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

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

-   -   My All New Honda City - It was worth the wait! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/55050-my-all-new-honda-city-worth-wait.html)

Dear Friends,

Several months ago, I had asked TeamBHP members for advice between a Fiesta and SX4 –based on my requirements, the general consensus was, wait for the NHC – and boy am I glad I did! Am sharing my initial experience.. please keep in mind I am a lay car person not a team BHP guru, so you can read something from this perspective also.
I bought the new Honda City from Arya Honda, Mumbai. Cost on Road, Company Registration was Rs. 10 lakhs.

Dealing with Arya Honda- they know they have a hot seller on their hands so we have to chase them after paying 100% advance, instead of them chasing us. That said, they are reasonably efficient and they delivered what they promised, more or less in time (about 3 weeks, they had promised 2 weeks) .. and most importantly.. they stuck to their price for 2 months.. did not call and say, buy now, take a discount.... that gives confidence that I am not paying more than what anyone else is, at least at Arya Honda..

Pre-delivery inspection - printed out the checklist from Team BHP and went to their warehouse to check it out.. was very useful thing to do.. seems not too many people do it..

Actual Delivery : Went armed with the Team BHP Checklist again.. Checked everthing systematically one by one -- gave me a good feeling that I am not missing anything. Arya Honda got almost all of it right.. only forgot the dealer stamp on the warranty booklet - fixed in 2 min! But they asked me where I got this checklist from :)


Car : Exterior – chose snow white, since it looked the neatest amongst the other readily available choices – silver and polished metallic . For red, black etc waiting time was 8 weeks so I was not interested. When I am walking towards my parked car, the exterior looks really cool, really great.. great feeling that this is MY CAR!!

Car Interior – Very decent, spacious, roomy. No headroom or legroom issues, front or back (I am 6 feet tall)...

Aircon – Is a chiller

Accessories: Since I bought the top end Manual variant, it was more or less fully loaded for a guy like me. Based on a friend's recommendation, Visited Sainath Car Accessories in Khar.. Mr. Rishi Panjabi – 022-26460545 or 3244 6421. My impression was that he was a nice and knowledgeable guy, not a typical sales person, did not try to over sell me accessories – instead just suggested I go for floor mats (Rs. 650), mud flaps (Rs. 300), reverse parking sensor (Rs. 2200), sun control film (Rs. 2000 for the basic version for sides and back) and two-tone artificial leather seat covers (Rs. 4500) . I asked him if I needed to buy anything else and his answer was NO... unless I wanted a high end music system.. which I did not.. so that was end of story. Even the sun control film, though had variants costing ten times as much, he said that the basic one for Rs.2000 would do the job. Would recommend at least speaking to him for car accessories in Mumbai

Drive – Unbelievably smooth and quiet. Wife was doing 120kmph on the highway without realising it!

Ground Clearance – was not a problem as I feared.. Went through most ups and downs smoothly

Boot – Very large and spacious

Power – I read somewhere that this car was underpowered, could not overtake anything faster than a bullock cart. At least that is not my experience.. while it may not be a beast, it is reasonably good for city drives and highway also

Mileage : During the first 1000 km, Got average of 12 km per litre, for a drive 50% city and 50% highway. Will post exclusively city average in next post

Stock music system – seems ok for a non-audiophile like me, but it suddenly comes on at times. need to get this minor error fixed

First service done – nothing to write home about - there were no problems to report– Arya Honda sent a driver to pick up and drop the car back, free of cost.

Summary : Looks and feels and drives like a 10L car!!

Will post some pics next time..

Thanks Team BHP for all the advice and guidance... am a very happy NHC owner.. so far... keeping fingers crossed!!


Now, I also need some advice from the gurus...

-Should I install transparent sun control film on the windshield? Thinking of Garware, Icy cool or something, seems to be the cheapest options. The imported ones cost Rs. 5000 onwards
-Is rust proofing the underbody a good idea, given the humidity of Mumbai and that the monsoons are a few months away? During the first service, the Honda service centre offered to do it for me at Rs 5500 with 3 year guarantee. My accessories guy offered to do Dinitrol for Rs. 2200.. any suggestions?

-Intend to stick to the stock wheels and tubeless tyres supplied by the vendor.. am not changing to alloys.. any suggestions I should follow to make this work..?

Cheers- Peter

Peter, Congrats! Nice review there. Those FE figures are quite good !! Will be joining the New City club soon:D.

Congrats for your new car Peter!
I would certainly recommend the anti rust treatment, it is certainly worth the money.

Drive Safe!

V-kool is arguably the best thing available. For front windshield, do not go for cheaper options. Llumar are supposedly almost as good, though don't have first hand experience for that.

Excellent review.
Just the one any honda guy would post.
Waiting for some pics of your ride.


I have used Llumar films (70% visibility) on the front after using the dark ones on the sides and back for a week and definitely helps reduce heat.
Makes me use the air conditioning at a lower fan level and higher temperature.

I would recommend you get one to get a better feel in your car.

Llumar Grey ( / silver) 70 is available for around 1200 or something here in Delhi.

hey peter
congratulations on your new ride. nice review.
Get a good sun film, Cooling without a decent sun film was not upto the mark in the new city. Do post some pics.

Congratulations - the white really shows up on this car. Think again about some alloys and the door guard - the car in the white with these accessories looks simply stunning. Hey, and free-of-cost pick up and drop - how did you convince them to do that?? Good stuff.

Congrats Peter!
You may want to get the grill also painted with body white.
I have got it done for my silver city and it has dramatically improved the looks. I will be posting the pics very soon.

Mileage of New Honda City in Mumbai City - 10.34 km per litre.. Car has done 1500 km so far.. see pics below!

Cheers- Peter

Congrats Peter! Great car and looks neat in white!:)

Few suggestions from my side

-- If possible try and be at the service centre for your car service. Atleast till the oil change is done. It goes a long way in ensuring your car is not mistreated at the dealership
-- Try Lumar or v-cool for front windshield. But maybe you can first see a few cars with windshield films to gauge if you are comfortable with them
-- Lastly enjoy your car!

Elito

A neat write up and a beautiful car! :)

Good to know that you found the advice useful and to your need.

And yes, do get the anti-rust coat done. As early as possible.

Happy motoring, Peter.

Peter - congrats on your car.
for ANHC owners - anyone shifted to alloys/fatter tyres? If you are considering it, what is recommended?

Peter, Hearty congrats on your new car, looks really majestic. Seat covers are nice. Drive safe.

Congrats on your new ride, White is the colour for ANHC. And you seats look fab, matching your car perfectly

peter,congrats on your new ride, cool colour and superb set of seat covers you got. Firstly though honda's are nothing to write about but still prefer to be at the service centre at the time of your car;s servicing, as dealers do sometimes mess up with that, else have a safe ride and keep upating!