[Seran Manian]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Thanks.

Thanks for the effort to share each and every bit of information you came across. What an effort. Forums like this stay afloat only because of few enthusiasts like you. Hats off. Keep posting.

[neel911]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

The finished product - Front.

Thanks Avi for all the detailed pictures. I feel sad about Honda cutting costs and using old foam materials and that too stained.

Luckily, I was there when I got my Art Leather Seat Covers installed and foam pads were all looking brand new. I didn't get a chance to check the date though. Even the panel gaps look all fine on my car.

Can you share some detailed pictures of the front arm rest and how it was installed?

[vvrchandra]

Just a thought. Why can't the date format be read as YY MM DD. To confirm, need to check few other vehicles.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by Seran Manian

Thanks for the effort to share each and every bit of information you came across. What an effort. Forums like this stay afloat only because of few enthusiasts like you. Hats off. Keep posting.

Thank you for the kind words, Seran Manian.

I try to be as observant and impartial as possible, so as to give a balanced view of all things, which in turn might help others in their decision-making processes.

Originally Posted by neel911

Thanks Avi for all the detailed pictures. I feel sad about Honda cutting costs and using old foam materials and that too stained.

Luckily, I was there when I got my Art Leather Seat Covers installed and foam pads were all looking brand new. I didn't get a chance to check the date though. Even the panel gaps look all fine on my car.

Can you share some detailed pictures of the front arm rest and how it was installed?

The foam pads inside Empress's seats are looking shining new as well. The date tags are the only evidence that they are 3 years old!

For the front armrest, they gently unlocked the clips in the rear and central portions. The front portion clips were either too tight or they were fixed with the two small clips which protrude below the front part, so they were apprehensive to open the front part. They then folded the armrest cover as tightly as they could from all sides at the behind and in the center portions, and inserted the front part slowly and gently by prying them into the slight gaps, using a variety of tools.

Result? You can see. It's like an OEM fit.

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Just a thought. Why can't the date format be read as YY MM DD. To confirm, need to check few other vehicles.

Maybe international models come in that format. For Indian cars, the dates are set to DMY format by default.



Another Revelation:


With 3 bars still showing in the FE meter and indicating a DTE range of 113 kms, I went to fill up the tank earlier today.

Guess what? The tank filled up completely (tanked up) at 34 liters!!

So, whoever wrote in the 2014 City manual that the reserve tank of the City is around 6 liters, needs to get their facts right. I am now absolutely sure that the reserve is not more than 3 liters (maximum). Either that, or the tank MID and the petrol pump meters are both defective, which is highly unlikely, specially in the latter case.

Even if we have a defective MID in the car, it's best to go with the assumption that the City carries a maximum of 3 liters in reserve, just after the Low Fuel Warning light comes up in the instrumentation.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Another Revelation:
With 3 bars still showing in the FE meter and indicating a DTE range of 113 kms, I went to fill up the tank earlier today.

Guess what? The tank filled up completely (tanked up) at 34 liters!!

Interesting and extremely useful information. I have been re-fuelling once the Tank goes below half. Do not want to take the risk with new car by running anymore than that

But based on some other posts as well as your observation it looks like the reserve is <= 3 Liters Max. The Tank size or the Reserve size is not really the concern since the FE on the Diesel City is great but wrong information in manual is definitely scary. So I guess it does not make sense at all to wait for reserve but just tank up with 1 or 2 bars left. Also for Petrol City owners they may need to tank up with 4-5 bars left in that case as a safety measure.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Interesting and extremely useful information. I have been re-fuelling once the Tank goes below half. Do not want to take the risk with new car by running anymore than that

But based on some other posts as well as your observation it looks like the reserve is <= 3 Liters Max. The Tank size or the Reserve size is not really the concern since the FE on the Diesel City is great but wrong information in manual is definitely scary. So I guess it does not make sense at all to wait for reserve but just tank up with 1 or 2 bars left. Also for Petrol City owners they may need to tank up with 4-5 bars left in that case as a safety measure.

I will suggest one of you should write to Honda and seek a clarification. I find it very hard to believe that they had given an incorrect detail for such a vital information in the manual. As an owner you and others should know the truth.

[RavenAvi]

A question for all City i-DTEC owners - do you see an increase in engine warm-up time at start-up after your car stands in the garage for a day or more?

Yesterday I had gone for election duty (counting of votes) and returned late, so Empress stood in the garage all day without having to do her daily duty. Today morning when I started her up and let her idle for her usual time, I noticed that the "Cold" engine icon went off after almost 5 full minutes!!

Normally she's warmed up after 1 minute, or 1 minute 30 seconds at the most. This is for all the morning crank-ups every single day.

Is this normal or is something wrong with my i-DTEC? I seriously and sincerely hope this isn't something I should be worried about.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Today morning when I started her up and let her idle for her usual time, I noticed that the "Cold" engine icon went off after almost 5 full minutes!!

Normally she's warmed up after 1 minute, or 1 minute 30 seconds at the most. This is for all the morning crank-ups every single day.

I am a non-iDTEC owner trying to answer your query if I'm permitted to!

You let the car idle for 5 minutes?

Engine warming/heating time depends on the environment conditions like temperature outside at that time. In summer's the engine heats up faster and late in winters.

Anurag.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

A question for all City i-DTEC owners - do you see an increase in engine warm-up time at start-up after your car stands in the garage for a day or more?

Yesterday I had gone for election duty (counting of votes) and returned late, so Empress stood in the garage all day without having to do her daily duty. Today morning when I started her up and let her idle for her usual time, I noticed that the "Cold" engine icon went off after almost 5 full minutes!!

Normally she's warmed up after 1 minute, or 1 minute 30 seconds at the most. This is for all the morning crank-ups every single day.

Is this normal or is something wrong with my i-DTEC? I seriously and sincerely hope this isn't something I should be worried about.

I don't wait till the blue light goes off. I usually do a 45 second warm up and start driving slowly. The Blue light goes off within 0.5 km of driving.

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I am a non-iDTEC owner trying to answer your query if I'm permitted to!

You let the car idle for 5 minutes?

Engine warming/heating time depends on the environment conditions like temperature outside at that time. In summer's the engine heats up faster and late in winters.

Anurag.

lol you are free to answer any/all queries of mine, my friend.

Nope, I let the car idle for about 1 minute as usual, then backed out from the garage, Empress stood outside our home for a few seconds while I adjusted the ACC, drove off at a slow pace till I hit the main road leading to my office, and the "Cold" icon went off a short while after.

It might have been about a km or so from home.

It was pretty hot today. The temperature was hovering around 40ºC at around 11 AM, which grew to 46ºC by the afternoon. So it was a hot, dry day.

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

I don't wait till the blue light goes off. I usually do a 45 second warm up and start driving slowly. The Blue light goes off within 0.5 km of driving.

Same here. I crank up the engine and let the idling for 1 minute happen, while I roll the windows down, enable the Bluetooth on my S4, open the ORVMs, start the music and re-check the volume, check the rear view from all 3 mirrors, engage reverse, watch the reverse camera view (by this time almost 1 minute is done), then I start moving out. When I am outside, I roll the windows back up, start the ACC at "LO", then start moving. When the cabin is sufficiently cooled, I move the temperature to 23ºC.

The "Cold" icon stayed longer than usual today. Much longer. Usually it takes about a minute/minute-and-half, at most two minutes, to go off. Today it took a long time.

Maybe it was an one-off incident due to no driving yesterday. Will keep a lookout for a reappearance.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

lol you are free to answer any/all queries of mine, my friend.

Nope, I let the car idle for about 1 minute as usual, then backed out from the garage, Empress stood outside our home for a few seconds while I adjusted the ACC, drove off at a slow pace till I hit the main road leading to my office, and the "Cold" icon went off a short while after.

Thank you Avinash

In the procedure you follow I advise you to NOT use the ACC till the engine warms up completely. If used, your putting additional load on the engine causing wear and tear. Once the engine is hot, the oil is circulated to all parts hence lubricanting it efficiently and also your turbo is getting the lubrication.

I start the engine idle for around 20-30 seconds, back out of the garage, close the gates and drive away. I don't touch the turbo spooling-up zone (i.e 2000 rpm) and NO ACC also. Just keep driving it at speeds between 50-60 kmph in 4th gear for 6-7 kms. Once this distance is covered the temperature needle reaches the half-way mark which means the engine had reached its operating temperature. From here on, I switch on the A/C.

Anurag.

[pdma]

Avi,

This ownership thread is definitely getting as detailed as it can and more importantly unbiased.Iam loving it for all the reasons and hats off to you for keeping readers glued to this.
Your passion speaks volumes and the time you invest here for the benefit of others is highly appreciated and truly amazing.

Thanks a ton again .

cheers,
pdma

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

In the procedure you follow I advise you to NOT use the ACC till the engine warms up completely. If used, your putting additional load on the engine causing wear and tear. Once the engine is hot, the oil is circulated to all parts hence lubricanting it efficiently and also your turbo is getting the lubrication.

I start the engine idle for around 20-30 seconds, back out of the garage, close the gates and drive away. I don't touch the turbo spooling-up zone (i.e 2000 rpm) and NO ACC also. Just keep driving it at speeds between 50-60 kmph in 4th gear for 6-7 kms. Once this distance is covered the temperature needle reaches the half-way mark which means the engine had reached its operating temperature. From here on, I switch on the A/C.

Thank you, my friend. Point duly noted. I am following the same from the moment I read your post above (although it is a bit tough to drive without the AC in this summer, even for a short distance!).

Originally Posted by pdma

Avi,

This ownership thread is definitely getting as detailed as it can and more importantly unbiased.Iam loving it for all the reasons and hats off to you for keeping readers glued to this.
Your passion speaks volumes and the time you invest here for the benefit of others is highly appreciated and truly amazing.

Thanks a ton again

Thank you so much for the kind words, pdma. I try!

------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I was using my mini-USB drive for Empress for awhile now, and that looked a bit ungainly by protruding out from Empress's in-cabin USB port. After reading in other ownership reports and other parts of our forum about the Sandisk 16 GB Nano-USB Flash Drive, ordered the same from Amazon on the 19th. There was a 53% discount offer going on, which helped as well. Got it for Rs. 454/-.

The Nano-USB (a term which I have coined, after the Nano-SIM) arrived yesterday. This USB Flash Drive is so tiny it's inhuman! And the fact that it packs in 16 GB of storage is more inhuman!! I took it and plugged it into Empress's USB slot, and it is so tiny that the flap covering the USB slot closed completely over it!!

Must be careful with this Nano-USB Drive, else I might lose it under a grape or something.

Spent the better part of yesterday selecting songs and packing them into the Nano-USB Drive. Today morning, plugged it into Empress and all went smoothly. The HU read from the USB in a flash (pun intended) and the first song started playing almost instantly. Closed the USB slot's flap, which clicked into it's place nicely with a "tik!" and now Empress has her own Nano-USB Drive.

The pack containing the Nano-USB Drive.



Size perspective. It's considerably smaller than a 5-rupee coin!!



Close view.



If the above didn't convince you, this will. It's smaller than my thumb nail!!



Ready to be plugged into Empress's USB port.



Plugged in. Look how tiny it ends up being!



Close look. A completely snug fit.



Normal view from the front passenger's seat.



Flap closed over it.



Completely closed, snapped into place.



The mini-USB Drive I have been using till now, and it's (much) tinier new brother.

Empress continues to rule our life in her merry ways. Crossed the 3000-km mark last weekend. Mileage is hovering between 19-20 kmpl inside the city (right now it shows 19.7 kmpl on the MID). Quite frankly I am not calculating the FE these days, and just enjoying the drives and the time spent with my family, my little Princess and my royal steed, the Empress.

One more thing to note - I have decided to stick to the OEM tyres & alloys till the warranty period is over. Might switch over to Michelins at the 10,000-km mark, but no upsizing either. Can't risk voiding warranty, since the A.S.S. guys have gently but firmly conveyed the same.

[W.A.G.7]

Nice job with the seats, Avinash! The City looks complete now. The 16GB pendrive looks tiny, better that it remains plugged in the port only or else it could get easily lost! Is there any indicator LED on it?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Thank you, my friend. Point duly noted. I am following the same from the moment I read your post above (although it is a bit tough to drive without the AC in this summer, even for a short distance!).

It is better to sweat than have yourself sweat due to repair bills. It is a small step in prolonging the engine life and internals. I have been following this procedure from Day 1 of the Ritz and Swift.

Apart from the regular oil and filters change no other part was changed in my 1.07 lakh kms Ritz D.

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

I took it and plugged it into Empress's USB slot, and it is so tiny that the flap covering the USB slot closed completely over it!!

Must be careful with this Nano-USB Drive, else I might lose it under a grape or something.

Be careful so to remove before handing it for service, could be flicked and you wouldn't realised it.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

The 16GB pendrive looks tiny, better that it remains plugged in the port only or else it could get easily lost! Is there any indicator LED on it?

No LED light buddy to it.

Anurag.