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-   -   2014 Honda City SV CVT Automatic - My White Unicorn (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/149303-2014-honda-city-sv-cvt-automatic-my-white-unicorn-5.html)

I had to make a trip to the Airport. Instead of pushing my car, I decided to test how efficient is the CVT engine.

Few things before sharing the FE number
- The FE test was from ITC Windsor Manor bridge to Airport and back
- Distance is about 60 km round trip
- 3 Adults while going to airport and 4 adults while coming back
- Boot Loaded more than 50% on way back
- AC was set to 19 degrees Auto for the entire duration
- Entire drive was in "D + ECON" mode
- Cruise control was used wherever possible
- Speed ranged from 50-80 kmph
- Light traffic was encountered on the way back
- Bridges on most of the sections in places

And now, the FE for the entire trip: A staggering 18.2 kmph clap:

The car hardly makes any noise when cruising.



As captured above, I did face a bit of light traffic on way back. However, on my way to Airport, which is 30kms from the point I started the FE test, the MID was showing me FE of 20.3 kmpl :) when I reached the airport. It sounds a bit out of place as the claimed FE for CVT is about 18.5 kmpl but there were lot of stretches where on down slope, you don't push on the pedal at all and let the car continue with speed due to slope increasing the FE.

Before I get into the details, I have upgraded my tyres to Michelin Primacy 3ST 195/60R15 which adds about 3-4 mm of GC. My office is on Outer Ring Road and there are some pretty bad pot holes on certain inner roads I have to take and so far my car has not scraped even once even with 4 adults. Even folks who haven't upgraded tyres haven't seen issue of bottom scraping on the new City. The suspension is I believe a little hard than earlier generation city based on reviews (I'll let other folks comment) but the ride has been very comfortable for rear passengers as well. The tyres are also helping out here to make the ride more comfortable.

I was on same boat earlier and if you read my report, Nissan Terrano was on my list but due to various reasons captured on post, I had to settle for City and I'm glad I did.

That's a very very good mileage..excellent!!

I have never driven a CVT before and would like to know that when in D mode the accelerator is pressed a little aggressively (not floored for the rubber band effect to take over), does the CVT drop a few gear ratios (like other ATs) and accelerate faster? If yes, how much is the lag in the acceleration??

In D mode, if you press it hard, the rubber band effect is easily seen and the engine will also get noisier. You need to first get used to the way CVT engine works. The Honda City engine is pretty powerful and just press accelerator lightly and the pickup will be all in place. If you press hard, it does drop the gear ratio (not sure by which amount as there is no display for it) as you can see the RPM needle rising but it does take time before you see the actual effect. This effect is more pronounced in 'D+ECON' mode.

However, if you see a need of hard acceleration, just move it to 'S' mode and it will respond much faster and you will not see much of lag.

Also, if you are planning to go for top end VX CVT, you get paddle shifters as well which will give you good control on the car's performance.

Few updates on my White Unicorn

- Completed 900km run

- Pure city mileage (Bangalore traffic) is about 10kmpl now (was around 9.5 earlier)

- Highway mileage is excellent (Got 18.2kmpl with AC on 60km stretch and 21.1 kmpl with AC off on another 60km stretch) http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post3417511

- Engine Idle Grinding Noise has gone http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post3417751

- I have pretty much stopped using 'D + ECON' mode in city. The car feels really under powered and engine makes more noise while accelerating at lower speeds (which shall be most of time in city driving). It's mostly in D mode now in city

- 'S' mode is very useful and I move to that mode when I need a quick over take

- In D mode, try to be easy on the accelerator. The engine is powerful and it responds really well if you press the pedal gradually and the engine noise will also be not

- The engine noise in 'D+ECON' mode is irritating at lower speeds and same thing can be felt in 'D' mode as well based on how you push the car

- The engine/car seems to have gotten really smooth now. Once you enter cruising mode, you hardly feel any noise coming from car.

- Rear seat is really spacious and comfortable. I've been having 2 adults and 2 kids multiple times and they all love the comfort and space.

- AC is pretty good and cools the cabin really fast. IF the car has however been parked under sun for long time, it does take 10-15 minutes easily to cool the car (not chilling though). Please do not use ECON mode if you want the cabin to cool faster

- Bluetooth MIC is not that great on SV variant due to position on HU unit. The system cannot pair 2 phones at same time. So now the Car's bluetooth system is used by my wife (she has an Iphone and I find the integration much better with apple devices compared to android) and I use my Jabra Journey Hands free device

- If you connect an iPhone via bluetooth, you can play songs as well from phone and can control the same from steering controls as well. The steering audio controls does not work when using Android to stream music via bluetooth. I'm not sure if this is Android limitation or HU limitation

- I use Google Navigation a lot on my Galaxy Note 2. The navigation has voice guidance. Now if I use the HU for the sound (bluetooth mode), it'll keep on interrupting the music and there is lot of lag seen when switching between Bluetooth Audio and Audio coming from other source (google navigation in this case). If I keep in USB/Radio mode, I'll not be able to hear voice guidance much. Due to this and above points, I'm actually happy to use Jabra Journey stand alone device and let passengers an driver enjoy the music uninterrupted.

- The speakers are pathetic and the upgrade will probably come sooner than anticipated. I have bass at middle, treble all the way up and sound output on front speakers set to a bit higher than rear. With this, its just acceptable till I get upgrade. I would really want to know if speakers are better in V variant or its just the tweeters that is helping in producing a better sound output.

- I reported about car pulling towards the inclination of the road. I never experienced this on my i10. Apparently after research and speaking to Nikhil, it happens due to Road Camber and happens on cars with a good steering system so I’m good there.

- I’m noticing a pull on plastic/somewhere on Driver’s door when I roll the window all the way up. I do not notice this on other 3 windows (front passenger and rear). Is anyone else experiencing the same or it’s just some alignment issue? This also makes some sound when rolling it down or opening (only happens when it’s about to complete the roll up or you just start rolling down). Will report this when giving car for 1st service.

- At times, I feel a bit of pain on my right foot heel when driving and specially in city driving where I have to move between accelerator and brake (the foot movement is similar to that of wiper). I tried with different shoes to see if change in padding near heel would help but not much. When you're driving, there is pressure on lower part of heel. However, when I'm driving using crocs/chappal where the lower part of hell is open, I do not feel pain. I never felt this while driving i10.

- Though now I'm used to judging where the front of the car ends, I still try to raise the seat height as raised height ends up giving better under thigh support.


Now few updates using pictures

- These humps on rear prevent the mat from sticking on it properly.


- This hump on front is difficult to cover with mats. My wife has habit of stepping on this hump while sitting and so is already getting dirty


- DIY Screen Protection done for main Piano Black unit and the one on the side. I'm fairly satisfied with the job. It took me a long time to cut the sheets to fit the same here. I'm now not worried about scratches at all and cleaning is easier.






- Sandisk CZ 8GB USB Drive. This is so tiny and so once inserted in USB slot, I'm able to get the USB slot lid all the way down and looks very neat.


Overall the SV CVT City is a pure fun to drive car. I just wish there would have been a 'V' variant of CVT which would have taken care of few issues reported above.

I have an SV Variant and can connect my Google Nexus 4 Android and control it using Steering controls.

Try clearing off the pairing from all phones as well as HU.

If it still doesn't work , You must get it checked when you get your servicing gets done.

Thanks a lot neel911 for your thread studded with photos and information. I have found it a great help in deciding for a new car (although I have booked a diesel VMT).

Hi... this is my first post on tem-bhp... I booked my White Unicorn SV-MT IVtec from Perfect Honda Thiruvananthapuram yesterday... Will write a detailed note on the selection (spread over 1 year) shortly

Can you kindly give me more details on the tyres and why you feel the Honda IVtec will give only 13-14 kmpl?

NOTE FROM T-BHP SUPPORT: Please use the PREVIEW POST and EDIT function instead of posting consecutively. Thanks.

I tried twice and same issue. Maybe to do with the Samsung modified Android on my Note2 compared to the stock Android OS on Nexus. Anyways, I plan to use the Jabra Journey for my phone and the inbuilt bluetooth on HU shall be used by my wife's iPhone so I'll not be spending more time debugging here.

I'm glad you found the review helpful

Please do let me know what specific information you are looking for with respect to tyres. The most popular recommended upgrade is Michelin 195/60R15 XM2 / P3ST. More on Honda City tyre upgrade on this thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...e-upgrade.html

Regarding the FE, the ARAI of CVT is I believe 18.2 kmpl which is ideal conditions. So I'm hoping the FE overall would not be more than 13-14kmpl. Again, if you are going to do pure highway driving, it may be a different story.

Welcome blueinkbottle and congats on selecting the 2014 City.
How were the dealings of the staff of Perfect Honda? When is your car getting delivered? Is the new showroom fully ready now? Did you visit their workshop?

Dear Neel.

My Honda city SV AT will be arrived next week with the dealer and depend upon the payment I may take delivery of the car soon from Magnum Honda, Mekhri circle, Bangalore.

Your thread was very much helpful for my decision. I need your expert opinion tyre upgrade, Accessories, managing CVT engine and many other things.

If possible can you PM your contact details. It would be a good idea to discuss in detail.

Heartiest Congratulations and I'm glad the thread was useful. You'll love the beauty for sure.

I've PMed the details.

Thanks Neel. This thread has really been useful.

One feature I miss in City SV is the reverse parking cameras, and the integrated display of reverse camera into the inner rear view mirror. I found this feature of Verna to be really useful.

Have you considered going for reverse parking camera? I am doing some research on that. The standard Honda accessory for camera and the display unit looks really plain Jane. In my opinion, it is going to look ugly on the dash corner. I am looking for a better option.

I have the reverse sensors (just beeps and no LCD) from Honda and I believe they serve the purpose. So far I've actually not seen a need of camera. The camera may help if there are certain low level obstacles but I find the sensors sensitive enough to alarm me at the right time.

Did you get the sensors installed from the dealer or where they fitted outside?

These were installed from the dealer and are from the Honda Genuine Accessory List. They are a bit expensive but the quality is top notch and I'm not comfortable someone else (outside market) punching holes on the bumper