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Old 16th April 2009, 00:22   #1
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All New Honda City (ANHC) - Initial Driving Experience

Hi everyone,

Forgetting and forgiving my sob story about my car, I am pleased to write my initial driving experience of the all new Honda City.

Exterior Design, Style, Utility
At first sight it reminded me of the BMW 3 series. The smooth flowing curves from the edge of the bonnet to the boot are very pleasing. Much better and well put together as one piece than the previous generation city. Large windows, massive front windscreen and appropriately sized rear glass seem very well proportioned and nothing is amiss here.

Tail lights are very BMW-ish again but attractive and large enough for good night time highway visibility. But Honda has messed up with the light design. Parking lights design looks messy and sort of unplanned or an output from last minute decisions on the tail lighting design.

Headlamps are rightly sized, but seem low on illumination power compared to fiesta and verna headlamp power.

Doors shut with a reassuring 'jhupp'. Made me feel like this car had decent quality metal.

Boot lid is very light and the feels delicate.

Getting in and out is a little cumbersome as the seats are low sprung compared to the earlier models. But the doors are large and can be opened very wide, which is good for senior citizens and toddlers as well.

The designs' overall utility level is very high as the car won't feel old too quickly and definitely won't get boring for a long time.

Interiors
Sporty driving position in the front, luxury car like low seating at the rear, softer seat cushions and good wide back with upright lumbar support. The seats provide enough thigh support for a tall person - 6 ft and above.

The dash set up and plastic quality is not refined and definitely does not offer the value one would expect from a car costing 9 - 10 lakh. The center console with the cheap silver paint finish is very tacky. Even a boring fiesta dash would put the city to shame.

Seat fabric is of reasonably good quality and the self design is good too. No need to put seat covers. Use the stock seats thoroughly and then put good quality seat covers.. Honda should have provided leather seats for the S variant though.

Boot well is large enough but the opening is constricted.

Steering wheel is the star among all in the interior. Very rich and sporty.

Driving experience
The driver seating position is simply sporty and very comfortable. Although, I had to stretch a little to grab the gear knob. Clutch is deep - which I don't prefer for a city sedan. Brake is soft but assertive. Steering wheel is small but thicker giving it a confident and sports like feel.

On start up the car seems to pull a little, the gear shifting seems 'jumpy' and slots seem small so it feels like the gear shaft is impatient and wants to pop out from 1st to 2nd without any prompting.

The pick-up is quick and effortless. Engine noise absent except when close to 2500 rpm. At 3000 rpm the engine sounds like a waking tiger. Waiting to complete the first service / 1000 kms to see whether the engine is as powerful as it sounds when it's waking.

The ride is stiff at low speeds and one can feel the concrete slab joints on the road and medium sized bumps. However, once you reach speeds above 50 kph the ride is smoother. But the rear is bouncy and bumpy just like the 1st gen city and a little like the Civic.

Steering is light and stress free. So fatigue levels are minimized to a great extent.

Acceleration is linear, smooth and light.

The car doesn't seem to have any ugly blind spots but definitely could do with larger & wider ORVMs and inside rear view mirrors.

Reversing the car seemed tough due to the tapering corners and slightly insufficient rear screen.

Fuel Efficiency
So far driven 400 kms approx. The mileage meter has been showing a consumption of 14 - 16 kmpl in city driving conditions. But I doubt it would be giving anything beyond 12 kmpl considering the tank empty to tank full calculations.

Overall
Very easy to drive, a dream on the highway (i hope), good handling, cornering, a bad deal for the tacky interiors.

I have just loaded the car with few accessories and alloys. Will post the pictures soon for all to appreciate and applaud!

I am attaching pics of the car at the time of delivery.

Hope to receive comments from current owners of the new city giving their own experiences.
Attached Thumbnails
All New Honda City (ANHC) - Initial Driving Experience-07042009871.jpg  

All New Honda City (ANHC) - Initial Driving Experience-07042009878.jpg  

All New Honda City (ANHC) - Initial Driving Experience-07042009876.jpg  

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Old 16th April 2009, 01:36   #2
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Liked the 1st pic - design makes the car look expensive than its price !! No wonder it is selling like hot cakes !!!
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Old 16th April 2009, 01:43   #3
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Any pics of the interiors? Also some of the engine bay, please.
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Old 16th April 2009, 02:04   #4
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congrats yash!!
enjoy the new car and drive safe!
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Old 16th April 2009, 02:12   #5
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nice review yash .even i am not a fan of the rear light design of honda city.
other wise it looks quite aerodynamic.keep updating ur review
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Old 16th April 2009, 07:43   #6
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The recesses for the door handles makes the handle's themselves look disproportionately large!(or is it just me?!)

Congrats on the buy-post the alloys for us to applaud!
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Old 16th April 2009, 08:59   #7
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Congrats Yash. Nice review and its quite obvious that you are enjoying the car. That's good. Post some more pics with all the accessories, alloys and interior shots.
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Old 16th April 2009, 09:39   #8
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Congrats on the new dream and a very nice review, looking forward to more pictures and deep dive comments on driving pleasures, service etc.

Cheers!
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Old 16th April 2009, 10:02   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yashodeep View Post
Headlamps are rightly sized, but seem low on illumination power compared to fiesta and verna headlamp power.
1st of all Congrats Yash. Welcome to the club!! Totally agree with this. I have been complaining about this since i TD it! Post the pics of the alloys. Cheers!!!
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Old 16th April 2009, 15:10   #10
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Congrats and a great review too! Do post pics of of the car with alloys.
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Old 16th April 2009, 15:58   #11
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Thank you all for appreciating my write-up. And yes, I forgot to mention that this car by far has the best leg room at the rear even with the front seats pulled back completely.

One negative aspect I figured just today. I wanted to remove the seat plastics and I just couldn't get them off the rear seats and I couldn't find the button to release the rear seat to fold it down. On checking with the dealer I figured that the rear seats are fixed!! I was very disappointed. This is not good as this feature is critical as an emergency exit option.
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Old 16th April 2009, 18:02   #12
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Nice review, Yashodeep. Quite balanced, I must say.

Typically, owners either go ga-ga over their new car or, are totally pissed off if they end up with a lemon (or possible lemon).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yashodeep View Post
On checking with the dealer I figured that the rear seats are fixed!! I was very disappointed. This is not good as this feature is critical as an emergency exit option.
Yes. It also gets quite handy if you can fold your rear seats completely. You get lot of usable space. I once used that space to transport 2 small bicycles (for my daughter and her friend).
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Old 17th April 2009, 11:40   #13
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Thanks for the compliments RX. Although there are many more things I will be writing about on my car. Will post in a day or two with pics.
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Old 17th April 2009, 15:27   #14
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Congrats Yashodeep. Thats one killer looks car on the roads. Enjoy the throttle but after a while. No hurries during the runnin time
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Old 17th April 2009, 16:13   #15
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What is the run in period for ANHC? 1000 kms, one month, or 1st service? Haven't completely read the manual though for this detail.
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