Honda City CVT replaces Maruti Suzuki Ciaz : Differences after 1000 km

No complaints in car running as I had maintained my car well. Wanted to upgrade the car within the Suzuki stable but realized that Suzuki has nothing to offer as an upgrade.

BHPian Golden Chariot recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was on the verge of completing 5 years with my Maruti Suzuki Ciaz Alpha MT, which served our needs as a family well. It had run about 60K Km and was due for a service. NO major complaints with Ciaz except that some plastic parts within the car had started peeling off. No complaints in car running as I had maintained my car well. Wanted to upgrade the car within the Suzuki stable but realized that Suzuki has nothing to offer as an upgrade. My option was only Invicto. Not only was it way above my budget, but it didn't meet my needs for a sleek feature loaded 5-seater car.

I was looking for a car with latest features especially around safety. So, started considering other brands in the market. My need was driving inside City 95 % of the time with 5 % in highways, interstate.

I initially shortlisted the VW Virtus and Skoda Slavia. But reading about horror stories of previous owners on the DQ 200 transmission failures in India and high cost of replacement, I started scouting for an alternative.

I considered the Verna, but the car is designed differently, not to my taste to be specific. Didn't like how it looks from the front.

Not a big fan of the ongoing SUV craze. I like the sedans more. Found my Ciaz to handle the road very well. I find Sedans are very stable on highways and offer good road handling.

Then I came across Honda City in an internet advertisement. I read about the car and felt it could meet my needs. I went to the nearest Honda dealership with an intention to test drive an automatic and manual both.

We went on a test ride with the automatic first. I just fell in love with the car. Some parts of the road were bad, but the car handled it really well. The CVT was smooth in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I then took the car on the highway and was once again impressed with its road handling.

Once we reached the dealership about 45 mins had passed, so skipped taking the trial of the manual as I had decided I would go for CVT.

Took the pricing from the dealership and went home. I booked the Obsidian blue colour as it looked great on the car.

The only bummer in the buying experience was that Honda announced a 1-2% price effective 01st April and as I was going for a lease, I had to re-start the process as the car cost had increased by about 36K, due to lesser discount being offered in April vs March. Unfortunately, had to accept it and move ahead. I checked the car price with other dealers also and they confirmed that the price had increased and they were also quoting a higher price. More or less, worked together with the dealer to complete the sale process.

Finally got the delivery of the car. The car is an absolute pleasure to drive, especially in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Took it for interstate spin and was impressed with the way the car handled the highway. I got the car fitted with Bridgestone tyres, which was also a pleasant surprise as they are good tyres.

Completed the first service at 1000Km and have been quite satisfied with my purchase.

Some differences from my 2019 Ciaz MT:

1. Plastic quality inside Honda City is premium. in Ciaz the chrome had started peeling off after 4 years.
2. The interiors are plush and look expensive in City.
3. Ride quality is better in City. Though Ciaz had a higher ground clearance of 170mm, the alpha trim had low profile tyres 195 55 R16(tyre pressure 29 psi recommended by Suzuki), resulting into the car scraping the underside on bad roads. The City with lower ground clearance of 165mm, with tyres 185 55 R16 (tyre pressure 35 psi recommended by Honda), does not scrape the underside on same bad roads.
4. The ADAS braking is abrupt and hard especially inside the city, especially when the ADAS suspects you are heading for a collision. Happens when you are turning inside the city roads as car treats any oncoming traffic as obstruction without realizing that the car driver is still turning the steering to complete the turn.
5. The TPMS requires a reset every time you fill air in tyres.
6. The Honda connect app works smoothly.
7. Honda City is giving me a mileage of 12/ Litre of petrol inside the City with a mix of bumper-to-bumper traffic and some free runs. The Ciaz was doing about 13/ litre in the city.
8. It's my first car with a sunroof, though it’s quite hot & sunny presently to be able to use it.

I use Eco mode inside the city. The sports mode is quite peppy and the slight lag that you experience on the CVT vanishes in sports mode. But the trade-off would be on the mileage. Otherwise, a nice car and am enjoying the ride.

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