Honda City : Straddling too many Expectations

Exterior Overall the exterior of the latest Honda City July 2016 gives me mixed feelings. The car is bold and edgy but design is not as purposeful as its immediate predecessor which had the arrow-shot look. Did not like the kinks on the side and the huge ugly chrome grille or the puny wheels with odd alloys.

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Interior is spacious and comfortable with wide seats especially back compared to Vento and Rapid and its low central tunnel on the floor. Did not like the dashboard design with too many flashy stuff and slab face. It is feature rich but the sound system lacks punch. Even Tata Bolt has a Harmann Kardon!

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Engine manages to keep up but could have been better. That said, it manages to get a lot done. It does get a bit noisy at higher revs but not noticeably so. Fuel economy is good for its class. The gearbox is typical Honda. I still own the older "Dolphin" model and the shifts are just as precise and shortm, no effort. Neither notchy nor rubbery vague. Wonderful.

Ride Quality & Handling The ride quality is decent but i feel its smaller tyres do let it down. though unsprung weight is less affording it a little grip, the other side is the still overpowered steering which makes cornering at high speeds a bit unsettling. Steering is not as pointy and weighted as a Feista.

Final Words Overall a decent or unsatisfying car depending on which price point you are at. One has to remember that Honda is trying to straddle two segments of sedans with this car, thus reducing the premiumness of the brand. But make no mistake, this is still a value for money car and satisfies all criteria whether it be looks, space, driveability and dependability. That is still a winning formula.

Areas of improvement The car has areas to improve upon like better steering feedback, stronger engines, larger tyres, better sounddamping, and finally, more purposeful looks! A few more brighter colour options wont hurt as well.

Edgy design and size, spacious comfortable interiors, smooth gearing.Ugly chrome grille and vague kinks on sides, puny tyres, floaty steering, non cohesive dashboard.