My new ANHC A/T. EDIT : Third service updates

netarchie · 22nd February 2009, 20:57

It’s been a month since I got my new city automatic and thought I would start a review on my ownership with it.
The car has completed 2300 kms and the first service has been done last week.

It’s been an absolute pleasure to drive it around the city and on the highways. The auto tranny is very useful in the bumper to bumper traffic. The auto eases and makes life easier to drive in the mad traffic out there and it is effortlessly exciting to drive it in the city. Shift it to the ‘D’ mode to enjoy a smooth and comfortable drive in the city traffic. With almost 70km daily driving in city, this is exactly what the doctor ordered!

The engine is smooth as a butter, very very silent with none or very little vibrations getting inside the cabin. The cabin is well insulated from the outside noise as well. Could not hear any wind noise inside the cabin even at speeds above 100 kms/hr.

On the highways, shift into the S mode or use the paddle shift and you are rewarded with a powerful acceleration from the machine. She gets through her paces real quick. Engaging the paddleshift anytime to get the surge in acceleration is exciting.

Redlining her is joy. The engine starts to get vocal at about 3500 RPM and by the time it crosses 5500 RPM you are greeted with the typical Honda snarl, the engine note is real music to the ears. But I have heard the OHC vtec’s growl much louder!!

Managed to get her to 160 Km/Hr effortlessly in the ‘D’ Mode. The car is very stable at high speeds. The aerodynamic nature of the car helps prevents any loud boomy wind noise at high speeds. You hardly realize what speed you are doing until you glance at the Speedo which shows the motor spinning, lazily at 3000 RPM and the speed is 140 Km/Hr!!

The auto transmission can be driven in 3 ways,
1)D mode - engage and the machine decides, when to shift cogs. A gentle tab at the accelerator pedal, initiates the kickdown to give more acceleration if required. Apart from this you can temporarily override the auto and get instant power at the click of your finger! Using the paddle shift. It returns to auto mode after sometime.A mode where you leave on time and reach on time!

2)S mode - engage this mode for some spirited driving. The gear change in this mode is at higher RPM, more acceleration, engine vocal most of the time, snarling as the tacho begins to climb. Engaging the paddle shift in this mode, will bring the car in a full manual mode. Start late, reach early mode!

3)Paddle shift - engage this mode to unleash hell. Yes!! you get to exploit the whole revv band of the engine , and the revvs are held till the redline and more, after it hits revv limiter the car does give some kind of slight jerks to let you know she is not happy, you upshift and she is happy again! The car remains in manual mode till you engage the D mode. This mode is most exciting to drive. Haven’t used the mode, much as of yet.Upshifts are fully manual and the downshifts are semi auto.You are already there mode!

The paddle shifts are fun to use, especially in the Ghats. Putting the car to test on winding roads was a revelation and she performed much better than I expected. The car handles well on the bends at decent high speeds.

The steering is also feels nice at high speeds; a hydraulic or equivalent would have been perfect. The steering is superlight at slow speeds and as the speed increases it sort of stiffens. negotiating turns and lane changes or taking sharp turns or some hard cornering It does not feel scary.

The suspension is on the firmer side, which aides handling. It bottoms out on big speed breakers with full load and every time it does that my heart skips a beat!! Very annoying! Ride quality is pretty decent and nothing to boast about. The suspension being firm shake you a little bit on crater ridden roads.
The MRF rubbers it came with provide a good grip but are noisy at high speeds. An upsize/upgrade will make the cornering more confidence inspiring.
The ride is a little bouncy on some uneven concrete roads, not sure if the tyres are to be blamed here!
Brakes with more bite could have been better!
Music system, with the usb thingy is quite useful as I have lots of music in mp3’s.
Again the AC, The leg space, boot space are decent and nothing to complain about.
Seats are quite comfortable in the fronts as well as the rear. I love the driving position in the car and it is spot on.
I have done 2 highway trips in the car and both occasion blasted the engine and high revving it most of the time. The fuel economy was about 11 +. In the city it’s averaging about 11. All the time with 100% AC. Sounds ok to me.
To summarize on a positive note I can say that the I-Vtec Engine coupled with the Auto transmission offers a great driving dynamics in a comfortable manner with a low NVH makes it a great driving machine.
I see lot of features is offered in the other Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia missing in the Indian version. Like rear seat 60:40 split and a feature to recline the rear seat further. What was Honda thinking of not offering these features in India, how would split/reclining rear seats have increased costs for Honda!!
No ACC and alloys being the other major negatives.

My other ride, is a ford fusion, which was my daily driver till the Honda came, it is nearing 50 K, is a hoot to drive and have to say that the stick rules!! For comfort and effortless driving the auto has an edge though.

I would use this thread to continue updating the ownership experience.
uploading few pics.

Thanks and regards,

mnhegde · 22nd February 2009, 21:12

@ netarchie : Congratulations friend. A very nice and detailed review. Nice colour. Being an A/T, FE sounds good for the new vehicle, may improve after the scheduled services . Nice photographs. What's the onroad price ?? Did you get the vehicle immediately or had to wait??
Happy and safe driving

.

undead · 22nd February 2009, 21:14

Congrats. Fit in alloys to make her look even better. Shift to better rubber if you are not happy with the present one.

karanraheja · 22nd February 2009, 21:26

Congrats on the new ride buddy!! FE of 11 seems good enough for AT tranny.
When i TD the City i somehow found some sound intruding the cabin. Hoping to join the City club soon

.

rkbharat · 22nd February 2009, 21:32

Congrats man, that color looks beautiful.

headers · 22nd February 2009, 21:41

wonderful review, infact, i was planning on one until the Jetta Bug bit me!

cheers

Dippy · 22nd February 2009, 21:48

Nice initial review. Glad to see the car is treating you well. One point though. Aren't there only two modes of driving D and S. As far as I remember the S mode is the manual mode for paddle shifts.

Where have you clicked the pictures? I especially liked the first one with the rear angle.

anilkalvani · 22nd February 2009, 22:22

Congrats dude, great ride you got there. You need a tyre upgrade asap as the tyres look too skinny on the car. I love the new ANHC & want to own an Auto Tranny one day, hope it comes soon. Are you planning to get alloys too?

ImmortalZ · 22nd February 2009, 22:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dippy

Nice initial review. Glad to see the car is treating you well. One point though. Aren't there only two modes of driving D and S. As far as I remember the S mode is the manual mode for paddle shifts.

It works just like the Civic A/T box in that respect. On the stick, there are only two modes of drive - D and S. In the S mode, it upshifts later, holds revs so there is acceleration always on tap, etc etc.

If you hit one of the paddles while in S mode, it goes into manual mode where it doesn't upshift without user input.

trrk · 22nd February 2009, 23:09

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by netarchie

The suspension is on the firmer side, which aides handling. It bottoms out on big speed breakers with full load and every time it does that my heart skips a beat!! Very annoying!

Ouch! My NHC did the same with 5 of us and our luggage. I almost thought I will be beached in one of them, but managed to drag the car through!

Congratulations. That is a lovely shade for the ANHC.

Fountainheader · 23rd February 2009, 00:55

Congrats on the City. Happy Driving.

150 kms on the Odo and you've already hit 160 kmph! Talk about run-in period someone!!

m4ugr8 · 23rd February 2009, 01:24

Congrats on an Amazing Buy, Being driving MY city around for a few days now, And sure its a nice car, Infact its been days since i have driven the Civic, The 4500 RPM Rev Limit in neutral is addictive

OE Tires MRF?? I got Michelin XM1s with mine, Different batch maybe but an upsize is the first thing you need, In Spirited driving these give up, Too skinny for a Powerful car like this, Though I drive this car occasionally and is mostly driven by my Mom/Dad who dont cross 60 KM/Hr, for them its ok.

netarchie · 23rd February 2009, 01:24

thanks all,
@ mnhegde, I had to wait for 2 months and few angry phone calls to the honda persons was also needed to get the delivery of the car!! the OTR price was 10.2 L as it was a company reg.
@Undead , ya plan to do that.
@ karan, i was referring to the wind noise only, cause in fusion , i hear wind noise even when i am at 80 km/hr.
@ Dippy, those pics are near Goti,near the suzlon windmills on the way to shirdi. Paddle shifts can be activated in any mode, in the D mode, its temporary and the auto will take over, if it does not detect any more paddle shifts. In S mode it activating the paddle shifts puts the car in fully manual mode, upshifts controlled by the user. other than this the car can also be driven in S mode, without invoking the paddle shift. in S mode it shifts late , so can be usefull in spirited driving.
@ anil - yes, plan to do atleast the alloy part.
@ ImmortalZ - Can the paddle shift be activated in the D mode, in the civic too?
@trrk - in my fusion , i never had to bother about any breakers, but now with the city i handle it like baby , however small the breaker is !!
@ Fountain , its not the ODO , its the current real time average its showing , 15.0 kms/l :-)
I forgot to mention, I v-cooled my car on Sunday, VK-70 for the fronts and VK-40, diamond series for the side and the rear glass. it costed me a fortune, about 30K, but did it anyways!!

aaggoswami · 23rd February 2009, 08:33

The FE you have reported is astonishingly good. Inadvertently, it looks like you have a light foot. And this is all with AT.
I think the sound insulation is not as good as G2HC. The outside noise does filter in and this is more evident in city driving condition than highway.
Glad to hear that G3HC manners are much better than G2HC. This is the first time I am looking at the picture where G3HC is pushed over 160 kmph.
I think that the gear ratios are different for the 5 for manual and AT. 5th in AT is higher and thats why you are getting 100 kmph @ 3K rpm. That makes this car an effortless mile muncher.

Nice images.

gemithomas · 23rd February 2009, 09:32

Great Review. Very detailed. Loved reading it. All the best. Drive safe.

22nd February 2009, 20:57	#1
netarchie BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Navi Mumbai Posts: 397 Thanked: 10 Times View My Garage	My new ANHC A/T. EDIT : Third service updates It’s been a month since I got my new city automatic and thought I would start a review on my ownership with it. The car has completed 2300 kms and the first service has been done last week. It’s been an absolute pleasure to drive it around the city and on the highways. The auto tranny is very useful in the bumper to bumper traffic. The auto eases and makes life easier to drive in the mad traffic out there and it is effortlessly exciting to drive it in the city. Shift it to the ‘D’ mode to enjoy a smooth and comfortable drive in the city traffic. With almost 70km daily driving in city, this is exactly what the doctor ordered! The engine is smooth as a butter, very very silent with none or very little vibrations getting inside the cabin. The cabin is well insulated from the outside noise as well. Could not hear any wind noise inside the cabin even at speeds above 100 kms/hr. On the highways, shift into the S mode or use the paddle shift and you are rewarded with a powerful acceleration from the machine. She gets through her paces real quick. Engaging the paddleshift anytime to get the surge in acceleration is exciting. Redlining her is joy. The engine starts to get vocal at about 3500 RPM and by the time it crosses 5500 RPM you are greeted with the typical Honda snarl, the engine note is real music to the ears. But I have heard the OHC vtec’s growl much louder!! Managed to get her to 160 Km/Hr effortlessly in the ‘D’ Mode. The car is very stable at high speeds. The aerodynamic nature of the car helps prevents any loud boomy wind noise at high speeds. You hardly realize what speed you are doing until you glance at the Speedo which shows the motor spinning, lazily at 3000 RPM and the speed is 140 Km/Hr!! The auto transmission can be driven in 3 ways, 1)D mode - engage and the machine decides, when to shift cogs. A gentle tab at the accelerator pedal, initiates the kickdown to give more acceleration if required. Apart from this you can temporarily override the auto and get instant power at the click of your finger! Using the paddle shift. It returns to auto mode after sometime.A mode where you leave on time and reach on time! 2)S mode - engage this mode for some spirited driving. The gear change in this mode is at higher RPM, more acceleration, engine vocal most of the time, snarling as the tacho begins to climb. Engaging the paddle shift in this mode, will bring the car in a full manual mode. Start late, reach early mode! 3)Paddle shift - engage this mode to unleash hell. Yes!! you get to exploit the whole revv band of the engine , and the revvs are held till the redline and more, after it hits revv limiter the car does give some kind of slight jerks to let you know she is not happy, you upshift and she is happy again! The car remains in manual mode till you engage the D mode. This mode is most exciting to drive. Haven’t used the mode, much as of yet.Upshifts are fully manual and the downshifts are semi auto.You are already there mode! The paddle shifts are fun to use, especially in the Ghats. Putting the car to test on winding roads was a revelation and she performed much better than I expected. The car handles well on the bends at decent high speeds. The steering is also feels nice at high speeds; a hydraulic or equivalent would have been perfect. The steering is superlight at slow speeds and as the speed increases it sort of stiffens. negotiating turns and lane changes or taking sharp turns or some hard cornering It does not feel scary. The suspension is on the firmer side, which aides handling. It bottoms out on big speed breakers with full load and every time it does that my heart skips a beat!! Very annoying! Ride quality is pretty decent and nothing to boast about. The suspension being firm shake you a little bit on crater ridden roads. The MRF rubbers it came with provide a good grip but are noisy at high speeds. An upsize/upgrade will make the cornering more confidence inspiring. The ride is a little bouncy on some uneven concrete roads, not sure if the tyres are to be blamed here! Brakes with more bite could have been better! Music system, with the usb thingy is quite useful as I have lots of music in mp3’s. Again the AC, The leg space, boot space are decent and nothing to complain about. Seats are quite comfortable in the fronts as well as the rear. I love the driving position in the car and it is spot on. I have done 2 highway trips in the car and both occasion blasted the engine and high revving it most of the time. The fuel economy was about 11 +. In the city it’s averaging about 11. All the time with 100% AC. Sounds ok to me. To summarize on a positive note I can say that the I-Vtec Engine coupled with the Auto transmission offers a great driving dynamics in a comfortable manner with a low NVH makes it a great driving machine. I see lot of features is offered in the other Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia missing in the Indian version. Like rear seat 60:40 split and a feature to recline the rear seat further. What was Honda thinking of not offering these features in India, how would split/reclining rear seats have increased costs for Honda!! No ACC and alloys being the other major negatives. My other ride, is a ford fusion, which was my daily driver till the Honda came, it is nearing 50 K, is a hoot to drive and have to say that the stick rules!! For comfort and effortless driving the auto has an edge though. I would use this thread to continue updating the ownership experience. uploading few pics. Thanks and regards, Attached Thumbnails Last edited by netarchie : 22nd February 2009 at 21:03.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 21:12	#2
mnhegde BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: B E N G A L U R U Posts: 473 Thanked: Once	@ netarchie : Congratulations friend. A very nice and detailed review. Nice colour. Being an A/T, FE sounds good for the new vehicle, may improve after the scheduled services . Nice photographs. What's the onroad price ?? Did you get the vehicle immediately or had to wait?? Happy and safe driving .
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 21:14	#3
undead Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bhavani - Komarapalayam Posts: 1,194 Thanked: 179 Times	Congrats. Fit in alloys to make her look even better. Shift to better rubber if you are not happy with the present one.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 21:26	#4
karanraheja Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Coimbatore Posts: 1,961 Thanked: 436 Times	Congrats on the new ride buddy!! FE of 11 seems good enough for AT tranny. When i TD the City i somehow found some sound intruding the cabin. Hoping to join the City club soon.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 21:32	#5
rkbharat Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Gurgaon/New Delhi Posts: 1,604 Thanked: 724 Times View My Garage	Congrats man, that color looks beautiful.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 21:41	#6
headers Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Greater Chennai Posts: 4,667 Thanked: 559 Times	wonderful review, infact, i was planning on one until the Jetta Bug bit me! cheers
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 21:48	#7
Dippy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 7,598 Thanked: 2,761 Times	Nice initial review. Glad to see the car is treating you well. One point though. Aren't there only two modes of driving D and S. As far as I remember the S mode is the manual mode for paddle shifts. Where have you clicked the pictures? I especially liked the first one with the rear angle.
	() Thanks

22nd February 2009, 22:22	#8
anilkalvani BHPian Join Date: May 2008 Location: Bandra West, Bombay Posts: 633 Thanked: 90 Times	Congrats dude, great ride you got there. You need a tyre upgrade asap as the tyres look too skinny on the car. I love the new ANHC & want to own an Auto Tranny one day, hope it comes soon. Are you planning to get alloys too?
	() Thanks

23rd February 2009, 00:55	#11
Fountainheader Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 1,501 Thanked: 13 Times View My Garage	Congrats on the City. Happy Driving. 150 kms on the Odo and you've already hit 160 kmph! Talk about run-in period someone!!
	() Thanks

23rd February 2009, 01:24	#12
m4ugr8 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New Delhi Posts: 1,291 Thanked: 129 Times View My Garage	Congrats on an Amazing Buy, Being driving MY city around for a few days now, And sure its a nice car, Infact its been days since i have driven the Civic, The 4500 RPM Rev Limit in neutral is addictive OE Tires MRF?? I got Michelin XM1s with mine, Different batch maybe but an upsize is the first thing you need, In Spirited driving these give up, Too skinny for a Powerful car like this, Though I drive this car occasionally and is mostly driven by my Mom/Dad who dont cross 60 KM/Hr, for them its ok.
	() Thanks

23rd February 2009, 08:33	#14
aaggoswami Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Vadodara Posts: 4,987 Thanked: 2,965 Times	The FE you have reported is astonishingly good. Inadvertently, it looks like you have a light foot. And this is all with AT. I think the sound insulation is not as good as G2HC. The outside noise does filter in and this is more evident in city driving condition than highway. Glad to hear that G3HC manners are much better than G2HC. This is the first time I am looking at the picture where G3HC is pushed over 160 kmph. I think that the gear ratios are different for the 5 for manual and AT. 5th in AT is higher and thats why you are getting 100 kmph @ 3K rpm. That makes this car an effortless mile muncher. Nice images.
	() Thanks

23rd February 2009, 09:32	#15
gemithomas Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 2,366 Thanked: 143 Times View My Garage	Great Review. Very detailed. Loved reading it. All the best. Drive safe.
	() Thanks