Need to upgrade from my pre-owned Honda Civic: Test driving City e:HEV

I was hoping that Toyota would price its Hyryder sensibly but no such luck. It appears to be just as high as the Honda minus the ADAS.

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I currently drive a 2009 pre-owned Civic and I am in need of an upgrade very soon. The replacement has to be an automatic with cruise control plus adequate safety features like 6 airbags, disc brakes on all 4 wheels, ABS, EBD, ESP, Traction control, Hill Hold, Engine Immobilizer etc. EV is not an option as I park on the road and no dedicated space for a wall charger. Hence considered Hybrid as an option.

I took a test drive of the Honda City e:HEV today. I will not go into the Pros and Cons and the misses that should have been there for a car at this price range. It has already been covered at length on this forum. I can’t help re-iterate my gripe for the lack of factory-fitted tinted glasses - a big minus in my view.

This car handled much like a 5th Gen City. Speed and Pickup were comparable to my Civic. I took the car for a long test drive. On the stretch that I get 7 – 7.5 on the Civic it showed 17 on the MID. On the stretch where I get 11.5-12 on the Civic (Dadar to Vikhroli), I got 24.9. This is pretty impressive as I was not holding back and driving with a heavy foot in normal mode – not Eco.

I then re-set the MID and got on the Freeway from Govandi to downtown. Revved the car to 70 on the climb up the hill, the MID showed 17. By the time I got off the expressway at Wadala, it was at 21. Then there was the usual crawl under the expressway and near Antop Hill till I reached home at Dadar East. Net result 24.

On the Wadala hill slope, I stopped on the incline. My Civic would hold and stay still. This one crept forward very slowly. The creep function is quite strong.

The left-side camera was a pretty good feature. The collision avoidance system did sound an alarm when a pedestrian came too close. Can’t test if it comes to a halt in real-life conditions. Could not test adaptive cruise control but the usual one worked fine.

We have some pretty horrendous speed breakers or more correctly axle breakers in my neighbourhood. I usually crawl over them in my Civic. I went over them at 20 kms with ease.

Much has been said about the puny boot space of 300 Lts. Many have written this car off their list for this reason. But I was quite surprised. It fitted two 24 Inch bags quite comfortably with space for a slim duffel bag in between. In addition, you could fit 2 haveys in the space left in front of the bags and two small soft bags or on the side crevices. You can fit a laptop in the space below the floorboard near the spare wheel. Pretty decent space unless you pack heavy.

All in all, pretty good fuel efficiency and a joy to drive. Fly in the ointment is the outrageous premium. It costs 23.16 L on the road without TCS and optional add-ons.

I was hoping that Toyota would price their Hyryder sensibly but no such luck. It appears to be just as high as Honda minus the ADAS.

Pre-owned cars are now priced outrageously, and there are not many safety features available in the newer models. The entry of corporates with deep pockets into this sector has ensured that prices stay high. Car companies are also demanding their pound of flesh. We are helplessly ripped off either way.

Do intend to wait and test drive the Hyryder but I am pretty confused about which way to proceed.

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