[Habanero City]

Hello Fellow BHPians,
Last month, I bought an ANHC and would like to share my initial use experience.
I have hardly used 150 KMs in the last 2 weeks and yet to use the car at nights and take it to highway and so I will add more about these experiences in the coming days as well.
ANHC was chosen as it was a proven and reliable car though at a premium for the brand Honda.
Surely I was not disappointed with the choice.
I have prepared a separate buying experience report as well, but understood that this thread is only for test drive and initial use experience.
Could someone guide me where I can post the buying experience.
Team BHP has been very useful to me during the entire process of purchasing this car especially the PRI and PDI checklists.
I could follow them except for a few like test drive the car.
Also several fellow BHPians experiences such as raghu230506, jayanth_yk, rr_zen, kalyan_hyd, mkh and several others were very helpful.
Sorry guys I could not consult you as I became a member just a week ago and I bought the car last month.

The details of the Lady in Red is as follows:
ANHC Model: S-MT
Color: Habanero Red Pearl
Delivery Date: 22-September-2010
Dealer: Olympia Honda, Chennai
Accessories Installed:
3M RE-35 for the 4 windows and rear windshield
Original Honda 5 spoke Alloys, set of 5

What I Liked:

• Gem of an engine, super smooth and silent, in fact so silent that except for the a/c compressor and or cooling fan noise and of course the tachometer, one cannot tell whether the engine is running or not. Hats off to Honda
• Silent cabin
• Powerful a/c that cools the cabin quickly
• Good rear seat comfort, most important in my case as the occupants (my 2 daughters) are budding auto enthusiasts and will not be pleased with any discomfort.
• No compromise on safefy features (ABS, EBD, SRS airbag, day and night mirror etc.,) or comfort, again the premium paid for Honda standard, Even the lowest model EMT has all the safety features except for stereo, remote lock, alloys and other cosmetics.
• Good stock music system, although CD player is missing, have to live with it and change to MP3 format
• Could get Michelin XM1+ as stock tyres, though they are skinny
• Steering with audio controls, surprisingly even Civic does not have this feature
• Impressive fuel efficiency for such a powerful car
• No additional costs for "basic accessories" such as mudflaps, foot mats and number plate
• No additional costs 2 year Extended warranty

What I Did not Like:

• The central locking does not have an alarm and no protection for intrusion
• The doors do not lock/unlock when the vechicle is started/stopped, quite a nuisance to remember to lock and unlock everytime
• Central locking does not have any mechanism to relase the boot lock and has to be manually opened with the key, but strangely it releases the fuel tank door. How I wish it was made in the opposite way like my good old 8 year old WagonR.
• No climate control
• No disc brake for the rear wheels
• No key hole illumination
• No illumination for power window switches except for driver door 1 switch
• Small rear view mirror that hardly covers the full width of rear windshield
• Skinny tyres for such a powerful car, in fact the most powerful in its class and Honda's threat of voiding the warranty for any upgrade at our cost
• Muted sound of the horn, even the NHC sounded better
• Duplicate key without remote lock
• Protruding antenna, could have been a sleek glass type antenna like SX4 or a retractable motorized one
• No sidestep protection (usually a plastic strip) for any of the doors, even cheaper Maruti cars have this to protect from scratches during getting in or out of the car
• No 12V power out let at the rear seats
• No a/c vents exclusive for the rear seats

Some of the above are real ripoffs and show the stinginess of Honda. Come on Honda, give the Indian Customers their due and value for the money.

What I Do not Know:

• Very large engine compartment for a compact engine, what is Honda up to
• Real time fuel efficiency meter in a very prominent display. When there is information of average FE and we know what to expect while buying a Honda which has demonstrated FE, what is the need for this. In fact it is a major distraction and people may try to adjust their driving to "achieve" higher theoretical FE which is meaningless
• Each of the ABC (accelerator, brake, clutch) pedals are located at different level. I don't know much about other cars, at least in WagonR it is not this conspicuous

Uploading some pictures to make the report complete:
Photo:1 Love at first sight, lady in red spotted for the first time
Photo: 2 Waiting at the RTO for registration
Photo: 3 Odometer reading after the registration
Photo: 4 After changing to Alloys
Photo: 5 On the ramp for overall inspection
Photo: 6 Ready to go home with us

Hope this information would be useful to fellow BHPians and wait to answer your questions.

[EARTHed]

Congrats on the City. Looks gorgeous.

Originally Posted by Habanero City

I have prepared a separate buying experience report as well, but understood that this thread is only for test drive and initial use experience.
Could someone guide me where I can post the buying experience.

You can include the buying experience here in this thread itself.

[Akshay1234]

Congrats on the car. The city looks really good in red.

You should post driving impressions ASAP otherwise the mods will lock the thread till you do so.

BTW about auto locking. It can be enabled and disabled on the Civic and the present Accord so I think it should be possible on this too.

Turn Door lock ON for vehicles with manual transmission when the car reaches 9MPH/15KPH:

1) Close the driver's door.
2) Turn the ignition to the ON (II) position.
3) Set the Parking Brake.
4) Push and hold the front of the master door lock switch on the driver's door. You will hear a clicking sound, and after about 5 seconds, you will hear another clicking sound.
5) Release the switch, and then turn the ignition switch to the LOCK (0) position within 5 seconds.

To unlock the driver's door on manual vehicles when the ignition switch is out of the ON (II) position.

1) Close the driver's door.
2) Turn the ignition switch to the ON (II) position.
3) Set the parking brake.
4) Push and hold the rear of the master door lock switch on the driver's door. You will hear a clicking sound, and after about 5 seconds, you will hear another clicking sound.
5) Release the switch, and turn the ignition switch to the LOCK (0) position within 5 seconds.

[nkrishnap]

Congrats on the City. The leader in the premium entry level sedan segment. I always liked this shade of red on the Civic and the City.

Would you please give the break up of the OTR price.

By the way, enjoy many more happy miles with the City.

[fuel_addict]

A nice looking car. Congrats. The alloys looks way too cool compared to the wheel caps.

"The central locking does not have an alarm and no protection for intrusion" - Is that because its a S Variant? Does it not have an immobilizer too? I thought the alarm security system was std. for all the City variants.

[raghu230506]

Hi HC,

Congratulations and welcome to ANHC club.

Glad to hear out posts have helped you in finalizing the ride.

Drive safe and have fun. Keep updating your experiences.

Cheers
Raghu

Originally Posted by Habanero City

[*] The central locking does not have an alarm and no protection for intrusion
> It has an immobilizer.

[*] The doors do not lock/unlock when the vechicle is started/stopped, quite a nuisance to remember to lock and unlock everytime
> Yes it'a annoying, I normally have child lock on rear seats. That way it's safe for the kids at rear
[*] Very large engine compartment for a compact engine, what is Honda up to

Iam only guessing to have an options to fit power full engines. I remember seeing a post/video ANHC has been fitted with a CIVIC 1.8 engine.

[*] Real time fuel efficiency meter in a very prominent display. When there is information of average FE and we know what to expect while buying a Honda which has demonstrated FE, what is the need for this. In fact it is a major distraction and people may try to adjust their driving to "achieve" higher theoretical FE which is meaningless

This is distracting initially, over a period of time you would use to it. I never see it anymore. What's fun in having an IVTEC and you can't rip it.

[Habanero City]

Originally Posted by EARTHed

Congrats on the City. Looks gorgeous.


You can include the buying experience here in this thread itself.

EARTHed,
Thanks for the wishes and comments noted.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Congrats on the car. The city looks really good in red.

You should post driving impressions ASAP otherwise the mods will lock the thread till you do so.

BTW about auto locking. It can be enabled and disabled on the Civic and the present Accord so I think it should be possible on this too.

Akshay,
Thanks for the wishes and advise.
Regarding the auto locking which you had mentioned for Civic and Accord, is this some kind of software/hardware crack that will enable the auto lock/unlock facility?
The procedure seems to be rather complicated, any experience of other ANHC users will be of great help

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Congrats on the City. The leader in the premium entry level sedan segment. I always liked this shade of red on the Civic and the City.

Would you please give the break up of the OTR price.

By the way, enjoy many more happy miles with the City.

Nkrishnap,
Thanks for the wishes, the price break up is as follows:
Ex-showroom: 880,500 (includes 12.5% VAT)
Road tax, Registration and "Incidentals": 96,650 (includes 10% road tax)
Insurance was given free by Honda, so OTR is 977,150.
The above price includes about 22.5% as VAT and road tax, don't know how much was paid for Excise duty and other levies and wonder how much would be the bare cost of the car at the factory !!!

Originally Posted by fuel_addict

A nice looking car. Congrats. The alloys looks way too cool compared to the wheel caps.

"The central locking does not have an alarm and no protection for intrusion" - Is that because its a S Variant? Does it not have an immobilizer too? I thought the alarm security system was std. for all the City variants.

fuel_addict,
Thanks for the wishes.
I agree for with comments on the alloys and that's the reason I changed it too.
The stock rims were painted black (stingy honda) and covered with plastic wheel covers that could runaway anytime.
Wanted to uprate the tyres to 195/60/15 but was intimidated by Honda for the warranty, after all it is 4 years 80K Km and didn't want to risk it. Besides I could get Michelin Energy XM1+ as stock tyres so it was OK
Central locking and immobilzer are common for all the variants (EMT, SMT and VMT) except that EMT does not have remote lock.
Though the lock and unlock will be visible with the hazard lights blinking, there is no audible alarm. This alright with me.
But most importantly, if the car is broken in either by opening the door or otherwise, there is no audible alarm to warn the neighborhood.
Wonder what is Honda's logic in this mechanism.

[zoom_vroom]

Congrats on the sparkling Red City.
Enjoy the car and make sure you go slow for the first thousand kilometres.
Drive safe and enjoy the pure bliss of the Honda engine.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by Habanero City

Akshay,
Thanks for the wishes and advise.
Regarding the auto locking which you had mentioned for Civic and Accord, is this some kind of software/hardware crack that will enable the auto lock/unlock facility?
The procedure seems to be rather complicated, any experience of other ANHC users will be of great help

Its kind of built into the software I think and you have to do this to enable it. Its not complicated at all, let me explain again. Why dont you try this, then you can confirm my doubt that it works on the City.

-Get into your car and shut the drivers door.
-Turn on the ignition, to the 2nd step. (position where if you turn any more the car will start)
-Pull the handbrake up.
-The central locking switch on your door, press it to the lock position, the doors will lock and make a clicking noise, keep it pressed for a few more seconds (maybe 5) till you hear another click. (To enable unlock just keep holding the unlock position of the button, but you will have to do all the steps again.)
-Then quickly turn the keys to the off position.

Why not try it and see if it works.

[raghu230506]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Its kind of built into the software I think and you have to do this to enable it. Its not complicated at all, let me explain again. Why dont you try this, then you can confirm my doubt that it works on the City.

-Get into your car and shut the drivers door.
-Turn on the ignition, to the 2nd step. (position where if you turn any more the car will start)
-Pull the handbrake up.
-The central locking switch on your door, press it to the lock position, the doors will lock and make a clicking noise, keep it pressed for a few more seconds (maybe 5) till you hear another click. (To enable unlock just keep holding the unlock position of the button, but you will have to do all the steps again.)
-Then quickly turn the keys to the off position.

Why not try it and see if it works.

Hi Akshay,

It's worth a try,

but one point, to lock all the doors one needs to pull/de-press the switch (not press) in ANHC.

I think there is nothing we can do to hold it for 5 more seconds.

Cheers
Raghu

[raghu230506]

Hi Akshay,

I just checked on my ANHC,

> once we lock right after that there is another click sound (I think this is what you were referring to).

I did try once to follow the steps but it didn't help, Would try it again this evening.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by raghu230506

Hi Akshay,

I just checked on my ANHC,

> once we lock right after that there is another click sound (I think this is what you were referring to).

I did try once to follow the steps but it didn't help, Would try it again this evening.

Whoops guess I didnt notice the City dosent have that switch. The switch im talking about is a door locking switch next to the window locking button etc.

My bad guys.

[veedub89]

congratulations on your new car! drive safe.
is that a blue micra i see in the second picture ??

[sachinj12]

Congrats on the car, she looks good in red.

Drive safe

[Habanero City]

Originally Posted by raghu230506

Hi HC,

Congratulations and welcome to ANHC club.

Glad to hear out posts have helped you in finalizing the ride.

Drive safe and have fun. Keep updating your experiences.

Cheers
Raghu

Hi Raghu,
Thanks for the wishes and response.
You guys seem to have a quite a few ANHC fan club at Bangalore.
You were quick to try Akshay's trick, I am not sure about it.
Will post updates later.
Regarding the extra large engine bay, I have had similar stories including a possible diesel engine in the future, but still I can't imagine Honda wasting such large premium space on all cars.

HC