[trrk]

Hi,

Originally Posted by Guna

Not surprising. NHC had much shorter gearing (to make up for less powerul engine?) which would make the engine buzzy on the highway with 100 kmph coming over 3000 rpm. In ANHC 100 kmph comes well under 2800 rpm.

Not in the CVT!

The highest gearing in the CVT is 250RPM for every 10kph, that would be 2500RPM at 100kph. Actually it is just under that. All this as shown in the guages.

This highest gearing is possible only at an indicated 60kph and upwards, the moment the speed goes below 60kph, the RPM becomes 300 for every 10kph.

[GTO]

Nice review, Congrats! Interesting to read on the perspective from an NHC owner to the ANHC.

Originally Posted by Mevtec

Repaired left side rear view mirror of our NHC which broke off when a ?coconut fell on it, free of cost at the dealership.

How did you get a free replacement?

Took the test drive of the Civic too. Surprising fact was that the car had more similarities to Civic than NHC! The engine was very refined, the car accelerated like a racing car after 3000 rpm with a sporty engine note.

Spoke the market's mind. They see the ANHC as being nearly the car that the Civic is, at 75% of the price!

Interior quality of the ANHC is not inferior to NHC. Since we have both the cars now it is evident that ANHC interior looks dull compared to NHC.But I feel the quality is good.

The NHC's interiors definitely looked & felt better, which by itself is an important consideration. However, the parts that Honda uses are extremely durable. My own 7 year old OHC interiors show nearly nothing for the wear. Honda would have done well to make them look better as well.

Despite being huge, poor interior design has led to lack of interior space and a middle seat with a bulge in the centre.

I hear that the center bulge has been removed from the SX4, thus making it a proper 5 seater again. However, production has been stopped presumably for a better engine, so you've done well.

Gave a present to the Sales rep,a Team BHP influence.

Awesome! Will make a huge difference when you go back to the dealership.

Originally Posted by Su-47

The ANHC has been named more than often on the most over-rated cars thread. The fact that it is a little more expensive than competition is probably the reason that it has landed there.

But, if someone can afford the slightly expensive price tag, there is nothing that offers the balance of good power, space, safety-features, decent FE and ownership experience that the ANHC does.

Congratulations!

Well said. It is an all rounder from the C segment.

Drive safe, Mevtec!

[Mevtec]

Dear Friends I was able to do a few long trips in the last 6 months. The car has done 7800km today. By Gods grace the car runs perfectly. These are my initial impressions of the highway manners of the car. I am basically comparing it to our previous cars (NHC and Swift Diesel).Sorry if you feel it is not right to bring Swift Diesel in to the picture.


ANHC is a huge improvement over our NHC (Gxi) in the highway. Especially in terms of power, handling, comfort and ride. Many may disagree, but this what my family and I felt. Our Swift Vdi even though it is more economical to run, none in the family is in favour of it for the long trips. Mainly due to its poor back seat comfort.


Many have complained that the performance felt during the test drive of ANHC was not as impressive as expected, based on the engine specifications. I was very careful not to cross the 2500 rpm before the second service (5000 km). I told the service advisor that the car’s pick up is less than our NHC!



Then the service advisor taught me how to properly drive the i VTEC in their test drive vehicles, ANHC and a CIVIC! It was a revelation.My driving style is more diesel car oriented. I try to be as smooth as possible with the accelerator inputs and try to shift at the correct rpm. Especially when my father is around. I was told to floor the gas pedal in second gear. The performance of ANHC is amazing .You get a racing car like engine note too! But the CIVIC was more brutal touched almost 90 km in second gear!I envied Immortalz for a moment.



If you compare it with the acceleration of other petrol cars like Fiesta 1.6, Ford 1kon 1.6, Baleno, Fiat Palio 1.6 and OHC VTEC you may be disappointed. You may not get the surge in power in all the gears irrespective of the rpm.But that’s the strength of the i VTEC.It will give you power when you need it. Otherwise it helps to conserve fuel.



What is the use of a powerful car with poor mileage, unless you are a multi millionare.It hard to use it daily. Most of us will avoid small trips in the car or rely on a motorbike especially for city use. One of my friends who has a petrol Optra Magnum (2008) still keeps his Matiz and motorbike for small distance travel.


The difference in power is felt in 70-80 km overtaking moves. The Sumos,Indicas,Indigo,DDiS,Quadrajets,Xylos,Scorpio s (don’t know about mHawk) and most petrol cars under 10 lakh can be overtaken easily in a decent stretch ,unless they are driven in a crazy manner .


A small pressure on the accelerator in 4 th gear at 80 km/h (about 3000 rpm) will get you to about 120 km/h in quick time. But as a true Bhpian I have pledged never to race in the road. All drivers who want to overtake are allowed to do so irrespective of their car’s performance status.But I have made a few mistakes due to "Ego" .Which did not lead to any problem by God's grace.Will write on that later.



This car is not a new NHC it’s a JUNIOR CIVIC.


Please note the last picture.Can you guess what I did to the car two days back?

[Mevtec]

Originally Posted by GTO

Nice review, Congrats! Interesting to read on the perspective from an NHC owner to the ANHC.

How did you get a free replacement?

Thank you GTO for the encouragement.

The side mirror was hanging with the wire attached.I think a small coconut or coconut palm's leaf (we call it Madal,can be used as a cricket bat) fell along the side of the car .But luckly there was no damage to the mirror except for the nuts not aligning properly.They just fixed the mirror.

Originally Posted by GTO

Awesome! Will make a huge difference when you go back to the dealership.

Thats true the sales person is my friend now !.He came for tea at my house once.! And now he in service section.So I give my car to him for service now.

[Jaggu]

Nice car and nice review. Do keep updating, though i wouldn't agree to sales people way of driving the car.

For any car, feel the power band rather the torque curve and shift within that band, for best FE and decent acceleration, above this you extract the bhp and over enthu the engine and just waste fuel

[oss]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Nice car and nice review. Do keep updating, though i wouldn't agree to sales people way of driving the car.

For any car, feel the power band rather the torque curve and shift within that band, for best FE and decent acceleration, above this you extract the bhp and over enthu the engine and just waste fuel

Well that could be because, the VTEC cam gets activated around 3200 rpm, but disengages only when the rpm falls belopw 2700.

If you want more torque, take the rpm above 3200 which is much easier in 2nd gear in city traffic when you don't get a open stretch, activate the VTEC cam, and shift gears higher, but making sure the rpm doesnot fall below 2700. This way you will enjoy the surge in power, but ofcourse at the cost of FE.

[EssYouWe]

When I TD'd the ANHC, I found the engine note at 3k+ simply awesome. There was impressive acceleration at hand, yet it was very controlled.

I could still decide how fast I wanted to jump. I do remember seeing the IC falling below 10 at those times . The car is superb fun to drive.

@MeVtec

You got sun film.

[Mevtec]

Originally Posted by EssYouWe

You got sun film.

Yes you are right! I have posted details of the sun film in the accessories section but I think it is essential to write it in the initial report section also. Mainly because I had researched a lot on this subject and was really confused in the end. The information in Team Bhp forums were very useful.

I have installed Garware Ice Cool series film in my ANHC after nearly 6 months of research. I wanted good heat rejection since ANHC has a big glass area.I researched a lot in the net. But impressions about Garware were not very positive. So I decided to go for V Kool.Contacted the dealer in Cochin, the estimate was around Rs.35,000 for V kool 70 for all the glass area.
So I waited for some months to save the money for V Kool .

Then my friend in Honda told me that films like V kool are costly because they are imported . He told me that some good quality variants of 3M and Garware were equally good. So I met the guy who is the dealer of 3M and Garware.He is the one who installs sun control film for Indus Motors (Maruthi) and Honda in Trivandrum.

He had various series of Garware,3M and V kool sample films (he got the V Kool catalogue for some actor's car).But to my surprise V kool films were similar to Garware highend Ice cool range at least in the feel and transparency. I was not able to test the heat rejection. Since the ICE Cool series of Garware was only one third the price of V kool I decided to give it a try. Garware ICE Cool series has specs similar to V kool at least in paper.

I wanted 50% visibility for sides and 70% visiblility for back and front glass. But the film with 50% visiblity had a relatively low heat rejection and the privacy factor was low.

So opted for 40% visibility and 70% heat rejection -Garware ICE COOL Grand for back and sides ( Cost Rs.8000 ,bit high than I have seen in the net. I am not good at bargaining) and ICE Cool Shield (RTO approved 70% visibility - Rs.4250)for the front glass.

Another option was to go for the Ice Cool Elite.Will write the detailed specs at the end of the post.


http://www.garwaresuncontrol.com/pro.../car_packs.pdf

Initial impression

The performance of ICE Cool Grand is really impressive. Use of the AC has reduced considerably, especially in the morning. The interiors get cooled more quickly.

The ICE Cool Shield in the front glass is also good. No visibility problems in day or night. Had small bubbles ,it has disappeared in 2 days. No halo effect. Excellent installation by a guy and his team ,who has been doing it for 13 years. He has a car with front glass film (ICE Cool Shield) so before installation I had a ride in it at night.

According to the Sun film dealer 3M is better than Llumar!.

Garware has films ranging from Rs.800 to Rs.9000.There are also fake Garware films. They export films to many countries. Most films installed at dealers as free are of poor quality. So based on that we cannot say that Garware sun film is bad.

The guy who installs the film was surprised when he saw me taking photographs of the sun film installation.Told him that I will put the pictures in the net for my friends.He says nobody asks about things like heat rejection and visible light transmission.

Every one wants the darkest film possible for the money spend ! And films like ICE Cool Grand are installed only by one in hundred “nut” like me!


Product Specs

Garware Suncontrol Icecool range is the top of the line product range.The warranty for the Icecool range is 5 years.
Icecool Grand High end film with a heat rejection of 70%,VLT 40%.

Icecool Elite A Central Motor Vehicle Rule 1989 compliant film which 50% heat rejection and has a VLT of 70%.Cheaper than Ice Cool Grand.

Icecool Shield :Superior film developed for the Windscreen that has a VLT of 70% and rejects heat upto 50%.

V Kool Specs - V K 40 is more expensive.
Visible Light Transmission V Kool 70 (70.0%) V Kool 40 (43.0%)
Ultra-Violet Rejection V Kool 70 (99.0%) V Kool 40 (99.0%)
Total Solar Energy Rejection V Kool 70 (55.0% ) V Kool 40 (65.0%)


Will continue to update on the films in my ownership report.

[Arun1]

I too am looking for sunfilm for my i10.
Could you post pics of your car from different angles please.I want to see how transparent is 40% transparency :-)

[EssYouWe]

@Arun1

Would be better if you see it applied on a car. The pics will give you absolutely no idea.

They seem to have different reflection at different distances and angles.

@Mevtec

I did quite a bit of research too for my brother's Punto. I finally decided on RE-35 for side and rear and the CR-70(both 3Ms) for the front. V-Kool and 3M are quite similar in performance. At least not as differing as the pricing might suggest. Afaik 3M is better than llumar. How much did you get this for?

I want to get films for my Scorp, 3M for a Scorp would be way too expensive.

Hope you are enjoying the car. Looking forward to more updates on it.

[Mevtec]

Originally Posted by EssYouWe

@Arun1

Would be better if you see it applied on a car. The pics will give you absolutely no idea.

They seem to have different reflection at different distances and angles.

Hope you are enjoying the car. Looking forward to more updates on it.

Hi @Arun1,EssYouWe is right.Ice cool Grand has a reflective nature.In shade or when we are close to the window the person sitting inside can be seen easily.It is not very dark.When the car is in the sun due to reflection from the film there is less visibility from outside.But it wont produce any problem with the cops.When we sit inside the outside vision is very good.No problem to use rear and side mirriors ,even at night.

I will post some more pictures,I am a bit busy now.
Please note the last picture I have posted on 27th Sept.It is taken in the shade just after sun film installation of the driver side window.


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...vdi-window.jpg

@EssYouWe,I spend nearly Rs.13,000.But in your place it might be cheaper.Since I have been dreaming about V Kool I felt it was VFM,and did not bargain. Please ensure that the film has proper label.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by Mevtec

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...vdi-window.jpg

@EssYouWe,I spend nearly Rs.13,000.But in your place it might be cheaper.Since I have been dreaming about V Kool I felt it was VFM,and did not bargain. Please ensure that the film has proper label.

not bad. I went for Vkool in the front and 3M for the rest in my ANHC. Cost was around 15.5K. (~11 for vkool and 4.5 for 3M).

[CBlazer]

Originally Posted by SkyWalker

not bad. I went for Vkool in the front and 3M for the rest in my ANHC. Cost was around 15.5K. (~11 for vkool and 4.5 for 3M).

Where did you get the film installed? All dealers seem to quote something like 5.5 K for 3M film.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by CBlazer

Where did you get the film installed? All dealers seem to quote something like 5.5 K for 3M film.

Honda Dealership itself - Magnum Honda. This was in Mar 09 - not sure if the prices have increased since then. I am sure you can get it a little cheaper outside - i wanted to avoid the hassle of taking it outside and waiting there while they finish the work.

[DigitalDragon]

Nice work Mevtec. An exhaustive unbiased report. Now I am a bit inclined towards ANHC. If I read it correctly, it does not come with CD player. Is it true ?