Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/)

-   -   Our 2024 5th-Gen Honda City MT comes home! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/278874-our-2024-5th-gen-honda-city-mt-comes-home-5.html)

I put the Garware sun control film, and by the shades I meant the door/rain visors sorry. The curtain ones are not legal and if cops spot those, will ask you to remove. Infact even the black, suction-type shades aren't allowed. Cops might let you go off at most times, yet on a not-so-lucky day, you might be questioned. Just go for the legal Garware/3M films and you should be able to keep some of the heat away.

And yes, I feel they have a variant aplenty here. The VX should be jazzed up to ZX levels and ZX bid adieu. There isn't much between the V and the VX. Honda does not believe in those Hyundai/Kia gimmicks. It, like the Toyota's and the VAGs, keeps it subtle yet classy.

Also, about the speakers. My my, what third-grade quality the stock one's are. A mere black paper on magnet sorts. I am glad I changed those. I guess they will be no better in the VX. The 4 door one's will remain, only the 4 additional tweeters integrated around the door-open handles would be extra. If you love your music and will spend considerable time in the car, you would want to upgrade. The replacement is pure plug and play, not needing any hammer n drill work.

The VX was the absolute value for money variant when we saw the car before the minor changes made in Apr-24. We initially opted for VX only, but later shifted to ZX mainly because of slightly spruced up grill and front fascia as it looked more aggressive and the leather upholstery and steering. No outside shop can match the factory finish of seats and steering wrap as it is done at OEM level. The music system was better in ZX back then (don't know if VX now has the same system or not). If one is ok without these & some other small creature comfort (eg auto-up/down on all 4 windows, auto dimming IRVM, rear sunshade), VX is great value indeed.

oh yes that auto dimming IRVM looks so good.. will try if I can have it upgraded in mine from showroom, the sales guy told me it can't be, will check with the service guys during the delivery day

the curtain ones that are company fitted are those illegal also? i saw one of my colleague's Seltos and it had those curtain shades for rear seats ?

Ok, which speakers did you get, cost? Any photos to share during the fitment.

Yes I understand speakers are plug and play, just the thought that the panels will be taken off is what stopped me. Speakers on VX would be same except the 4 additional tweeters.

No, I thought of doing that as well in my first service, yet the service guys do not do it. Downright denied me and said no to any such changes in the car. But certainly can be done at a FNG. :)

Update: The second service was due in last week of September and the same was completed. No complains/ no updates- just plain washing, checking underbody etc was done and took half the day. Just another boring day at service center is what you expect when you get a Honda. :)

The car currently stands at approx the 3000 kms mark and we took it for a long drive to Murshidabad. Close to 900 kms of return journey and the average FE came to about a staggering 20KMPL despite getting stuck in a one way village road of West Bengal for quite some time with lots of obstructions. In short, no progress beyond third gear for a good 85 kms. Still the car returned a very good fuel economy. Fuel is Rs. 106 in WB (Murshidabad) while it is Rs. 98 in JH. Due to good fuel efficiency of the car, we were able to skip the refueling in WB and refilled only in JH, saving good 8 Rs. per liter.

Another big plus is that again encountered some monstrous speed breakers but the car simply refuses to scrape the underbody- such a relief. Brakes are really good and progressive. Handling of the 16" wheel profile is good and feels well in control while taking curves at high speeds. The 195s provide adequate grip- no complains here as well. The 15" will definitely ride better in terms of comfort but the 16" wheels are very good in the handling department.

Overall, very happy with the car. About the engine, just one line- This is the best naturally aspirated engine in India- no matter the size.

Leaving you with a couple of shots of the car taken on the return route. Will try to do a short photologue of the place and post the rest of the pictures for the travel freaks.

Thanks.

Really nice that petrol still retails under 100INR at JH01, and there's hardly a gap between petrol/diesel which is why I've had seen a boom of powerful Turbo Petrol cars like Kia Seltos, VW Virtus etc, in fact I've seen a trend of more new cars in JH which is increasing day by day but IMHO with increasing number of these cars on the road, I hope more service centres especially of VW, Skoda and Honda opens up since it creates a monopoly and ASCs are choked with cars leading to deteriorating quality of service.

Similarly I feel there should be an increase in both number and quality of auto ancillary service providers viz tyres, batteries etc especially with the former, there's a serious dearth of high performance tyre dealership and more or less a duopoly with Kundan/Kalra, also what I've noticed both the owners and their salesmen(obviously trained by them in that way), are very temperamental and they go a bit too far with advocating(or should I say brainwashing), with whatever tyre they're holding the franchise of, as if that specific brand tyre is the best ever made in whole world and the moment they change the boards and franchise they start speaking negatively about the previous brand they were associated with, I experienced this when I enquired for Bridgestone and Michelin since they've had now shifted to Continentals, upselling your tyres are a thing but don't be so much unethical and at least show some kind of loyalty towards the brands, also once deal is done they become completely apathetic towards the customers which you also faced with Michelin XM1 ordeal of yours with Kalra.

Therefore I hope to see a good Michelin authorised or Priority Partner franchise/Pirelli Performance Centre in eastern zone one day since demand is definitely there and existing dealers are too rude and dare I say greedy for their margins only. Both Yokohama and Continental are good but are simply outshone by Michelins and Pirelli, although I'm not at all optimistic about it knowing the temperament of the people there.

Thankfully I've left JH01 for a good time now, as much as I like its pleasant weather and fresh vegetables I'm equally apalled with aforementioned sercives(or lack thereof) and the associated people which at least makes me and my machine feel shortchanged, I'm happy to report that where I'm right now I could procure good tyres, batteries and other stuff for my SUV(which was originally purchased from JH01 a couple of years ago). I've certainly met much better people who have given me deep insights about these things.

I know what I have typed throughout is hardly relevant to this thread but still doing so since I'm following you for a rather long time now and had even read your ownership reports of Civic/City as soon as they were published, also since you're a DBHPian as well as a long term JH resident I think you will definitely draw some parallels with my experience and perhaps add more to it.

Lastly wish you a lot more happy kilometres with your City i-VTEC in fhe time to come, also I know everybody have different routine but man 3000kms in 6months is just TOO LESS considering its such a nice machine which deserves such number monthly IMO:).


Thanks.
Tony

Thank you for your post to many of whose points I agree with. Need more service centers of brands you mentioned and in other parts of the city. Every service center concentrated in a particular area doesn't help all. Thankfully few service centers are now coming up in the other periphery now but new Honda ASC looks like a distant dream.

Batteries I can still live with the likes of Amaron or Exide but yes, shopping good tires is a task. I didn't write much about my tire buying experience for the City but I was quite disappointed with the Continental Dealer. I spoke to them on phone and I agreed to the price of new tires (UC6) and buyback both which they quoted by themselves. On the day before delivery when I visited them to finalise the time and schedule for the change to happen the next day, they increased the prices of tires by Rs. 400 each and reduced the buyback price by Rs. 1500 each. So, they increased the total amount by Rs. 7600/- in 10 days. At Amazon, same tires were available for Rs. 1100/- less per piece. I decided not to buy from them and check other shops but all continental tires are sold by the same chain here so it wasn't fruitful. Finally settled with Yokos GT where tire cost was little high than the UC6 but since I got a better buyback, my total outgo was less. I am happy with the Yoko Bluearth GTs; they are very good tires overall.

Regarding the market forces here, prices for all commodities are definitely on the higher side locally. Also, I agree- it is difficult to find anything out of the regular league here. For many such stuff, we stick to online buying only. Many times, we don't even bother to check locally due to sheer wastage of time and saving ourselves from unnecessary gyan from local sellers.

Finally coming to the City, yes, it is a lovely machine. A few things I miss from the Civic like the space (especially width), acceleration punch, huge dashboard and the sheer weight of the car. But the City is acing in terms of great fuel efficiency, equipment list, sailing over potholes and unscientific speedbreakers, to name a few. Definitely it deserves to be driven more but what limits it are the current local traffic, contruction and parking issues. Hopefully when the ongoing projects are completed, driving in the town will be a better experience. Currently we are using it more for outstation trips only.


Also, in terms of addition to the car, I added this 12V splitter with 2 additional USB ports to power some accessories from the front dashboard. This also greatly reduces all clutter of wires like that of the dashcam, wireless charger, footwell lights that I bought cheap from Amazon. All these wires are now hidden under the carpet with a single wire going being drawn from the 12V car socket. The device is very well built, has an all aluminum body and looks premium. It also has a small display through which I can keep an eye on the voltage status of the car.




Thank you for your observations. See' ya around.

Thanks.

:thumbs upI do hope that Honda India recognises the fact that Ranchi is seriously begging for an additional, larger ASC with more bays and larger bodyshop preferably from a different business house since it'll have two big benefits, firstly as aforementioned the existing ASC will not get choked ensuring good workmanship, secondly if you're not satisfied with the job of one ASC, you can always switch to other which in turn ensures a healthy competition which is always beneficial to the end user, also I recently got to know Victory Honda did open a second showroom across the other side of the town, an additional service centre would be a big blessing to all the Honda owners. Same goes for VW, Skoda.

Reminded me of your XM1 nightmare all over again and I guess the dealer remains the same since according to Continental website Kalra is the only authorised dealer and man they are misusing their monopoly. I must point out at the same time I also found out that Kundan are NOT the authorised dealer of either Continental or Bridgestone, they're only authorised to sell Yokohamas, so I guess you cross-checked that part, also you must've gotten the warranty registered on the website by getting your mobile number linked.

Apart from that during my next visit to Ranchi, I would get my beloved Dad's WagonR tyres changed, its currently running on its 3rd set which are Bridgestone Turanza T005a which have although run for just 25k kms but are already 5+ year old with extended period of unuse which have definitely impacted the rubber and I wouldn't risk riding on such old tyres, therefore upon some research I have zeroed in on Bridgestone Turanza 6i, it's the latest addition to the Turanza family and BHPians have been praising about it in the respective thread, also would be getting it done from authorised dealer only as I do want that unconditional warranty Bridgestone is providing, the dealer which I have decided upon searching on their official website is Kraft Wheels, their showroom itself is conveniently located on relatively deserted Bypass road, the showroom is rather large and what stands out is they've top tier Hunter equipment for Wheel alignment, so do you've any first hand experience with these guys, any insights would be useful.

Equally saddening was the fact that there's not a single authorised dealer for Michelin tyres not just in Ranchi but in entire JH, OD or WB:sadface!


Yes, you're right the market force are a bit too dominant and dare I say rude to us who are a little bit more knowledgeable than aam junta, last time I visited a Mahindra dealership casually and asked for a quotation of XUV700, can you imagine for the AX7L DSL model they quoted 1L+ for standard insurance and close to 1.3L for zero dep, I know dealers do inflate premium prices but straight up doubling the premium is just not done, also they were extremely reluctant to allow outside insurance(even if the company remains same) forget about matching the price or negototiating it, even things like FasTag costs were high too, again 200-300Rs don't matter much, but the thing is ethics, dealers already have a F-A-T margin and overcharging on stuff like these is daylight robbery, also this is the same dealer who owns multiple showroom including MG, Skoda, BMW, Renault, Bajaj and what not and is perhaps too powerful of a person now so that their dealerships and ASCs can behave like this, this is the reason why people recommend not to get BMW cars in JH.


Definitely :), I really LOVED reading your Civic review and like you said it's a gem of a car one which India was too fortunate to get, the exteriors, interiors, engine everything was SPOT ON. City although a very well rounded package will never be able to bridge that gap however more premium it becomes, Honda Cars really need to bring back their aspirational products like the Civic, Accord and CRV soon to regain their older heydays but since they've shut their Greater Noida plant and their Tapukara plant is not tooled for assembling premium cars this is a distant dream for us Honda fanboys. On the brighter side though I really hope the next gen Amaze turns out to be genuinely good to fight against the mighty Dzire and by the initial renders I guess Amaze will have an ace or two definitely up its sleeve. Fingers crossed.

PS- I actually read your City review back in April as soon as it was published, also I was at Ranchi during that time and IIRC I did visit Victory Honda casually on a lazy Sunday(26th March) afternoon and maybe we could've crossed paths, who knows?! Another thing, your Mom and my elder brother( a BIG Honda Fan) share the exact same birth date, 28th March, so it's a special day for both of us!

Thanks.
Tony

Went for a 250 km spin on the Saturday (round trip) to the nearby town of Bokaro (Steel City). Road conditions are mixed. Surface is mostly good but traffic volume is high, so could not exactly 'cruise' for most part. The fuel efficiency was outstanding for the trip and after the entire trip it settled for around 20KMPL. After 110 kms and close to reaching Bokaro, this is what the MID was showing, which is actually pretty accurate, especially in comparison to our other car in the family, i20 Automatic where the DTE drops drastically for the last 70-80 kms.




Also, sharing some recent pictures of the car with yours truly:





Thanks for looking!

Bokaro steel City reminds me of my when my dad was in service as an executive at SAIL, during his initial days he used to daily up/down from Ranchi-Bokaro via Trekkers back in around 85!!

Last time I remember visiting Bokaro was back in 2021, once as a family trip in my brand new SUV, then later around Nov 21 in my dad's WagonR when I visited the beautiful Konar Dam! The serene atmosphere is still etched into my mind and I definitely intend to revisit this place whenever I'm at JH next time.

My dad's WagonR at serene Konar Dam back in November 21


Apart from that glad to see your City i-VTEC giving you good fuel efficiency along with nice comfort and power.

Sir may I ask did you opt for AMC package for service or do you intend on paying for each service since I've heard Honda's AMC package is quite VFM, also have you opted for Extended Warranty since Honda is now offering 7years/unlimited kms extended warranty free of cost. I'm genuinely interested for some real life feedback about service experience of Honda cars.

Lastly sir if possible can you try checking out the new 3rd gen Amaze as I really want to know your opinion about that car including drive experience of 1.2 i-VTEC as an owner of 1.5 i-VTEC and formerly of the 1.8 i-VTEC! Your opinion about Amaze would really help me decide between the new Dzire and Amaze as I intend to gift one to my adorable parents.

Good old days- we used to cross that city on way to Patna by train which took good 3-4 hours depending on the type of train one boarded. Later when we had the Fiat 1100D, we travelled to Patna by road but Bokaro was not in the road route. We have visited the place in the recent years 2-3 times just for the sake of drive and our daughter whom we need to take to all parks of nearby towns!lol:

Nice shot of your Wagon-R by the way!


I have not taken any AMC package. The regular maintenance is not all that high and is light on pocket. However, it is only when a part go bad, then you have a reason to worry, which in my experience is rare. Also, you might have noticed that my car's running is not high by any means, so decided not to opt for the AMC. Honda's reputation of being reliable in long term also played on my mind. Car is under the standard 3 year warranty as that was only offered by Honda when we bought the car. I will check with the ASC about the 7 year warranty during my next service and if that can be offered to me as a goodwill gesture by them :)

Coming to the Amaze, I have never driven it honestly, so I am unaware of the engine characteristics. Good on you to plan for such a nice gift to your parents. You cannot go wrong with both the cars in question. You must take your parents along while getting the new car as they have their own subtle view points which matter to them which we may entirely miss in the sea of technicalities.

But Going by the difference of driving characteristics of the 1.8 VTEC and 1.5 VTEC, these two are different animals in my opinion. The 1.8VTEC churned out much more power and that is pretty evident even in casual driving. The in-gear acceleration was so much better. The City behaves slightly differently. It is not a power beast in any means & the latest BS-6 standards do also taper down outright performance . It behaves in a very tamed manner especially when the RPMs are kept under 3.5K & delivers exceptional FE. Thankfully even City's engine loves to be revved and this where the car's character changes. In a direct comparison with Civic, I would still say that the Civic was more engaging to drive across the entire rev range & gears and on the performance front, it would blow the City out of water. 3.5K RPM and beyond is where the fun actually begins in the City. Both cars sound very different as well. The City has a smooth turbine like sound and that sounds terrific over 3.5-4K RPMs whereas the Civic had a low diesel like growl and sounded a bit heavy. At higher RPMs, engine note wise, the City has the aural edge is what I would say. But very strangely, at idle RPM, the Civic was almost dead silent from outside when warmed up compared to the City which settles to an energetic purr when warm (which also sounds very good actually).

Went for a quick 100 km run around after detailing the car- humorous take here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post5917234

The location is Remta Lake near Ranchi. The place was seeing some visitors yesterday on account of holiday and the new year, otherwise it is very serene. Not too many city people know about this place which probably explains the serenity. Some shots of the place, the pakoras I had from the nearby shop and of course- the car.

Finally some upgrade work done on the City.

The music system on the City ZX with 8 speaker set up was OK for normal listening and has decent bass for a stock set up. But what I was missing in the audio was rich mids and clarity. I was very much OK with the highs and lows of the stock set up but the rich mid frequencies bring the sweetness in the music which the 8 speaker system of the City lacks.

I don't prefer too much bass & have a liking for a natural tone. Didn't want to spend too much on the music system as well since for any serious listening, I prefer home listening sessions on my Polk. Hence, decided to just upgrade the front speakers. I was not sure how the stock system would power 4 components, hence decided to go with the front first. Thanks to TeamBHP members on the City review thread, who had some first hand information about such an upgrade and I got useful information from them to start my search for components.

Crutchfield is a great website to compare speaker specs and even listen to the sound signature of many brands. Very nifty tool. I checked Infinity Reference, Infinity Primus and Morel Maximo 6. The Infinity Reference was the one which had a very open sound stage but it was a little too bright for my liking. It is a great set of speakers who like their music coloured. I liked the sound signature of Morels as it was little more warm with the highs rolled off. It was tough to decide between the two but finally went with Morel. Although some websites were retailing these for lower prices than the local shops, just for the ease of installation, I went with the offline purchase. Also, took the opportunity to get the doors damped. I was little wary of water being trapped in the door by the damping sheets hence I didn't get the outer panel damped. I just got the inner panel damped mainly to reduce road noise and also for some improvement in audio quality. Used Morel damping sheets for the job. Added some more hardware such as speaker mountings and silicone rain guards for the speakers.























I was little worried about the fitment of tweeters since they are well integrated in the mirror sash but glad to say that even the new ones fitted perfectly, sporting the Morel logo on the new grille. There is a marked improvement in the sound quality and the overall clarity has gone a few notches up. The mids are much better and the bass is tight. These speakers are capable of much more with an amp. Also, the rear speakers remain the same OE products of flimsy quality, hence there is ample scope of improvement there as well. You will be shocked to see the old speakers which come with the car. They are made of plastic frames, with paper diaphragm, feather light and the size of magnet is appalling to say the least. In fact the tweeters have better build. The magnet size of tweeters and the woofers are the same or may be even bigger :Frustrati In fact, one would be amazed that how these speakers still sounded decent when played lol:







The OE Tweeters. Compare the size of magnets on the OE tweeters and woofers!