt-Thank you! I know your red beauty too well!!Me too expect to get great mileage like you in due course.

Ram_NP-Congratulations on your new Purchase! Being an owner ANHC for a year now, I can safely say that your family will enjoy the ride.

Would request you post some details pictures of the head unit. Fit and finish of the HU replacement work looks very good.

@Ram_NP,thanks for making me feel so welcome.I will post the pictures very soon.Now my health is not at its best preventing me from venturing out
much.Apologies.

dot-Congratulations. Really enjoyed your review of the City. Wish you miles of back-pain-less drives. I can understand this since I have a weak back

myself and sold off a Santro many year back for the same issue.

@dot-My sincere thanks to your good wishes.Hoe your back is much better now.

Thats something interesting. New Verna has lots of bling, but on class, it is still not a match for the ANHC.

I can swear by it.You don't have to be an exprt-it is obvious.

I feel that Stanley leathers dont last very long. I have seen them cracking at pressure points. IMHO, the Honda OEM leather has better quality.

Nice and relieving to hear this.

What do they really do?

They are mats made from a material called Kagu,product of the company 3D.Frankly the first function of the Kagu mats is to add snob value-you know you have a

contemporary, break though design lying under your feet.Apart from this I have noticed it fits the floor like a glove,the colour matches with the car-so

looks like OE and helps to brighten up the cabin(beige colour).It is wipeable/washable-so maintainable and fully water-proof.The black colour too is good-but you may not be able to judge its cleanliness-the beige wil force a cleaning out of you-so more hygenic.

Again, based on my experience on the Civic, regular fuel should be good enough for the i-vtec.

This indeed is very good news.Thanks for sharing.

libranof1987-Congratulations on your City! That colour and the Exclusivity looks smashing!

Whoa! Is that a review or what?! You gave mdsaab quite some competition w.r.t. freebies!

Thanks mate!! I got only reasonable freebies!.No car cover,hanging bird,idols etc.Honda gave nothing except a box of tissues and the discounts!!Well, since the discount part

is always sweeter,i am quite happy.

2) Couldn't agree more about the features list. I would have loved some ACC and Cruise Control (wishful thinking!)

One automobile magazine remarked that in India cruise control will be as useless as a bicycle to a fish!!But ACC-even fish will be happier

3) No problem with GC but the suspension. Just master the art of not scraping.

I will.

6) FE : Wait for a while before you judge the poor thing! Most owners have reported good figures. I've got some 18+ km/l on the highway and 15 km/l in the

city. 100% a/c + AT could get it down just a l'il bit.

Sure.Once the monsoons are over and our pot holes are sufficiently filled,I hope to get about 13.5 City and 16 hoghway.Too optimistic?

7) Let's not get there. I've had a long mail chain with Honda regarding this. They "recommend" a checkup every 3months/5k kms and service every 6months/5k

kms.

Good news.Thanks for relieving the tension.

As dot asked, what do 3D mats do?

I have penned my reasonings to dot.Can you evaluate?

bluevolt:Hi charthom, I just read that now.

The rear AC ducts are present under the front seats directed towards rear seats. You have to select the mode control dial of the A/C at position other than

'only front' position. Refer to manual page number 114 for more details. Make sure the ducts are not covered by the rear floor mats.

And yes once again congrats for the all new City.

bluevolt,thanks for the helping hand.I will soon figure it out.Have not stepped into the beauty for a whole week now!Sick and down!!

Originally Posted by pamishra

Hi Charthom, I have one question regarding the Caska unit - Say you are in the GPS mode; can you simultanously listen to music too from CD/USB. Or does it only operate one feature at a time; either GPS or Music?

Similarly, if u are listening to music and you slot the reverse gear. I guess, the display will automatically switch to the reverse camera. But will the music keep playing?

Thanks..

@pmishra,jk007 has already correctly answered you.Still adding my bit.The music feature operates continuously except when you are receiving a call.during the call the music will be muted.You may adjust the volume during the call which will not affect the music volume when it resumes!

Only when the DVD is playing and if you have to see the GPS,you may have to terminate video temporarily.

Originally Posted by sydras

Congrats on your purchase.

I still debate on whether I should've gone for the Exclusive version. I liked the factory fitter leather design but I did not want the extra chrome bits that were on offer. In my opinion, they spoilt the look of the City. You're right about the badging. They could've provided an "AT" badge at the rear.


My only concern with my City AT nowadays is the mileage. Like you, I am getting 8.5-9 kmpl in the city (but I don't use an accurate system of measurement, I simply go with what the trip meter tells me) and it dropped to 7.5 kmpl recently after which I switched to synthetic engine oil in my 3rd free service and asked them to replace the air filter.

I have not quite liked my servicing experience so far at Whitefield Honda. While they seem to do an ok job, they seem to have done nothing in the first 3 free services other than cleaning the car (even that was not done properly in the last service). I have been asking them how to improve my FE and they don't seem interested in my suggestions like fuel injector cleaning, fuel filter replacement etc.

During my recent visit to the showroom during my 3rd service at Whitefield Honda, I noticed a City fitted with Yokohama C-drive tyres. They looked good though I'm not sure whether they offer a benefit in mileage and noise.

@sydras,thanks for the wishes.Now the Exclusive package is offered as a separate kit.So,the overflow of chrome is no more by default.You may choose the leather seats and the steering wrap only.The seats may be done after market-not the steering(which should have been standard on a premium car anyway).Hence I opted for this version.

Do you think it is advisable to go for K&N filters etc to enhance FE?My Sales exec claimed that they are using synthetic oil only.

The bad service is definitely a matter of concern.I have not been to the Service centre yet-am hoping for the best.

Tyre upgrade may bring down mileage further.Do only if absolutely necessary.Michelin XM1+ are good too-but are they really contemporary now?

Originally Posted by RemingtonSteele

Congrats Dude!!!
As rightly said by GTO, you can't go wrong with the best Petrol sedan in 'C' segment.
Good review.
Good choice of colour.
Great HU.
Nice looking 3D mats (as others said, I am also eager to know more about them). But one question here: The beige colours mats in coastal monsoon - wouldn't Black mats be better choice??
Wish you many many Happy miles with the addictive i-VTEC gem.

Lastly, please upload more pics

@RemingtonSteele,thanks for all the kind words.You were among the people who advised me about a new car in my now non-existent first thread about a suitable car for my wife with bad back.Thanks for that too.

Regarding 3D mats-IMO beige is better as you can judge the cleanliness.Cleaning is not hard.Black may look so so even while dirty,leaving us at false peace of mind/lazy-hence could be unhygienic.Also beige blends with the cabin colour theme adding to the brightness and feeling of space.

More pics soon!!