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-   -   2012 Honda City Corporate Ed: 20000 kms, 5th service update (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/130309-2012-honda-city-corporate-ed-20000-kms-5th-service-update.html)

Since Honda City has been discussed ad infinitum on Team-BHP, I will keep this review short and to the point.

LIKES:

• Comfort and silence.
• Simple, robust, no-nonsense, point-A-to-B sedan.
• Mileage as well as power both are served - depends on what the driver orders.
• Meaty steering wheel.
• Almost no cost cutting. Even if its there, it has been done very intelligently - you will not feel it.
• Excellent After Sales Service.
• No rattles even after 7 months and taking some very rough patches quite frequently.
• GROUND CLEARANCE (Yes that's a like - its no more an issue in the facelift. Please read more for my experience).
• Last but not the least, the i-VTEC.

DISLIKES:

• Feather light build. No solid tank like feel as in Vento et al.

THE NEED:
After my Verna CRDi fiasco (for detailed ownership report, please see:http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...-now-sold.html ), I wanted a no-nonsense, reliable, point-A-to-B car with reasonably good after sales. The discomfort that I had experienced while driving diesels kept my head strongly in favour of petrol but the cost savings and the turbo whoosh kept my heart firmly in diesel territory.

THE CONTENDERS:
Checked out almost all hatches and sedans in 5L to 10L area ranging (including Linea T-Jet+: lovely car save for FIAT). Narrowed down my choices to Honda City Corporate Edition in petrol and Ford Classic base model in diesel. Lack of safety features in base model of Classic coupled with my tilt towards a higher quality petrol sedan sealed it in favour of Honda City. Finally the mind won. Another reason was that Honda City at that time was the only car that offered full set of safety features (and other convenience features) without having to opt for top end variant (and getting a lot of unnecessary features).

BOOKING EXPERIENCE AND DELIVERY:
The thing that I liked about Abhikaran Honda, Indore is their honesty and straightforwardness, in everything. Complete transparency was maintained at all levels, no hidden charges, nothing. They explained in detail about every penny that I as a customer was spending.

Delivery experience was extremely good. All things were carried out in a neat, very orderly and professional manner. They even sang a poem (which was honestly quite embarrassing for me).

ON-ROAD PRICE
Rs 8.23 Lakhs. No Discounts

ENGINE TYPE & VARIANT
1.5 i-VTEC Petrol Corporate Edition

THE GOOD AND BAD ABOUT ITS EQUIPMENT LEVELS
GOOD:

• No compromise on availability of safety features even in the base variant.
• All basic features that add to the convenience of operating a car are present in base version itself. For e.g. All door power windows with one touch up/down on driver side, black/silver interiors (easy to clean), Manual central locking, complete MID (same as in upper variants) etc.

BAD:

• Non availability of driver seat height adjust.

This is the only feature that I miss in this car. Actually I am a big fan of devices with simple features that focus on doing the main job well. I think that Honda City Corporate Edition is one such device.

How many KMs you have completed at the time of writing your review
7 Months and 5500 KMs.

USAGE PATTERN
ON WEEKDAYS - 50 KMS Daily for 5 days a week. In morning while going to office there is almost no traffic. While returning I take the Ring Road where there is some traffic but fast moving type.
On WEEKENDS - 5 to 7 KMS (max) in moderate to heavy, slow moving traffic.
Total of about 1000 Kms in a month.

Comments on the exterior styling & design
Honda City in its current design was launched about 5 to 6 years back. However, to me it still feels fresh. Though I must say that the design may not be timeless like Vento's.

Overall build quality and fit & finish
Build quality and over all fit and finish are excellent. There are no rattles even though I have been to some really bad roads (and no roads also) quite frequently.

Interior design & quality
Interior design is quite simple, elegant but high quality. It will not feel cheap at all.

Interior space and comfort
5 stars

Air conditioner, seat support, ergonomics and other noteworthy interior points
Air conditioner is very powerful. Even in very hot conditions it chills the cabin very quickly.
Even without height adjustment, seat support is very good. I do not feel tired even after long drives whether in heavy congested traffic or highways.

Engine performance & driveability in the city
I have driven the earlier pre-facelifted ANHC and I feel that their is a noteworthy improvement in low end torque output of this engine. I have actually switched over from a diesel sedan to a petrol car. I have never felt the lack of torque for stop and go kind of driving situations.

Engine performance & driveability on the highway
The engine, as we all know, loves to be revved-up. I will say only one line: just press the accelerator and feel the I-VTEC KICKING in.

Additional comments on the engine (outright power, refinement, turbo-lag etc.)
Engine is superbly refined. Many times I forget whether the engine is on or off and mistakingly try to switch on the car when its already on

stupid:

Overall opinion on the engine
A gem of a engine, with very good low end torque, strong mid-range and top end. Great economy as well as power figures are delivered by this unit depending on one's mode of driving. Honda has really perfected this engine in due course of time.

Gearshift / transmission quality, smoothness, response time etc.
Gearshift is a bit notchy while shifting from 1st to 2nd. Otherwise its fine. Overall I feel that there should have been a 6th cog also because plenty of power seems to be available even at 5th gear.

Fuel efficiency : City and Highway
I am getting a consistent 16 to 16.5 KMPL (By tankful method. MID shows 16.8 to 17.1).

Suspension & ride quality
In order to raise the GC, suspension has been made quite stiff. Smaller potholes and unevenness are flattened out but even a moderate undulation or pothole is felt and its jerk is transmitted into the cabin.

Handling, on-road behavior and grip levels
Handling is OK. Its not exactly boat like (like in my earlier car, Hyundai Verna) but its not like rails (as in FIAT Linea or Ford Fiesta).

Comments on the steering, braking, high speed stability etc.
Steering is electric and weighs up nicely with speeds and doesn't feel much disconnected with wheels (as in Hyundai Verna or Mahindra Scorpio). Braking is top-notch. Car never let goes of its line.

Review on overall practicality (luggage room, ease of ingress/egress, cubby holes etc.)
Luggage area is wide and easy to access. Grandmother says ease of ingress and egress is less w.r.t. my earlier car Verna. Cubby holes are present in all places of convenience, sufficient number of cubby holes are there.


Any niggles, problems or part replacements faced
Please see the SECOND SERVICE section.

Quality of after-sales service (if experienced)
After Sales service has been reasonably good. One thing that I like in particular is that till now they have never tried to shovel down needless servicing and maintenance on me (like Hyundai used to do). In fact while discussing the work to be carried out, they try to minimize replacement of parts and spares, offering alternatives wherever possible.

Cost of upkeep & maintenance
Please see the SERVICES section


A NOTE ON GROUND CLEARANCE
Softer Suspension and less GC have always been the Achilles heel of Honda City. Not Any More. The updated suspension is quite stiff and doesn't sag much even on full load. Some time back, my would-be FIL invited me to the site of his upcoming factory. I went there along with 4 good build persons. On reaching there, I found that roads were completely devastated (as the region is an industrial zone). Due to no other available option I had to proceed through. I drove very carefully and the car NEVER scraped throughout the entire journey - in and out. After this incidence, I am quite confident about the GC and taking rough patches and speed-breakers on roads.


Some pics during delivery:




















FIRST SERVICE: 1 month
It was a routine check-up and wash. One thing that I liked about the service center was the level of neatness maintained. Also the owner's lounge was separate from the drivers lounge. Some pics are as follows:

Awaiting Wash:


Notice neatness of the service centre:


An i-VTEC undergoing clutch overhaul:




Owner's lounge:




Undergoing wash:


Cost: Free


SECOND SERVICE: 3 months
An AC vent handle had broken away. Initially they were unwilling to replace the AC vent under warranty giving silly reasons that it is a part of upholstery and is not covered under warranty (Also, it is presently not in stock and can be ordered for Rs. 849 ). I opened the warranty booklet and told them to show me where it is mentioned that vent is not covered. The person working in the warranty department then examined the broken vent handle and in this process he pulled the other vent handle too hard, thus breaking the other vent also. Now he was very scared and told the technicians to immediately replace both vents with those from V MT model (top-of-the-line chrome plated) which they had in stock. Apart from the initial glitch in the process, I am satisfied but for small centre console rattle that has now developed which I will get tightened soon.

Cost: Free

THIRD SERVICE: 6 months
Engine oil was changed along with regular checkup and wash. No issues to report.

Cost: Rs. 1454/- (including taxes)

SOME PICS OF THE CAR AT MY WORKPLACE:
Pics of some areas that are open for general public:

A good sane buy for a peace of mind experience. Enjoy the car.


Cheers!

Without doubt Honda City is an excellent, no non-sense choice. Congratulations.

Niggling issues is the copy right of Tatas & Mahindras.

I am surprised to see Honda City developing rattles so early.
Hope these are exceptions & are resolved to your satisfaction.

Wish you many happy miles.

After your ordeal with Verna, you'd gladly surprised with the City. From "H" to
"H" you would see the difference (no offense meant to owners). This is a no-nonsense car which will simply go on and on.

Excellent decision to go with the CE variant. You can customize it the way you want to. Good luck and drive safe.

Congratulations on the new ride, CE is a best choice

City gives peace of mind for sure,

Is you rattle problem solved, surprise to hear that?

Drive safe and have fun with IVTEC.

Yes the rattling problem has been resolved completely. Rattling noise was actually coming from the front passenger seat. I got that tightened in the third service. Also I got the whole body torqued.

Congratulations on the car Sarthak... Welcome to the Honda Club... As yours was the CE version, keen to know the ICE setup that you have done in the car with details. Congrats once again.

Congratulation on the buy! Wish you many happy miles on the i-VTec and a trouble free ownership too. Your workplace is truly fantastic. You are a lucky guy to be working at such a scenic location.
Cheers!

Actually, till now I have not gone for any ICE setup. I generally do not prefer to listen to music in car (like to listen to the low, throaty growl of i-VTEC instead). However, my would-be is already pestering me for a music system, so in near future, I will be going for an ICE setup. Will take inputs from Team-BHP at that time.

Congratulations on the car.
Love the location and roads to your workplace !
Sorry if I missed it, but did you go for seat covers on the car? I found the blue black fabric on the corporate model to be very good quality, but maybe difficult to keep clean.
Another question, the driver's side door armrest is black fabric too, right? Any trouble keeping that clean?

Thanks Pyrodrive. Yes I have installed full black fabric type seat covers on the car.

The driver's side door armrest is blue-black fabric. Its type of tough, ribbed variety and can be easily cleaned with simple brushing.

A little late in the day Sarthak but congratulations on your Honda City. Wishing you thousands of happy and safe miles on your car !!

And yes that is a nice place where you work. :)

10,000 KMs, 1 year, 4th service update

Car completed one year on 30th of August 2013, along with hitting the 10K mark. Got the car serviced with Oil Change. Service breakup is as follows:

Oil Change: Rs 3600/- (Fully Synthetic)
Oil Filter : Rs 190 /-
Labour : Rs 500 /-

Total service cost (alomg with taxes): Rs 4300/-

Honda service costs are really low compared to Hyundai (my previous car was Verna).

My service centre says the new Honda oil change interval for City is as follows:

Synthetic Oil:
10,000 KMs or 1 Year whichever comes first.

Mineral Oil:
5000 KMs or 6 months whichever comes first.


No issues whatsoever in the car. Engine has opened up very nicely. Mileage that I get is about 16 - 17 kmpl with synthetic oil and 14 - 15 max with mineral oil. (I was on mineral oil for last 6 months. Now shifted back to fully synthetic)

Service centre experience is excellent. They offer proactive support and help in all matters. Its a huge departure from my Hyundai experience where I used to wait for half an hour just to get hold of a SA.

If I were to describe my ownership experience in one word it is pure bliss.

Sarthak, in city manual it says oil change for every 5k km and no where it's mentioned 5k km for mineral and 10k km for synthetic, so are you sure the associate from Honda has sufficient knowledge for this recommendation?

And based on your answer above I might as well go for synthetic, which one you used?