[iashishi]

The story began 6 years ago when I got my first car, maruti alto. It was freedom. I suddenly had the ability to go out on weekends to lots of places near Bangalore. At that time, I was the only one with a car among my friends and as a owner of the car, I got to drive the most during these trips.

However, over the pas 6 years, my friends first acquired driving license and then better cars( Hyundai accent, i20s, maruti swift and even a Ford Fiesta S). With these new cars, alto highway journeys began to dwindle and with it, my share of the driving too...

Initial selection process:

Alto was perfect in every sense except for the lack of power. So, when I began looking for a new car, I wanted a car with enough power. So, all the regular 1.2 litre cars went out of contention. What remained in the race was Polo 1.6 and punto 1.4 petrol( just in case polo disappoints). I looked up the price of polo 1.6 in autocar India( it was 7.5 lakhs) and made up my mind that my budget is 7.5Lakhs

Went to downtown VW and booked a test drive. The first shocker was that price in bangalore was actually 8 lakhs and not 7.5 mentioned in autocar India. However, they were offering accesories worth around 40K. During the test drive I found that the clutch pedal was too high and no matter how I adjusted the seat, either my knee was touching the steering wheel or the angle between my foot and clutch was too acute. By the end of my drive my foot was in real pain. My friend Vasanth also experienced pain while driving it. The ride was impressive and power was also good. The rear seats were disappointing. I thought my alto had comparable space in the rear! Overall I was thinking, ooops! I can't buy this car, I dont like punto either. Swift was too common. What do I do?

Then came the good news that Honda was reducing the price of Jazz by 1.5 lakhs. I went and checked at Dakshin Honda in Lavelle road and what luck! The top end model was 7.46lakhs on road. I took a quick test drive( Dakshin fellows were really bad. My test track would have involved a maximum of 0.5kms). On top of that the sales guy was trying to sell me particular color of jazz. He said alabaster silver and black are not available! Team-bhp helped me figure out that the sales guy was lying. Immediately went to Magnum honda in kanakpura road, asked for jazz, did another quick test drive and booked it for 50K!

Now, you must be wondering why the thread is called ANHC thread? Any guesses?

The sales guy had promised delivery in 2 months and since not many people had booked Jazz X, he said I will surely get within 2 months. In the mean time, I was busy collecting money for the down payment and some of that money involved selling my dear alto. So, I sold it in october 2011 and then waited...and waited...and finally got frustrated.

The sales person was really unable to tell me when I would get my car. He said "maybe december". This really got me angry and told him that I wanted to cancel my booking. At this point it was all bravado as I had no interest in any other car at this point of time.
After sometime, the sales guy called me and said if I want a car immediately, I could get a honda city for 8.65Lakhs on road.

Final Selection process

I called up one of my friends and went to check out the competition. We went o ford on St.Marks road and found a Fiesta Sxi for 8.3 lakhs. I thought, man, this is an awesome time to buy a petrol car! Then realised that it was a single piece( probably test drive vehicle or display vehicle). When we enquired for regular fiesta classic, the on-road was 9 lakhs( I wanted airbags and ABS and hence did not consider lower variants). Didn't bother TDing it.

Then we went to Mitsubishi showroom hoping that they would be desperate enough to sell a cedia at a discount. No such luck. It is still 11.5 lakhs on-road. We sat in the car, marvelled at its Momo steering and aluminium pedals. Its boot was also humungous. Was thoroghly impressed and left the showroom thinking "I will make one of my friends buy it" as it was waaay out of my budget

Earlier in the day,my friend had visited a tata-fiat showroom to enquire about Linea T-Jet for me. The response was "The fiat guys haven't come in today. You leave your number in this form and we will get back to you". Obviously I never got a call from them.

I finally went back to the Magnum honda and found the offer to be 8.65 lakh for E MT with free music system, rear parking sensors or 9.2 lakhs for S MT. Took a longish test drive and was impressed with its power. I was in love with Jazz and always thought compared to Jazz all other cars are "just another car". Jazz was special.

Since waiting till december was not an option, I decided to book honda city. Only dilemma was which version. E MT was tempting as it was "only" 1.1 lakhs over my initial budget. I could easily justify it saying "if polo is worth 8 lakhs, then city is worth waaay more than that, so its a bargain". Then I checked what the difference between E and S were. For 60K, I was getting a built-in music system and hence steering mounted audio controls, driver seat height adjustment, central arm rest and remote locking. Rest of the changes were not very important to me and infact, I felt the EMT looked better in white because of black colored mirrors and door handles.

After some thinking I felt 60K was worth the extra and booked S MT. I dared not check what V MT had or I might have upgraded to that version!!

Delivery process:

Uneventful is the best way to describe it. Was delivered on the day it was promised. Didn't bother checking in VIN number and stuff like that. My logic is "if you believe a vehicle lying idle for a long time will have problems, then you don't have enough trust in the quality of the product". I believe the manufacturers when they say there will be no problem.

Initial impressions:

Compared to my alto, this vehicle has a lot of electronics. I some times feel I am driving an automatic- just select a gear of your choice(2nd,3rd, or 4th) and drive all day in it. The electronics do a good job of preventing a stall at low speeds.The power in this car is excellent and low end torque is also much better than jazz or even my brother's civic.

We went to Mangalore and back last week. Maintained the "less than 3K rpm" for the first 500 odd kms. The car really sip and enjoy its drink like a good wine. It gave me a very respectable 16km/l with AC on. Remember the road to Mangalore involves 40Kms of off-roading in the Ghats. I am sure a drive on a 4-lane road can easily give me 20km/l if AC is off.

On the way back to bangalore, I decided to really drive normally. Though the actual reason is "I couldn't control myself", I would like say that the manual said "do not brake or accelerate suddenly for first 300kms" in the running-in section. My logic is that manufacturer knows best!

Finally, after this drive, I have completed 1000kms and am going to give the car for first service tomorrow, exactly 1 week after I took delivery.
In this one week, the car has slowly working its way into my heart. Its now MY car, I know which humps can be taken without an issue and which ones are going to hurt my car.

Oh, by the way , I have already scraped my car quite a few times, in the off-roading section of bangalore-mangalore highway.


What I liked about the car:
1) Engine - Very refined and powerful, yet fuel efficient when driven properly
2) Space - Has lots of space for front and rear passengers
3) Boot - I can get away with murdering two people now. I can easily stuff them both in the boot and dispose off the bodies
4) Good alrounder - There is no one area which I can call is bad. The next section is just nitpicking...

What I didn't like:
1) Glove compartment space - Not enough space. One manual, two bulbs and a first aid kit comes with the car. With these stuff I couldn't fit anythig useful in there
2) Tank capacity - 42 litres is too less. I was able to fill only 28-30 litres when distance to empty was showing 50Kms.
3) Display - Shows only one of the following at a time - avg fuel consumption, DTE, Odo and trip. I would love to be able to see Avg and Odo at the same time. I find myself fiddling with the button while driving which could be dangerous.
4) Headlights - Were terrible. Couldn't see a thing on the highway. Need to upgrade soon.
5) Scraping - Need to be watchful of some big humps.

I scraped the carq uite severely when a bus muscled us off the road. This was the result of low ground clearance plus terrible headlights.

I have first free service scheduled tomorrow and will get the bottom checked. Hopefully, everything will be alright.

[Racer_X]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : As per the recent Mass PM, Team-BHP no longer permits the use of (hard to understand) acronyms for newly launched cars. Please refer to each car by its full name only. This will make our content useful to experts & newbies alike.

[Eddy]

Note from Support: We do not allow car acronyms any more. Please use the complete name of the car in the title and the posts. ANHC = Honda City. Thanks.

[iashishi]

Here are some photos-

I bet no one has taken a photo from this angle

Love the nose of the car



Had asked the sales person to put the darkest legal sun-film and I think it looks great


I got the sun films, rear parking sensors and teflon free from the dealer. After I read that teflon is actually bad, I asked them not to do it. I got a MapMyIndia GPS system for 7K( initially promised for 5K).

[libranof1987]

Congratulations on the City! I was just wondering why City ownership threads have dried up and yours has just come up!

There's not one colour the current City looks not-so-good in!

Underbelly scraping is a predominant feature with most Hondas; unfortunately, you have to live with it. Headlights are adequate, not exceptional.

Why don't you keep the spare bulbs in the trunk and the manual and safety kit in the co-passenger seat pocket; that's what I've done and freed up space in the glove-box. Of course, the City has umpteen chubby holes so storage is not a problem.

Have a great ownership period!

PS : I don't think that sun film is legal.
PPS : In case you haven't gone for the 1st service yet, it is just visual checkup and car wash.

[volkman10]

Congratulations on the City!

White with those dark shades is sure a stunner!

Drive safe and wishing you many happy miles ahead.

Cheers!

[raghu230506]

Congratulations for the City, white looks stunner.

Underbelly scarping is something can't be avoided, I moved to Hyd temporarily and boy what a relief (in compared to the humps we have in Bangalore) I don't think twice before I load my car with people and luggage anymore. Wish Bangalore can get rid of all those unrealistic humps.

Headlights are adequate actually for city driving, but a must change if you are frequent on highways. I got it upgraded from Whitefield Honda, same spec as OE but from Phillips.

Glove space, what libran mentioned is I do even and this gives additional space.

Any plans of alloys?

Drive safe and enjoy with IVTEC.

Keep posting your views regularly.

[bluevolt]

Congratulations for your all new Honda City.

You should follow angle approach to avoid speed breakers to maximum extent.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...g-belly-4.html

Wishing you happy and safe driving!

[iashishi]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Why don't you keep the spare bulbs in the trunk and the manual and safety kit in the co-passenger seat pocket; that's what I've done and freed up space in the glove-box. Of course, the City has umpteen chubby holes so storage is not a problem.

Have a great ownership period!

PS : I don't think that sun film is legal.
PPS : In case you haven't gone for the 1st service yet, it is just visual checkup and car wash.

Thanks for the idea. Will try it out. I felt the other cubby holes are not big enough.So would definetly like an empty glove box.

Originally Posted by raghu230506

Any plans of alloys?

Not immediately. But plan to put black/grey alloys. Also want to add leather or fake leather seat covers.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Congratulations for your all new Honda City.

You should follow angle approach to avoid speed breakers to maximum extent.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...g-belly-4.html

Wishing you happy and safe driving!

Yup. Had read through this thread before going on the mangalore trip. I guess I need more practice

First Service Done - 1050Kms

Booking a service was quite tough. The phone @ Magnum honda was always busy. Finally, on the second day of trying, got through to them and booked an appointment. Didn't opt for pick-up and drop as they said they would charge 350Rs.
I was experiencing problems while downshifting from 4th to 3rd and from 3rd to 2nd gear sometimes. Informed the service advisor. Informed him of the headlights and he refused to change the bulbs.
Also asked him to check the underbody as I had hit the bottom quite hard once and mildly many times.

Service was done in about 3 hours. The advisor said there are only minor scratches on the underbody. Nothing to worry.
He also said he got the clutch bleeding done and that should solve the gear change issue. Total bill was 0.

On the way back home, I did notice that the gear shifts were smoother. Will check this for few more days and let you know the result.

[Utopian]

Congrats for the City. The blackened pillars looks quite good.
Alloys would really spurce up your ride further & best of luck with the infamous Bangaluruan speed breakers.

[MAS]

Congrats on your new drive.

Honda City looks elegant in White. The car begs for a good set of alloy wheels. How do you find the headlights at night on Highways? Would suggest you to upgrade to 100/90 bulbs with a relay.

[SedatedDrive]

A good set of black or dark gray alloys will add to the stunning looks of your car! Congratulations and wish you many many miles of safe driving.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by iashishi

I was experiencing problems while downshifting from 4th to 3rd and from 3rd to 2nd gear sometimes. Informed the service advisor. Informed him of the headlights and he refused to change the bulbs.

1) Clutch bleed on a new car? That isn't exactly normal.
2) Yep, Honda A.S.S. won't change the bulb; you'll have to do it outside. RemingtonSteele and Charthom have done bulb upgrades; do check their ownership threads for details.

Originally Posted by Utopian

The blackened pillars looks quite good.

Blackend pillar? Where? Am I missing something?

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Blackend pillar? Where? Am I missing something?

May be he is referring to the black door boundary.

[bharatbs]

Originally Posted by iashishi

First Service Done - 1050Kms

I was experiencing problems while downshifting from 4th to 3rd and from 3rd to 2nd gear sometimes.

Informed the service advisor. Informed him of the headlights and he refused to change the bulbs.

How much was your total first service bill? Mine is due next week.

I was also experiencing shifting problems while shifting to 2nd or 1st, sometimes you had to push it hard to get into that slot. After 750kms it is not that much noticeable.

The headlights are not adequate, I always use the foglamps so they light up the peripheral areas. I plan to upgrade soon.

what is the mileage you are getting in the city. As per the display I am getting 12-12.5 in the city and 17.5-18 (speed of 90kph) on the highway with 50% A/C.