[Drift King]

Thanks Asit for a brilliant and detailed review. Further strengthens my decision to go for a Honda City (though I am skewed towards an AT version since my Dad would be using the car).

Just adding my 2-bits -
Start the car without pressing the accelerator and keep it running for atleast 3-4 minutes every morning. I know this is a well known fact, but I cannot stress more on the importance of this, especially during the first 1000 kms. Dont ever drive away on a cold engine. It really really enhances the engine life.

Congrats again for your Silver Pegasus and wish you miles and miles of happy motoring.

[JishD]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Yes they haven't, but most of them have experienced it (as they have reported in my thread and on PMs). I think it's a problem inherent in this generation City only (older generation owners can clarify this). Hopefully Honda is working on this and will resolve it for the next-gen City, due in 2014.

I owned an NHC for 3 years and concur with the above finding - while upshifting was a breeze, sudden downshifting from 3 to (2 or 1) was quite hard - could be some sort of built in system also to prevent damage to the gearbox.

[asitkde]

Sorry, folks, I was away from the forum for a few days. Thanks for the kind words.

Originally Posted by Omtoatom

I think you'll notice that the brakes on the City will bite increasingly as the kilometers pile on. Initially though, they do tend to be a little spongy and soft, so factor that into your driving style.

Actually, the brakes are already starting to have a bit more bite.

Originally Posted by Drift King

Start the car without pressing the accelerator and keep it running for atleast 3-4 minutes every morning. I know this is a well known fact, but I cannot stress more on the importance of this, especially during the first 1000 kms. Dont ever drive away on a cold engine. It really really enhances the engine life.

I do warm up the car before driving away, but do not think it is 3 or 4 minutes. Isn't that too long? Pressing the accelerator while cranking is a no-no for cars with electronic fuel injection (i.e. for all modern cars).

Originally Posted by Drift King

Congrats again for your Silver Pegasus and wish you miles and miles of happy motoring.

Actually Pegasus is the Greek mythological horse with wings, and FM RavenAvi has named his silver City the Pegasus. Mine is silver as you can see, but has so far no names .

Originally Posted by JishD

I owned an NHC for 3 years and concur with the above finding - while upshifting was a breeze, sudden downshifting from 3 to (2 or 1) was quite hard - could be some sort of built in system also to prevent damage to the gearbox.

The gears have eased up quite a lot. Now all the gears can be slotted without much trouble barring the first gear while downshifting. But one really does not have to downshift to first, unless one has come to a dead stop.

BTW, the car is approaching 500 kms (I haven't driven it much) and a few days ago, I have filled up the tank with a bit more than 28 liters of petrol while the tripmeter showed just a bit above 360 kms. This shows that the FE was about 12.5 kmpl while the electronic display showed something like 13.5 kmpl. After this fill-up the display is now showing enhanced FE of 14.8 kmpl. This would probably translate into something above 13.5 to 14 kmpl in city traffic without AC (Kolkata is cold enough now).

Next Monday, the first free service is due. Would they change the oil?

[tacho9000]

Dada would you mind if you city is christened as Silver Surfer. I know it sounds odd but I think it might go well with the characteristics of your car. And please drive the car around and let us know more about the feedback. My friend has one and 2year old is running like butter. Regarding the brakes they need to run atleast another 200kms more before they bed in properly. Do give them a good workout and see then if it runs any better or not.

[Drift King]

+1 for Silver Surfer... great choice Tacho9000.

[asitkde]

Originally Posted by tacho9000

Dada would you mind if you city is christened as Silver Surfer. I know it sounds odd but I think it might go well with the characteristics of your car. And please drive the car around and let us know more about the feedback. My friend has one and 2year old is running like butter. Regarding the brakes they need to run atleast another 200kms more before they bed in properly. Do give them a good workout and see then if it runs any better or not.

Originally Posted by Drift King

+1 for Silver Surfer... great choice Tacho9000.

Okay, Silver Surfer it is then. Silver Surfer is actually a cartoon character who can cover interstellar distances at speeds higher than that of light (check out wiki). I hope there would be no copyright problem borrowing the name.

BTW, I was forgetting to mention that the Michelin Energy XM1 tires (stock ones on my car) are apparently not the current production tires. The current ones are XM2. Where is Honda sourcing the older tires from?

[tacho9000]

Originally Posted by asitkde

Okay, Silver Surfer it is then. Silver Surfer is actually a cartoon character who can cover interstellar distances at speeds higher than that of light (check out wiki). I hope there would be no copyright problem borrowing the name.

BTW, I was forgetting to mention that the Michelin Energy XM1 tires (stock ones on my car) are apparently not the current production tires. The current ones are XM2. Where is Honda sourcing the older tires from?

Nowhere is it written that it is copyrighted hence it can be used. Your city is also capable of covering interstellar distances on the highway at too good speeds to mention. Hence I thought about it. Just like I've christened my old faithful Maruti 800 the "Goldie". By the way honda I guess has kept quite a good stock of those Michelin XM1 tyres for future use is what I can guess for how they source the XM1 tyres. They're good enough nevertheless for most uses however it is only at high speed driving and cornering that you'll feel the need for a wider contact patch. Otherwise current size is good enough for moderate speed usage and in kolkata traffic you drive at too lazy a pace to ever require an upgrade. This is what I've felt about traffic after driving in this city for the last 7yrs. I hope I didn't bore you to sleep.

[asitkde]

Here is an update.

My City E-MT went through the 1st free service on 28 Jan 2013. The ODO read at that point a bit under 500 km (didn't find time to drive it around other than basically office commuting).

The only special thing I mentioned to the service guy was that I was not very happy with the brakes and it lacked bite although it gradually improved from the very initial stage. The guy drove my car around the building (within their premises) to test the brakes and commented that the brakes were fine. I maintained that I was not completely happy with the brakes and they should check it, so they finally took it down as a complaint on their paper.

After a couple of hours I left my car there, I got a call from the customer relations manager of the dealership that they could install the rear speakers on the same day along with the accessories I ordered (art leather car cover and Autocop cobra remote lock). I gave my green signal and they asked me to come around 6 PM to pick up my car.

When I arrived there in the evening, the car was not ready. The seat cover just got installed and the rear speakers were about to be installed. I was a little disappointed to see the brand to be Nippon, I am not sure they make Honda OEM or the dealership just got these from the local market.

The other disappointing thing was that I was informed that the Autocop could not be installed because the Autocop boy could not come due to some company training and it would be installed at my home whenever I preferred.
But they asked me to pay for the whole stuff, and I paid. However there was no charge for the 1st service.

The service guy who was there in the morning was not there in the evening, so I could not talk to him regarding what was done on my car. But they did not change the oil and told me they would do so at the 2nd service two more months down the line.

Now, here is my impression of the car after the first service:

They must have done something to the brakes, because the brakes have become much better now, although still a bit off from my ideal expectation. Another thing I immediately noticed, the steering became a bit heavier, something I like (although I do not remember having told the dealership anything about the too-much-lightness of the steering). I am also not sure if they can really adjust the feel of the steering. But I am sure, the steering becoming a bit heavier is not my imagination - it is really something that has happened after the first service. Whether this will persist being so in time - I do not know, I hope it does.

I like the seat cover - will post pictures whenever I find some time to shoot a few. The rear speakers - I have no idea so far. All I know they are playing - but I have to sit in the back seats to evaluate them. I'll do it after these speaker diaphragms break in reasonably well.

The Autocop guy may come to my home tomorrow morning.

[Ram_NP]

Althoug bit late, congratulations on your new car.

City may not have all latest bells and whistle (like Verna), but it puts smile on your face when you drive.

Originally Posted by asitkde

But they did not change the oil and told me they would do so at the 2nd service two more months down the line.

The oil will be changed in second service. First service is only visual check and they attend to your complains.

These days, Pinnacle Honda is getting very crowded and they are not able to maintain the delivery time. During my last service also, I had to wait for one hour as the washing was delayed.

Wishing you Happy Miles ahead.

[MetalBuff]

Hello Asit,

Apologies for dropping in late however, many congratulations to you on getting what some may call this the "king of the C segment" and which it rightfully is

A very well written and detailed write up. Read that you'd be upgrading to better sized 195 tires once these Michelins run out however, does the same apply to getting new alloys? The OEM ones(as on the V variant) would look dapper IMHO.

-Shivang Gandotra

[keeprevving]

Originally Posted by asitkde

The other disappointing thing was that I was informed that the Autocop could not be installed because the Autocop boy could not come due to some company training and it would be installed at my home whenever I preferred.
But they asked me to pay for the whole stuff, and I paid. However there was no charge for the 1st service. The Autocop guy may come to my home tomorrow morning.

I wanted to know which Autocop model did you choose. Did the installation involve any splicing of wires? How is Autocop performing? I will be installing a remote locking for my Honda City 2012 EMT soon.

[asitkde]

Originally Posted by keeprevving

I wanted to know which Autocop model did you choose. Did the installation involve any splicing of wires? How is Autocop performing? I will be installing a remote locking for my Honda City 2012 EMT soon.

Do not remember the exact model of the Autocop, but it cost 5K at that time. But the dealership said, this was the right and recommended model for the car. BTW, the Autocop finally got installed at the dealership, and and not at my home, by a person from Autocop.

No cutting of wires was necessary for the installation. To be safe, you should insist on that.

The Autocop has worked well so far. Only recently I found out that I could lock or unlock the car (from outside) only with the Autocop. I am a bit worried that I do not seem to have the option of locking/unlocking the car using just the Honda keys. I have spoken to Autocop regarding this, They have promised to look into the matter whenever I fix up a time. However, so far I have not fixed up an appointment, but planning to do so in the near future.

I am sorry not to have updated this thread. The car would be 3 years old in a little over a couple of months time, and I have enjoyed driving it. Touch wood, I have not faced any problems with the car, nor are there any rattles developed in the car. The car looks, feels and drives very much like a new car. After 10k km on the odo, the smoothness went up a notch I thought. Only complaint I have is that, I get a lowish economy of around 10 km/l with A/C on 100%, but then my everyday drive is through very very heavy traffic and I am usually heavy-footed and like to rev even in tight conditions. So I cannot really complain.

[keeprevving]

I got mine in Nov-2012. Same color, and coincidentally I too have christened her 'Silver Surfer'. I have another Diesel (Indica-2001-V2-DLS) at my disposal. It takes care of my daily runabouts to office. Till date I have done just 13,000kms. The car still drives like new and loves to be revved.

Fuel efficiency is always around 12kpl-13kpl in City conditions with AC. Highway mileage depends on my driving styles. I have managed to achieve 22kpl on light foot, but thats just too boring. To achieve such high mileage you need to keep it at 60-70kph all the time. 90-100-110kph gives me a mileage of 14kpl. All observations are done through tankfull-to-tankfull method.

[keeprevving]

Originally Posted by asitkde

Do not remember the exact model of the Autocop, but it cost 5K at that time.

Hello asitkde. How is your car doing? Mine is just running like new. Got few minor scratches on the bumper, but nothing big. Can you share some images (remote/warranty card/ owners manual) of the Autocop installed in your Honda City.

[asitkde]

Hi keeprevving, happy to know that your car is running as good as new. I now remember the model of Autocop that was installed in my car. It was called "Cobra". Actually the information is contained in one of my earlier posts in this very thread.

However, there is a recent development. I was observing a few problems with the Autocop recently: 1) one of the two remotes was not working, 2) doors could not be locked or unlocged from outside with the Honda keys alone (that means I had to use the Autocop remote for these purposes). Hence I took the car to the Autocop service centre in Kolkata. It was within their 3 year warranty period, only a few days to go. They were very much willing to repair the problems respecting the warranty. However, they offered me another option. Since Autocop Cobra is discontinued, they offered an upgrade for Rs 2700, worth another 3 years of warranty. The upgrade actually meant an additional installation which took nearly a couple hours and included a few more features like automatic door locking 5 seconds or so after ignition, automatic unlocking when ignition was put off, etc.

I accepted their offer. Since then the car can be locked and unlocked independent of the Autocop remote. It's working fine. I now got two new remotes.