Before I put my virtual pen to paper, I must mention that unlike most new car owners who upgrade (some downgrade) because of problems related to space, expenses, and other requirements, my new-car journey sprung up due to an
actual problem.
Sounds weird and peculiar, but that's how the chain of events unfolded, which I am about to narrate.
Circa 2012:
I had sold off my five-and-half year old M800 and upgraded to a shiny new 2012 Honda City. The 3rd-generation City had received a facelift in November 2011, and in terms of interior space, looks, reliability and it's VFM entry level variant, the newly introduced Corporate Edition with full safety features, was the perfect upgrade for me, who was looking at the Jazz X. I had stretched my budgets and zeroed in on the "fluidic" Verna 1.6 EX back then, but safety suddenly became paramount, since I became a father to a lovely little angel princess in December 2011. Priorities changed, and I had decided to forego of creature comforts and frill, toy-like features in the Verna and go for the wonderfully safe, but barebone in features, Honda City Corporate Edition.
Complete details here -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-now-sold.html
Months passed, and my City (named "Silver Pegasus" by me) was my perfect, no-fuss, no-niggle companion. He was heavily accessorised and in time, he was the most handsome car of the city I lived in.
My Dad, who used to drive his '98 Maruti-Suzuki Esteem, was experiencing a lot of trouble in keeping the car in one piece. Maintenance issues were cropping up, spare parts were suddenly unavailable, and repair bills were mounting. But despite all that, Dad persisted with his Esteem because he loved it to death (he still does!). But due to my continuous pressure on him, he finally agreed to trade it in, in exchange for the 2012 Maruti Suzuki Ritz. The Ritz had received a mild facelift back then as well, and sharing the same engine as the Swift, was the perfect VFM upgrade for him. Unlike my Honda City which has it's A.S.S. center 300 kms away in the state capital, the Ritz could be easily serviced as well, since the Maruti-Suzuki A.S.S. center is in our own city. People in his friend circle had insisted that the diesel had better driveability, offered better mileage, and would get better resale value in the future, so he went for the diesel. The variant chosen was the middle one - VDI.
Complete details here -
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-now-sold.html
And so, we both were set with new cars for the next 6-7 years (at least). Or so, I thought.
Boy, was I wrong! October 2013:
After the initial excitement and novelty had worn off, Dad was steadily driving his Ritz lesser and lesser. It came to the point that many days, he just backed the car outside the garage of our home in the morning and left it to gather dust under the sun all day. Because of the ease of driving inside the city and for quick runs to my office and daily errands, the Ritz became my preferred choice. I handed over the keys of my Pegasus to him and asked him to drive it, thinking he must be missing his beloved Esteem and that's why he might not be feeling as connected to his Ritz. For a short while, my City became his ride and all was well again. But the unruly traffic all around him and his rapidly slowing reflexes and vision made him more and more apprehensive, specially when driving the big car. I offered to chauffeur him around to his destinations but he would have none of it. He was adamant that he wanted to drive (maybe his pride didn't allow him to accept this fact). But I sensed he didn't like driving, or rather enjoy it, like he did before. It came to the point during October last year, when he completely stopped driving any of our cars. Suddenly, I found myself driving the Ritz 5 days of the week, and my Pegasus on the other 2 days.
Soon, I was the sole driver of both cars. The Ritz, being the diesel option, was cheaper to run than my City. But my Pegasus was MY car. It pained me to see it covered in the garage 5 days of the week, doing absolutely nothing, while I drove the Ritz and my 2 bikes in turns. The running of both cars slowly started becoming lesser and lesser, and I had no option but to take a hard decision to sell off one of them.
Or both.
November 2013:
This was when the 2014 City's unveiling rumors started getting stronger. Soon, the press release for a November 25 unveil got out. On a whim, and hoping that the all-new City equipped with the diesel heart would be a revolution of sorts (based on the current-gen Civic & C-Rider), I pre-booked it on November 7th without having any idea of what it might be like, in looks or in performance, purely on the reliability of the Honda badge and because the City was the safest of all choices in it's segment, and I was enjoying a completely fuss-free ownership of my Pegasus.
November 25th came, and the 2014 Honda City was unveiled amidst great fanfare in Delhi. I loved the design, although it bore subtle changes to the existing 3rd generation City. The front is very obviously inspired by the current-gen Civic, and the all-new rear which took inspiration from some of the popular Beemers we know, looks absolutely smashing!! And the interiors are a huge step up from the 3rd-gen car as well, loaded with a bunch of features which could give competitors of the C2 segment a real run for their money! For the first time (in a LONG time), the 2014 City looked to take on the competition head-on, specially with a very crucial weapon in it's armory now. (
LINK)
The all-new, India-specific, Earth Dreams 1.5 liter i-DTEC diesel powertrain.
(image sourced from the official Team-BHP review)
Overall, I was sold. I will quote my thoughts on the launch directly from the official Team-BHP launch thread: (
LINK)
Quote:
Honda has followed the philosophy that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but whatever's broke, definitely fix it." The arrow-shot design is a big revolution in design in itself, and Honda couldn't do much more to top that. The all-new Civic with that new design didn't fare well in the acceptance department, did it? Honda has played it safe for now, until the next 5-6 years at least, till the next-gen City will be due (2019-2020 perhaps).
I still say that Civic-ish front and that all-new smashing rear gives a lot of added personality to what is already a wonderful existing design.
Overall, I am glad they retained the core design bits of the current-gen City and gave what the City most needed - a bunch of sleek features, new front/rear looks and a fantastic diesel heart. The current City sold well till the end of it's cycle just for it's looks and it's performance, and this one should take the legacy forward. It's got most things right for the Indian market now.
As for me, I will be one happy chappy to be behind the wheel of this one, hopefully for a long time. It's been almost six hours since the unveiling and the grin on my face hasn't gone off, and that itself says a lot!
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While the 2014 City was fast garnering different opinions from different BHPians, I was sure and positive that the 2014 City would proceed to become the newest bestseller in it's segment after it's launch, then settle down to a healthy monthly sales number of around 4500-5000 units later on.
All that was left, was a real-life test drive, which would seal the deal.
End of story, right? WRONG! Boy, if only I knew that there were more twists in my tale.
December 2013:
I waited all through December with bated breath for my nearest dealership, Shubh Honda, to get a diesel City model. By then, most auto sites started reporting their first-drive reviews of the 2014 City, and most of them reported on the high NVH levels of the diesel variant. Having experienced the Vento/Rapid and driven a Scorpio extensively, I knew they were hard to beat. But still, curiosity kept building up. The Amaze diesel had pretty high NVH levels, so I expected the Honda engineers to have worked on this aspect of the diesel City. The fact that it came with a 6th gear and the official brochure mentioned sound insulation, made me confident that NVH levels would be noticeably quieter.
Team-BHP's official review was out in the 3rd week of December, and it was pretty much confirmed that the NVH levels of the 2014 City diesel wasn't upto par. Vibration and shakiness felt on pedals, noisy unpleasant clatter, and lack of oomph on the highways, as experienced by GTO, made me apprehensive. Still, I was adamant on checking this out in the flesh and then take a decision. Quoting from the official City review thread,
as posted by GTO:
Quote:
As things stand, power & torque to weight figures are more in line with the C1 segment than C2. In a straight drag, the Verna, Vento & Rapid will leave the City diesel for dead. There is no competition. On the open road, performance can best be termed as 'adequate' by segment standards. With a torque-to-weight ratio (172 Nm / ton) that's lower than even the Dzire, the City diesel isn't going to be burning down any expressways. The Vento TDI is capable of leaving a smile permanently plastered on your face. That's not the case with the City i-DTEC which is more suited to a regular style of driving. Don't get me wrong; acceleration is decent and the City is capable of travelling at 3 digit speeds all day. The Amaze's top speed was limited to ~145 kph. No such limiter on the City, with Honda claiming a top whack of 190 kph. It's just that you expect something special when spending 10 lakh rupees. That's missing in this diesel. This motor isn't as high-rpm friendly as the others either. The i-DTEC revs to a maximum of ~4,450 rpm (VW & Hyundai diesels easily cross 5,000). In the City, there's no point in taking the rpm that high, and it's best to upshift at 4,000 tops.
An area where the City disappoints is NVH. Honda says that insulation has been beefed up and the window glass has been made thicker, but clearly that's not enough. The engine is very audible inside the cabin, even at an urban revv range of 1,800 - 2,000 rpm. What makes it worse is the crude, unpleasant engine note. On the move, the diesel motor always makes its presence felt. A Honda techie stated that aluminium diesels are inherently noisier. Another major disadvantage of the City diesel is the significant amount of engine & drivetrain movement felt on the pedals. These vibes are felt not only on the clutch, but even on the accelerator. It's directly proportional to engine rpm. The experience takes away from the refinement you expect in a Honda.
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Anyway, I was informed on 19th of December that a diesel VX (in Carnelian Red shade) had arrived for showroom display and subsequent RTO registration. I was off to Raipur in a flash to check it out, and upon entering the showroom, the 2014 City in all her majestic aura and that huge smiling moustache, greeted me!
I was smiling as I entered the display area. Plenty of visitors had crammed into the showroom already, to check out the fantastic, shining red queen. All the attention she was garnering reminded me of royalty, and like my good friend and fellow Team-BHPian arup.misra mentioned in my 2012 City ownership thread, the City is actually the emperor of it's segment. The regal splendor of the red City reminded me of Arup's quote, and my thought at that moment was:
"
Gosh, she's beaming like an Empress, ready to address her subjects!"
The thought stuck, and so did the name. I decided at that exact moment of the name of my future steed -
the Empress.
Till then, I had pretty much decided to sell off both our existing cars and get the 2014 City from those funds. In a few hours when the crowd had subsided, the car was driven out into the hangar for a shining session, and that was when the engine noise struck my ears!
Surely! But it can't be! No way, this is Honda engineering. It makes sense for the built-to-a-cost Amaze, but for a premium offering?! The extremely loud NVH brought back all the thoughts I had from reading the online reviews from earlier in the month - no VGT, same specs as the Amaze, mismatch interiors, etc. - all the negative thoughts which were clouding my judgement came flooding back. I wondered if Honda engineers had worked on the Amaze powertrain at all, or just carbon-copied it for the 2014 City, and just added a 6th gear and did a bit of tuning. (based on a tweet by Hormazd Sorabjee, this seemed to be the only explanation)
Only one thing remained to confirm my fears - I was handed the keys for a short TD inside the compound before the shining session. Walked in, felt eerily familiar as if I was walking into my Pegasus with an all-new dash and steering wheel. Cranked up the engine and the first thought was "WHOA!"
Not a good whoa, but a super-disappointed whoa.
The vibrations filtered through the pedals right into my feet, and the cabin shook slightly as the very gruff engine came alive. Compared to this diesel heart, my Pegasus's i-VTEC was music nirvana personified!! The cabin went through a small shake as well, which reminded me of unrefined 3-pot mills of the Polo. The drive was smooth and power delivery was wonderfully linear, but something was missing. Try as I may, I wasn't getting
connected with this car.
Went back into the showroom confines, and poured through the Team-BHP review again, then thought over all the pros and cons. I had availed my Pegasus's 3rd Paid Service earlier in the month and had casually inquired about the selling price of the 2012 City Corporate, and the figure quoted was so low that I had instantly scratched the decision of selling Pegasus anytime soon. The mutual decision at home was to sell off the Ritz and get a bigger car for myself, while Dad would keep Pegasus. But now, the diesel City had left me unimpressed, despite all it's wow features and design highlights.
I decided to turn elsewhere for my car hunt, somewhat with a heavy heart. Despite getting repeated assurance from the dealership people that the production cars will have comparatively lower NVH levels than the showroom display car, I had pretty much decided in my mind. Returned home and called them up, asking them to cancel my 7th November booking. On December 27th, received the booking amount refund via cheque.
January-February 2014: The EcoSport:
I had set my eyes firmly on the Ford EcoSport. Ever since it's launch in mid-2013, I had always wanted it in my garage. Checked it out on display at the Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad before it's launch, and had left impressed. But by the time I had the finances, the waiting periods had ballooned to six months, and it had undergone a heavy price increase already! By January 2014, it had had another price increase and now the car was almost 75,000 rupees costlier than it's launch price!! Still, the sheer compactness, futuristic looks and features on offer, and it's mini-SUV stance were hard to ignore.
News started to trickle in that select dealers had cars available in their garage, which were either base or middle variants of both petrol and diesel.
Decided to give a call to the newly opened GK Ford dealership in Raipur to inquire about the same, and if I might get lucky. The first time I called, I got the feeling that something
might be worked out with them, by the way they answered ("
Car has a waiting period of 6 months, sir, but if you come visit us in person, we might be able to arrange something"). I was after the TDCi Titanium variant, and if that was impossible to get, I was thinking of the petrol variants (even the 1.5L). In short, I was after the Titanium variant, either diesel, EcoBoost or petrol (didn't matter to me, as long as it had full safety features).
I got tied up in year-end work at my job, and called them again in early February. This time, a different fellow answered back and upon my query, answered that they could procure an EcoSport Titanium Diesel for me in 45 days flat, despite the lengthy waiting periods, but on one condition - I had to buy accessories/teflon/underbody/whatever of at least 1 lakh rupees worth!! I was taken aback by this, and despite my annoyance, threatened him using sweet words to report to Ford about this. He merely snickered back, and said instructions for this kind of deal came to them directly from the company itself, since the car has become such a hot-selling one, and I was more than welcome to take this up with them through email or telephoning their customer relations service. Needless to say, I told him in no-minced words that I was not THAT desperate to own their car, and hung up.
The Linea T-Jet:
All my friends love this car, and for one major reason only - pure adrenaline rush!!! I was interested as well, and with the Linea facelift around the corner, plus reports of big discounts, made me call up the newest dealership of Fiat India at the state capital. Unfortunately, the number of times I called them subsequently, I received only one reply (more or less) "
Sir, someone will contact you with full details of the Test Drive", and of course, that call never came back. It seemed that the dealership didn't want to sell a car to me, and visiting the capital again in such a short time just for a TD was not possible, so struck it off my list.
Never considered the Vento because of Volkswagen's horrid after service sales reports, and the same went for the Rapid, although I was tempted for a wee bit when the new Rapid with projectors and steering-mounted controls was launched. But Skoda had enough horror stories around, specially on our forum, so left it out.
That left me with 2 more contenders, one of which was again based in the capital.
The XUV 500:
Called up the Ralas Motors dealership and asked them if there were any discounts available on the XUV, and if they could give me a good offer. Got reply back that the W4 didn't have any offers, and there were some nominal discounts on the W6 & W8. The W4 was within my budget, but getting a 12L+ car without many of the features for which the XUV had become popular, simply didn't digest with me. I inquired about Mahindra's After Sales Service in my circles, and most of the feedback I received was a thumbs down. Add to that, the sheer number of complaints of niggles with the SUV made me apprehensive. Plonking so much money into a (possibly) niggly vehicle and then not getting good service would be a back-breaker. Add to it, my whole family insisted it was too big for our requirements and wouldn't be easy to manoeuvre around our semi-urban, semi-rural city. I was pretty keen on the XUV till the end, and only with a heavy heart struck it out.
And the last contender (actually two from the same car company) made the strongest cases, purely on the basis of providing service in my home city.
The Hyundai Verna:
This was a compromise of sorts. I wasn't keen on it even one bit, but since it met the main requirement of local service, I asked the local dealership to send over a Verna for a TD. The dealership manager himself came in the afternoon, driving a new white SX petrol, for us to TD. Turned out him and my Dad had a link from the past! During my Dad's working days in SBI, when he was Branch Manager in a sleepy Orissa town, the manager's father had been a close contact of him. Either way, Dad excused himself from the TD so me, wife and Mom piled into the car. Me and the manager took turns driving it, and wife was impressed by the features. To be frank, I wasn't. Neither was Mom. And Dad thought it was too big!!
I had the SX (O) in mind just for the features, and inquired from the dealer if it was possible to procure one. He said he would get the new 2014 Verna, but needed at least 25 days to deliver. I reconfirmed if it was the same one with projectors, DRLs, diamond-cut alloys and 6 airbags. He called up someone in their main office and confirmed it. I told him I would get back to him soon.
Quite frankly, the TD didn't impress me much. Take away the features of the Verna and what you are left with is a pretty basic car, and not fitting it's 11.5 L price tag. The new cars come with stiffened suspension which takes care of it's handling, I was told.
And, as is in the case of most compromised decisions, I had second thoughts almost immediately. The manager was calling me virtually everyday to confirm the booking, now that he had a direct contact to me through Dad! I started to look for excuses to cancel it. Finally an idea struck me.
The XCent:
Hyundai had unveiled it's Grand i10-based notchback, the XCent, at the Auto Expo 2014. No, I didn't like it one bit in terms of looks (too similar to the Grand + an oddly shaped rear) or in terms of engine power (a big step down from the C2-segment). Quite frankly, all the notchbacks with 1.1/1.2 L powertrains should have a separate category for themselves, to distinguish them from the Etios(es), EcoSports and the Sunny(s) (C0 segment, perhaps, or send the City/Verna/Vento into a new C3 segment, keeping these cars in C1). But I had
my excuse. I called up the dealer and told him that the XCent was an all-new car and will be around for 5-6 years, while the Verna might get a facelift in the next year or two, so I was more interested in the XCent. He said he would keep me informed about the same.
Finally, I had some breathing space. I went through all options one by one carefully again, and here Mom's one line hammered my decision home:
"
Once you have sat in a City and experienced it, nothing else comes close. Not even your Verna-Ferna whatever. I want the City only."
She had pretty much spoken my mind's thoughts. She was never happy with my decision to sell off Pegasus, and missed it terribly.
:::::::Which brings me to the parallel story running with this one:::::::
At first, we had decided to sell off the Ritz and get a petrol hatch which could be driven by wifey and Dad both. The i20 petrol made the strongest case with it's long list of features and local servicing comfort, so we had booked one during this time. When a i20 was sent home for a TD, Dad thought it was too big for a hatch (he thought the Ritz and the Santro had the best sizes for hatchbacks), and same was echoed by the wife. I convinced them that this was the best option available to us right now (since the Jazz stood discontinued), so we went ahead and booked the Asta (O). Further discussions followed at home, and after having second thoughts, we put the booking on hold on the pretext of pursuing it in March for better discounts.
Pegasus was never planned to be sold. I would have none of it. But everyone in the family insisted that if we were going for a bigger hatch like the i20, it wouldn't make sense to keep 2 cars again. Finally, burying my heart under a huge slab of stone, I agreed to it.
Spread the word in January about selling both cars. By February-end, got 2 fantastic deals for them.
The Ritz VDi, with 8500 kms on the ODO and 14 months of ownership (bought in December 2012), went for
5.20 L (we had got it for 5.51 L), and
Pegasus (bought in March 2012 at 7.95 L), loaded with accessories worth almost 1.25 L, went for
6.00 L.
Knew I wouldn't get a better offer for them and the deals were made. By February-end, both cars were sold off.
Now, our new car meant new requirements. It was Mom who came to the rescue here. She is the most practical one in the family, and also quick on calculations. She said both cars had clocked almost 10,000 kms in their short spans, which meant that if we had a single car, it would have more running as well. Although Dad was not driving much, there was no saying he wouldn't in the future, since the spark was still there. Three drivers in the family would mean a lot of running. That warranted a diesel, and since she never liked the Ritz's interior space, and neither impressed by the i20's either, she wanted us to have a sedan in diesel. So we were divided in the middle - Wife and Dad insisted they would be more comfortable driving a small car, while me and Mom were adamant that a bigger sedan was the need of the family.
We discussed this a lot during the time the EcoSport was being considered. It wasn't as big as a sedan, and wasn't as small as a hatch either. It's Ritz-like stance impressed Dad, wife liked it because it was small and compact, I loved it's futuristic looks and power on tap, and Mom was willing to accomodate everyone. Too bad the company and the dealership bungled everything up, otherwise we would have had an EcoSport in the garage now, if it was a car available off-the-shelf.
As things stood, looking at our budgets, wifey said she would prefer a much smaller hatch than the i20. Dad left us to our decisions since he would be a very sparing driver henceforth, and because he was annoyed of going the 2-car-route again, specially after selling off our previous (rather new) cars. I was annoyed as well, since I loved my Pegasus to bits and didn't want 2 cars in the garage again! Wife put my fears to rest and said she would ensure that our second car got plenty of running (she wasn't driving the Ritz because it was Dad's car). We decided to go entry-level and check out the cars there. The Nano was too cheap, the Alto too old, and Spark not available. The Santro with a bigger engine was available at about 15,000 rupees extra, but fears of the car getting discontinued anytime soon, now that Hyundai is testing it's replacement, made us apprehensive. In came the Hyundai Eon. The compactness, mini-fluidic looks, premium-looking interiors and the space inside impressed all of us. Also, we owed the Hyundai dealer for accomodating our whims through the past 3 months. The decision was made - on March 6th, a Sleek Silver Eon Magna+ was driven into our garage.
:::::::End of parallel story:::::::
I called up the Honda dealership in mid-February yet again. Extensive talks and repeated assurance of the City diesel being more refined than it's initial showroom display unit made me visit them in third week of February to check out a new diesel. Indeed, some additional work had been done in the factory at the production engineering levels, and the car was comparatively quieter than the earlier units. There was still the sound clatter upon cranking up, and the small, shaky vibration filtering through the clutch pedal to remind you that it's a diesel, but the engine was slightly more refined, specially at higher RPMs. 1500-2500 RPM was the best band for the City diesel, as was evident from the short TD inside the compound.
I finally decided with where my heart and mind both were going - booked the City i-DTEC V MT on 25th February, in Alabaster Silver color, with a promise of March/early April delivery. I insisted to have the car by March 31st at the most (quite frankly waiting for more than 1 month for a car isn't appealing), and got assurance of the same as well.
March 2014:
The follow-up experience was less than average in the beginning. Upon dealer insistence that I spread out my choices a bit more so that they could honor their end-March delivery commitment, I gave them no less than FOUR variant choices - VX petrol, V Diesel, V Petrol and VX Diesel, in that order and keeping budgets in mind. I also spread out the color choices - Alabaster Silver, Urban Titanium and Golden Brown. In spite of this, by March 20th, I had no clear idea of which variant I would be getting in which shade. Dealership had it's hands tied - the company simply wasn't following the order of bookings sent to them, and more lower models in common shades were being unloaded there (the metros were definitely getting priority for the top variants). Decided to drop an email to Customer Relations about all this. But the Customer Relations management people merely forwarded this back to the dealer, "roughening" them up verbally for not dealing properly with it's customers. Indeed, the dealership was getting harrassed from the company on one side, and from the customers on the other. The dealership manager wanted me to wait till April if I wanted a VX petrol in my chosen shades, but I was adamant on a March 31st (or earlier) delivery.
Despite all this, and probably partly because of the repeated calls (adding more pressure) from the company's Customer Relations people, I finally received a call on Saturday, March 22nd, that two cars were available as fresh despatches from the factory - one was a V MT diesel in Golden Brown shade, and the other was a V MT petrol in Urban Titanium shade. Weighed up all options and prospectives, discussed with family, and finally decided on the Golden Brown V MT Diesel. Received an SMS promptly in the evening that the car (March 2014 make, as decoded from the VIN provided) was allotted to me. They said the truck had left the Noida plant the day before, on Friday 21st March (found out later that it had left on Thursday 20th March morning), and was expected by Wednesday (March 26th) morning. I called up my bank (had opted for a nominal loan on short EMI-tenure) and asked them to process everything and get the loan account ready by Tuesday.
Received a surprise call from the dealer on Monday, March 24th, that the despatch truck was expected to arrive by Monday evening itself!! Quickly called up the bank manager and after getting the assurance that the loan processing and account would be ready by the end of the day, I made preparations and left for the dealership on Monday night. Dad and Mom had warned me not to drive back on Tuesday, even if I took delivery, since it was an unauspicious Tuesday. As things would have it, the entire Honda Assure website was down all through Tuesday!! Coincidence, or divine providence?
Insurance and registration formalities could be completed by Wednesday noon only. It was almost 12:30 PM when I left the dealership, and close to 1 PM when I left the state capital for my city.
A new era, and a new voyage has begun. I finally had my Empress with me, and she was on her maiden journey home, which I hope is the first of many, many adventures to come.
Hearty Congratulations. Great write-up. Looks like the City Diesel came out just at the right time and satisfied your requirements perfectly. Wish you all the best with the 'Empress' :)
Nice detailed Review.
Glad to see everyone in your family is happy with the end choice.
Am Amazed by the panel gaps. It's not acceptable on a million rupee plus car no matter how much is the demand.
Any plans to change tyres as Goodyears won't be good enough?
Do post a pic of Honda body cover on your car.
Congrats Mate. As usual, an excellent write up and reportclap:. As a matter of fact, I had been eagerly waiting for your review since reading about your ownership reports on Silver Pegasus and Ritz:).
Loved the report and once again congrats and happy mile crunching!
Thanks for this highly informative and detailed review and congrats for your purchase.
Although city would be used for city driving by us and I have cruze to make the enthusiast in me happy , I still found the performance to be not bad at all, during my first test drive I hard revved the car and floored the pedal and the car reached three digit speeds fairly quickly and it still was pulling just fine and although its no match to vento/verna , its not too far behind either. I personally don't think anyone would be disappointed with its performance (if not overwhelmed).
Sir Avi, take a bow. Your writing skills still makes me envy and now you have burdened me to make a tough choice - rate this better than the Pegasus "bible" or at par.
Her majesty will surely will make more than a few heads turn and the apt name suits her profile too well.
Would wait for you to clock some miles before I ask you a few questions on the d-Tech. Meanwhile get her some good shoes. An empress cant be seen without her Gucci.
Great review! Very detailed and informative.
Honestly speaking, I like the 3rd generation looks better than this one but interiors are much better in this one.
Congratulations on the new ride.
Wish you many happy miles on it.