[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I finally found some time to spend with the car (not driving, that is).

The City is now five years old and the odometer reads 37400 kms; the car, though, feels much younger.

The car looks lovely. The paint gloss is as good as new. Can't say that it is 5 years old. Any specific care you took for the paint care?

Also any plans for a replacement or upgrade?

My City will also turn 5 coming October and have nearly 30k on the odo. I have no plan of replacing it. The current gen City looks almost similar to it, same petrol engine and comes with unexpected niggles.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

The car looks lovely. The paint gloss is as good as new. Can't say that it is 5 years old. Any specific care you took for the paint care?

Absolutely none, actually. Not even the 3M jazz or any DIY detailing. Just regular cleaning that the apartment guys do.

Also any plans for a replacement or upgrade?

None yet, but I'd like to! This is dad's daily drive and he is pretty happy with it.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

My City will also turn 5 coming October and have nearly 30k on the odo. I have no plan of replacing it. The current gen City looks almost similar to it, same petrol engine and comes with unexpected niggles.

Yours looks smashing as well!

[libranof1987]

I had taken the City for servicing today; I wasn't really happy with the timing of the servicing since we're bang in the middle of the monsoon but we had a rough day last weekend driving through knee deep water so I thought it was a good time for a check. If we end up driving through those conditions again, I might just take the car in once more.

The odometer is at 38,000 kms and the SA said we could either do the simple 35k kms service or take an early 40,000kms service which is considered a major one. Given that we were just shy of 40k and I had some issues with the car (erratic engine firing), I asked him to proceed with the 40k service. The 40k service is a fairly comprehensive one and esp. effective since the car is 5 years old and hasn't had any major repair or replacement.

Here's what it entails:

1) 40,000k service routine (about Rs. 2200)
2) Engine oil + Oil filter (Rs. 1500)
3) He said he would check the Air filter and change if necessary but I asked him to change it anyway (Rs. 1500: Filter + Assembly)
4) Misc. consumables (Rs. 200)
5) Brake assembly check (Rs. 700): a big ticket item for me
6) Injector cleaning (Rs. 1100)
7) Lubrication: he said, this was some synthetic lubrication applied to all the mechanicals and could be a major expense if required but somehow wasn't necessary
8) Throttle Body Cleaning: the highlight of the servicing. I had some issues on lower gears where the engine output wasn't very smooth. This being a part of the 40k service was the main reason I went for it. (Rs. 400)

**9) Radiator flushing: this was for about Rs. 2.5k and entailed cleaning the radiator. On visual inspection, I did not see a lot of damage or choking on the radiator so decided to give this a skip.

- I asked him to change the sump guard since it was bent way too much and scraping even the tiny speedbreakers but he didn't have it in stock so ended up just adjusting it
- Clutch check
- The technician has made a remark on the battery status on the job card and the voltage across terminals is 12.5V. The battery is now 5 years old and still works effectively but in all probability, I will get it replaced before winter. Simply for peace of mind.

Overall, the car feels much smoother now. The service cost a very reasonable Rs. 7700.

--
Some misc. points:

- The timing belt replacement is at 1,00,000 kms
- The clutch assembly costs a whopping Rs. 30,000!
- The waiting period for the City in Gurgaon is: Petrol (8-12 weeks), Diesel and A/Ts (12-16 weeks)

[libranof1987]

Ain't that a pretty face!



Another year gone!

At the six-year mark, the City is fairing remarkably! The odo reads 46000 kms and the car barely shows any signs on ageing.

The City is dad's daily drive and in peak Gurgaon traffic, he gets about 17 kmpl with continuous a/c usage.

I just got the routine maintenance done at the Honda A.S.S., the following were done:

- Engine oil and oil filter change
- Air filter change
- A/c filter (pollen filter) change
- Brake check and bleeding

Since all other mechanicals (clutch, suspension) are okay, they were just checked.

The stock battery was performing well: none of the electricals showed any dimming, nor did the engine show any reluctance in cranking. But, given that it has been six years, we got it proactively changed.

I researched a bit and was contemplating Exide and Amaron; eventually decided on the Honda recommended Amaron Go battery (18+18 months warranty, Rs. 3300 including old battery buy back).

The total bill came to Rs. 9300.

Overall, the car is a delight to drive!

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Ain't that a pretty face!

Attachment 1531126

Another year gone!

At the six-year mark, the City is fairing remarkably! The odo reads 46000 kms and the car barely shows any signs on ageing.

The City is dad's daily drive and in peak Gurgaon traffic, he gets about 17 kmpl with continuous a/c usage.

!

Nice to see City in perfect shape.

How long you are planning to further keep the car? Thinking of replacing City with next gen City?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Nice to see City in perfect shape.

How long you are planning to further keep the car? Thinking of replacing City with next gen City?

My dad absolutely doesn't want to replace the car; I had offered to buy him a new car and use the City. He flat refused.

Definitely no City now as we'd like to go one or two segment up. Either way, I will not buy a Honda anymore: when some manufacturers are taking steps forward with each passing year, Honda seems to be taking some backward. Most importantly, the fickle build quality is not in sync with our changing road conditions.

[libranof1987]

I got the airbag module replaced yesterday; I was told that it would take two hours but the technician did it in half an hour. A fairly standard process; pics attached.

This is the packaging; they write the job card and your car's reg no. on this, and fill it with your car's module that was changed



Process begins with unscrewing the airbag area



That module out



He had to cut some metal piece out, that covered the module



The module



Unscrewing the module



The module taken out



New one goes in



Replacement done. Notice the black cloth strips; there was a metal piece that was cut out earlier between these two ends; not needed not

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I got the airbag module replaced yesterday; I was told that it would take two hours but the technician did it in half an hour. A fairly standard process; pics attached.

I registered on their website last month regarding the part replacement recall process but no one has contacted me yet for the job.

How they initiated the replacement process in your case?

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

I registered on their website last month regarding the part replacement recall process but no one has contacted me yet for the job.

How they initiated the replacement process in your case?

I called them up and told them it is applicable for my car; they weren't proactive in calling. Heck, they didn't even bother to check when my car went it for regular maintenance earlier this week.

[libranof1987]

The odo stands at 46666 and the City continues to chug along.

In the last couple of months, a series of car-related conversations took place and it was ultimately decided that the City would be at our service for a few more years.

This meant that although the tyres had quite some tread left on them, given the age (six years) and the abuse the tyres have been through on Gurgaon roads, I felt the City needed a change of shoes.

There's a tyre shop on Sohna road, Gurgoan (T-Mart) where I've been taking all our cars for wheel alignment/balancing for quite a few years now so checked with them if they had tyres for the iVtec City in stock. Since they had a couple of brands and a couple of products from each, went in for the change.

The City comes with 175/65 R16 and although I would ideally like a slightly larger width, I decided to stick with the stock size.

A couple of BHPian friends recommended Bridgestone Turanza (which is no longer available) or Yokos/Michelin (which the dealer advised against).

Eventually, decided on the Bridgestone B250. There are a couple of products that apply to this version of the City. Bridgestone B250 and B290, the difference between the two being a small difference in the tread. Checked their stock of tyres and selected the newest ones: two are 1816, others 2016 (18/20 being the week, 16 the year).

Decided to change four tyres and keep one of the older lot as a spare. Wheel balancing done, filled in regular air, got wheel alignment done and was good to go.

Each tyre cost 5k and the dealer offered graciously offered Rs. 100/tyre as buy-back.

Paid a total of Rs. 19,500 for the four tyres, wheel alignment and balancing.



--

Overall, this has been an eventful year for the City.

Regular maintenance done, battery changed a few months back, took a royal bath at Hero Honda chowk during the infamous rains and the resulting mess.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Other than this I am also facing issue of noise from driver side power window switch set when music is played over 20 due to bass.

Do you still have this issue? Did you get it fixed or did it disappear?

I've been hearing this in my City since a few months now. Turns out, the problem is a malfunctioning power window master switch. Costs 13k.

(The noise disappears when I push the panel towards the door frame)

We had gotten the 7 year extended warranty during last service; will try to get it covered under that.

[zoom_vroom]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Do you still have this issue? Did you get it fixed or did it disappear?

I've been hearing this in my City since a few months now. Turns out, the problem is a malfunctioning power window master switch. Costs 13k.

(The noise disappears when I push the panel towards the door frame)

We had gotten the 7 year extended warranty during last service; will try to get it covered under that.

I have faced this problem since 1st year, and everytime i tell service advisor, he says its non issue.
I never knew this is an issue with power window switch. That is the only rattle in my 7 year old City.
And i seem to realise it is a manufacturing defect with so many people facing it.

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Do you still have this issue? Did you get it fixed or did it disappear?

I've been hearing this in my City since a few months now. Turns out, the problem is a malfunctioning power window master switch. Costs 13k.

(The noise disappears when I push the panel towards the door frame)

We had gotten the 7 year extended warranty during last service; will try to get it covered under that.

Yes, this issue is still present, no fixes yet.

I have just become more habitual of that noise.

Will surely not like to spend 13k if the reason of the noise is the power window switch!

[libranof1987]

Time for the yearly service update.

The odometer reads 51075 kms, this past year seeing slightly lesser usage.

Took the car in and the SA suggested getting the 55k service, which itself is a routine service with no major replacements.

Jobs done:

1) Engine oil, oil filter change
2) Air filter change
3) A/c filter check, no need for change
4) Throttle body cleaning
5) Brake cleaning, sanded the brake pads
* Checked the brake pads, the mechanic said they'd last some more. Decided to get it done next service

** A pair of brake pads cost ~ Rs. 5700

6) Suspension and clutch check, no problems

A) During inspection, the mechanic found that the rear window switches weren't working: both, on the rear door, and on the driver door

B) He mentioned that the low-tone on the horn wasn't working

Last year, we got the 1 year Extended Warranty so both the above were replaced under warranty. Just in the nick of time!

C) The passenger side airbag module was to be replaced; that was taken care of

The total came to Rs. 5270.

Back to regular business for another year!

[aerohit]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

• Rs. 1500: Air Filter + Assembly

• A pair of brake pads cost ~ Rs. 5700

• An air filter costs about 300-400.

• I doubt brake brake pads cost that much. Should be half of that amount.

There are other things also, but for now these are the things that stood out most.

Your maintenance cost is way too high, for example radiator does not need to be flushed on these Hondas until 1 Lakh KM (or 5 yrs).

Its a Japanese doll, not a German dog.