Honda City [2011-2014] User Reviews

My search for a C-segment car started 6 months back when I was in the process of accumulating moolah for 10-lakh category car. My usual driving is too less to justify diesel car or automatics. Here goes the process of selection/rejection:

Skoda Rapid/VW vento: after reading several volumes of epics of horrible ASS and experience of some friends, I made up my mind that Socrates cup is anyday better than tea at thier sale/service centres. 

Hyunda: Verna is too loaded with features and all that but short on space and I could not gather the feeling of sitting in a 10-lakh car. Seating comfort needs to improve by a whole margin, especially the headroom at the back.

Maruti SX4: Spacious and robust. Gud performance but interiors we a total letdown. 

Fiat Linea: what a car! The T-Jet was so gud to drive, brake, sit , corner. It was the car which made me run for cheque book but wifey adviced to wait till we check other brands as well. 

Honda City: performance-check, space-check, reliable-check, style-check, safety-check. My two cents then on honda City.

Exterior Corporate edition comes is white and silver- mine is silver. I incurred following expences post purchase to upgrade the exterior:

Painting of OSRVM, Door Handles, Mud Guards - 2700/-

5-spoke alloys(Honda OEM) - 28000/-

Front fog Lamps(Honda OEM) - 19000/-

XENOS remote lock (Fortgate model) - 1900/- (car comes with central locking+immobiliser)

Now the car looks stunning, shining, basking in glory of a victorious knight.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort)2800 I like the all black interiors. Following things were done post purchase:

AUTOFORM black leather seats bucket-fit -7000/-

Honda OEM tweeter pods for quarter glass- 1094/-

Kicker componets in front + coaxial in rear - 5200 + 2800 =8000/-

Kicker 4-channel amp in boot - 10500/-

Sony XAV-701bt - 29000

will post some pix soon.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Excellent, Pulls neatly in higher gears, engine noise is pactically absent. Fuel eco was 17.8 in my 285 km highway run from Gorakhpur to Lucknow😲. Gearbox is nicely shaped,sporty and has short precise throws.

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality, even though the suspension is hardened, is quite acceptable. Handling is a charm. Highway runs are so much fun what one will look forward to it.

Final Words One has to drive a honda to see what they actually offer. Evrything is butter smooth and class above the others is segment. If only they offered an ACC😢

Areas of improvement ACC for gods sake- even hatchbacks come with it. Spare wheel shud be an alloy one.

 

Edit:

I Drove from Gorakpur to Lucknow in my iVtec on 21-3-14.. 300 kms in 4 hrs (inculding city traffice in gkp and lko) !!!! Now that was one mad driving on roads of UP. Touched 150 kmph while overtaking a Pajero Sport. My experiences :-

1) Car was stable and everything was under control uptil 120-130. No shaking , no vibs nothing. Had very strong pull after 100. reaches 130 in no time. Just press the pedal and you are there!!!

2) Took some long flowing corners. No porblemo until 120. Once took a flowing bend at 150 but the rear tyres started losing the plot. That was just the start of things getting untidy so I was back to solid ground and reduced the speed back to 120.

 3) ABS kicked in once. I braked suddendly at 120 - heard a slight screech and then the brake pedal started juddering. This was indication of ABS doing things for me. After that no more screech or anything. ABS brought me down to sensible speeds without any screech or squeal. Got the first hand feeling of the effectiveness of ABS and I am happy that I spent my money on it.

4) Milage reported = 14kmph for the trip. Well so much for spirited driving. :(

5) Showed many Scorpios, XUVs and Fords who is the real daddy :) left everything gathering dust. Not even those who started to race with me could overtake. All they could do was see my taillights.:)

6) This kind of driving is certainly not advised(read suicidal) on the roads of UP. I will try my best not to fall prey to the iVtec's charms again (although its difficult). 

Fuel Eco, Space, Style, Corporate Edition is jump-at-it VFMCorporate Edition comes with black OSRVM and door handles