Honda City [2011-2014] User Reviews

i have always envied the Honda vehicles, knowing they are some of the best machines when it comes to reliability, drivers car, good resale value and so on.  hoping to graduate onto a sedan, i have been on the look out for the best vehicle i could lay my hands on.  And Lo here comes the new Honda City Ivitec 1.5.

it has stunning looks especially from the nose end and the tail part (resemblance to the BMW is very noticeable). having read many of the reviews in auto magazines, i understand that the company has gone miles to correct all the mistakes it made in coming out with the cabin front model of the city - which had a wierd look, a heavy bottomed lady look from the back and a steering which was too light and with a poor feed back of the road conditions, the engine which was too smooth and serene to capture the heart of a tough driver.  all these issues appears to have got addressed in this new model - from what i could understand by going through the reviews.  The cherry on the pie is the good mileage the beast offers, compared to the old model.

so why not go for it?  that is what i feel.  wait till i would get a chance to drive the car and then i should be able to add more to these comments of mine. 

good style, charming looksside on view

Dear Readers,
           I absolutely fell in love with Honda, after buying the First Gen City way back in 2000 (1.3 Exi). It is still rocking around with hardly any probs and 1,26,000 on the clock. It had an involving drive and had a powerful engine (It still puts Swifts, Ikons and Lancers to shame on the road) with decent interiors. The second gen City was an absolute disappointment. Thank god I did  not buy it, though the dealer almost convinced me to. So I was eagerly waiting for the Third gen. And finally got my hands on it. A 1.5 S MT. The experience is more than satisfying...... Worth the wait i tell you.
          The car is now 15 days old. Done 500 kms on the Odo. Gives a Mileage of 13 in the City(With AC) and 16 in the Highway(With AC). The looks grab a lot of attention. As if its ready to pounce. The Engine is a beauty, just like any other Honda. 118 Horses under the hood. Loves to be thrashed over 4000 rpm. The interiors are ok but the ac knobs are a huge let down. Steering Wheel is Civic like. Small, Sexy with mounted Audio Controls. Audio System wont  be a disappointment even for the enthusiast. The cabin tends to get a bit noisy if pushed hard. Seats are a beauty. Comfy. Rear seat comfort is also good. The Console lighting is too orangey. Not my taste. The boot is Spacious. 510 Litres. The rubber is definitely narrow for such a beautiful car. It surely needs an upgrade, atleast to 195/60 R15.
Though it has a few cons here and there, Overall, I tell you, Its definitely worth it. It is very rare that you find a dissatisfied Honda customer. This speaks about the quality of the car.
Thats it for now. Will keep you posted about my experience.
Bye,
Dr.Praveen.

Great Looks, Refined, Powerful and Rev Happy Engine, Good Mileage, Spacious Interiors.Mediocre AC Control Knobs, No Alloys, No Climate Control, No Leather Seats, No Discs at the Rear.

Thanks to you and city buyers, India has become one of the largest market for city. Within fortnight of City international debut in Thailand, Honda has brought the new city (third generation) to India. This entry level C-segment car is slowly becoming global and Honda plans to introduce this new city in european market too. The front end of the new city looks bold with a protruding three deck grille. Complementing the grille are the sharply styled headlamps and the muscular front bumper. The side blinkers are nicely placed near the headlamp cluster to give an integrated look. The sharp cuts and creases on the bonnet give it both a sporty and solid theme. The new city rides on 15-inch wheels but the narrow tyres does not blend with the overall appearance. Come to the rear, you would mistake the cars as BMW 3-series. It seem that Munich maker is not able to find enough lawyers. Anyway, the boot spoiler and stylish tail lamp cluster gives the new city upmarket look. Absence of any stronger shoulder line makes the new city to look shorter than actually it is Overall styling is more Asian than Japanese or European.

The underpinning of the new city are independent Mcpherson strut at the front and Non Independent torison beam at the rear. All the wheels gets disc brakes and the kerb weight of new city is 1085kg. Boot space stood at voluminous 506 litres even greater than the higher segment corolla altis. The new electric power steering is expected to alleviate the dullness of hydraulic steering of the previous gen city. The new city borrows interior styling cues from bigger sibling civic. The three spoke steering wheel now features audio controls and automatic variant feature paddle shift behind it. An advanced Audio system (but no CD player the choice is yours) which has iPod compatibility, MP3 usability, USB memory and also cell phone compatibility.

 

Good control, Performance and style

I have a Honda City ZX Gxi. My experience with this car. I am a middle class & before purchasing this , i was feared of that whether i could mantain this car with my salary??

But, this car is excellent in all terms. Sytle/COmfort are great. The major thing for me is the running cost/mileage, which has never made me feel that i have shifted to Honda City from Maruti 800.

Mileage is great abt 20 on highways & 15-16 in City. Engine is great, very smooth & low vibes. HONDA IS THE WINNER AMONG ALL CARS MANUFACTURERS IN INDIA TODAY.

I am waiting when HONDa would come with a small car in B Segment. That day, everywhere one will find HONDA only on the roads. My message to Mr. Takedagawa, please think over making a car in B segment.

Good fuel economy, reliability, performance and style. Good road handling at high speed. Good braking. Reliable engine. Good acceleration. Good road handling

The first generation Honda City was introduced in 1996, quickly responding to the growing needs for automobiles in Asian markets associated with economic growth in the region. 

The headlamps feature reflector lense instead of the more expensive projector type, which is expected at this price range. The interiors of new Honda City are light.  It features a clean and simple interior with integrated audio and the new design Honda steering wheel. The City has grown in every dimension. Everything is laid out nicely, and there is a quality feel to all the controls. The plastics are hard, but in a solid and chunky sort of way. The steering wheel is now adjustable for reach as well as height, which is a really excellent feature for this segment of the market. The 5 gear automatic trasmission allows you to change gear ratios automatically-freeing you from having to shift gears manually. The right paddle is for shifting up while the left paddle is for shifting down, which is the same as for an F1 machine.

The front body structure ensures advanced pedestrian safety features. With the new City, these safety features are now a standard offering across the entire range of Honda in the Indian market.

Honda city is a car which lives up to its name, it is an excellent urban commuter. Ford has pitched in with their Fiesta; Chevrolet have come out with their Aveo. But, Honda city has still major market share in its segment. The quality that Honda has on offer, it is collecting a huge amount of money as brand value.

Good fuel economy, reliability, performance and stylepoor performance and low reliability

My drive is a 10th anniversery edition Honda City Gxi CVT which i took almost 1 year back. I love the car for its comfort, power and fuel economy. Even design of the car is very attractive. When i descided to take an automatic model i got lot of negative inputs from my family and friends. But now two of my relatives went for automatic cars. Im geting a milage of 16 on highway and 12 in city. It is very comfortable for city drive.

Only worst thing is there service centers. While taking the car i heard its one of the best in the market for their customer care and service they provide. I had a lot of shocking experience with them in these 1 year time. My car had break pad issue. It got over by 7000 kms and even it caused an accident.  So i descided to complaint regarding this and called 24/7 customer help line of Peninsular Honda. Without inspecting the car they came into a conclusion that its because of defective driving style. They came to this conclusion only because mine is an automatic one. But with my car my cousin took a manual one and even he faced same problem and they replaced it for him charging half of the break pad cost.

After that i approached one of their service center and when they verified the car only one side of the pad was getting over. So a defective driving style wont cause defect in one side. So i again descided to complaint about this. I contacted their cochin office and their behavr was so rude and arrogant. So i informed delhi office of honda and i got good response from them and they told me that they will look into my case. After that i got a call from Peninsular Hondas Cochin office and they appolagised for such a behavr and agreed to replace the whole break unit. The whole kit was replaced free of cost from Calicut Peninsular.

comfortable to drive & back seat travelling, stunning design, satisfactory power and fuel economySide beam cause visbility problem, Not at all satisfied with service, Break pad issue

I have New Honda city and SX4 both… so my comments will be mainly comparison...

 

@Driving:  New Honda city is very smooth to drive than SX4… NHC has light steering and soft clutch…while SX4 has bit hard to drive…At low speed SX4 starts vibrating…Both has good road grip…

 

@External looks: NHC has impressive external look and aerodynamic design … SX4 is just looks big does not have that style…

 

@Mileage: On highway with AC, NHC gives 18- 20km/l while SX4 gives 14 -16 km/l

                 In City with AC, NHC gives 12km/l while SX4 gives 9 - 10km/l

 

@music system: NHC has much better music system than SX4. I like the concept of attaching USB in NHC, also given nice place to keep USB/iPOD. As you don’t worry about cds, scratches on them and where to keep them.

 

@Ground clearance: Poor ground clearance in NHC. NHC just has 160 while SX4 has 180 – 190.

 

@AC: NHC has faster cooling than SX4

 

With all pros and cons I will recommend to buy NHC anytime…

Fuel economy, external styling, ABS, smooth steering, soft clutchNot very good interiors, no allow wheel and fog lamp, poor ground clearance

 

 

UN BELIEVABLE MILEAGE WITH BUNCH OF POWERBAD PLASTICS IN THE INTERIORS DOOR PANEL, NO CLIMATE CONTROL

 

Exterior Futuristic and stylish design with the aerodynamic chisel feature could dodge a bit of air above 60 to save you fuel too.

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Plush look, good seats, great space at the rear, boot is huge too. I like the front dash board, could have played with the lights though with white and blue on the tachometer etc.

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Great engine good power to weight ratio, a bit slugish uphill from 3rd to 4th guess a 1500cc engine could be upgraded to a 1600 for that extra torque. Fuel economy about 14 in city traffic peak hours, gear box could be tweeked a bit for a smothness.

 

Ride Quality & Handling Rear seat discomfort on pot holes and inferior roads, perhaps because of the low ground clearance the suspension doesn't absorb the bumps through the shockers very well.

 

Final Words A good buy for people with less baggage. I would rather go for an automatic if I do decide to buy another city as the 3rd car in the house.

 

Areas of improvement Ground clearance, climate control and cruise control. Suspension on the SMT.

 

Styling, comfort, EngineLow ground clearance, rear seat ride