New Honda City vs. Suzuki SX4

I guess we are talking of a budget below 10 lacs and not above 10 lacs.

In that sense nothing below 10 lacs evokes envy these days including City which looks and feels small for envy

I guess we do have Linea and New City.

But then it is all a matter of perspective.

Osram:

I would like to know the city where you live and commute. What is your monthly mileage. How you are getting such a good mileage with this car? Everyone is condemning this car as Gas Guzzler. But I like the car vey much. If it gives a decent mileage as you get, I dont think people should worry. Is there any alteration you have done to the air filter etc., or any fuel additive used. You see I am going to use it in Class B city where the route consists of all sorts of vehicles, buses, trucks, 2 wheelers etc., The speed is going to be limited to Max 40-50 and very rarely will exceed 60. running in top gear may be minimum. The route of 22 KM the last time I travelled by Tata Indica has taken aroung 40-45 minutes. then you can imagine. Whether the same 14 KM I will be able to get with this car?

I live in a metro with lots of traffic jams,around 50% distance is covered on reasonably open city roads and balance on crowded roads.I travel 60 km a day on an average.I am getting 14.8 to 14.9 kmpl with SX4 by following the gear change instructions given in owner manual,which says keep changing gears quickly as you gain speed so that by the time you are at 50 ,you will be in 5th gear.SX4 is so powerful that you will not need to change gears frequently and I am travelling most of distance in 4th and 5th gears.I was getting milage of 13.5 earlier and later after 2000km)it is more.I use normal fuel which is the recommendation by Maruti.I can foresee in yor type of use, you will get 1 to 1.5kmpl less than me.I have not done any alterations.I have seen that traffic  signals and jams causing engine idling is not having much negative impact.But if traffic keeps moving at slow speeds only in low gears can bring down milage but even then yo will get 10 to 11.One thing,such factors pulling milage down are applicable to all cars including City.

To the OP,

I recently bought the AN Honda City  - EMT Model

Its close to Honda Civic  - (Poor man's Civic is not good words) but rather for those who always aspired to get a Civic - so comparision with SX4 is a bit mediocre.

The Drive quality of ANHC - is a Mircale.  Whatever the Extra Cost is 1 Lac or 2 Lac or 2.5 Lac - Is purely for the Technology. You need to Test Drive.

The Average is good to very good. Its giving 11 in City & 15 on Highway with AC. - In my City (Mumbai) - most of the time it's 1st & 2nd Gear - rarely 3rd. Even if you say that a Fuel Efficient car such as Swift - would have given 12 in 2004 - 11.5 in 2006 & 11 in 2008.  The Traffic is increasing - So there's a blunt statement from my side - No point in discussing on Milage. (But I know that SX4's Average in City is not more than 8 - my friend owns)

ANHC Pros:  Marvelous Driving Quality, Pickup, Engine Response, Sitting Comfort, Average, Durable Parts

ANHC Cons: Weak Body, Expensive Parts

Finally, I would recommend you to Forget SX4 and replace it with Ford Fiesta - Petrol. Please also take a  Test Drive - this too has a very good engine response. Spare costs bit high then SX4 but lower than ANHC.

SX4 is not a good buy. The only reason we all are fancying towards Maruti products - because of Loew Spare Costs. Then, We should wait till some new Sedan from Maruti. 

So please go for either Ford Fiesta - petrol or ANHC.

The March 09 issue of Autocar has complete comparison of spares cost.Autocar says that some car cos were very reluctant to  give these prices.Maruti has lowest cost of spares followed by Hyundai and Tata .Otheres are very expensive.Also,Maruti has best servicing.That aside,product to product,SX4 is much better than Fiesta.So far as new City is concerned,if u can afford City u can afford Civic which is more spacious and useful.But both hv very poor ground clearance and can at best be used onl on good roads of metros

I own SX4 ZXi for last one and half years and can tell you that it’s an absolute fun to drive.  Recently I was pleasantly surprised to get call from the dealer from where I had bought my car. It was an invite to some treasure hunt and performance drive event where all the SX4 owners could come and participate. Well…quite an awesome way to spend the weekend. Needless to say I agreed and participated. It began with a treasure hunt. We were briefed to reach to the final destination correctly with the help of cues given to us at each stop. The route was superb. It wasn’t only a smooth tarred road but included rough patches, water and slush. I was overjoyed as these are the conditions when SX4 performs the best. No matter how rough the terrain, SX4 clears almost every stone or boulder that’s there in the way and it’s big and wide tyres never lose the grip no matter what they went on. Thus mud, slush  were welcome. The heavy rains added to the fun. Though I was lost a couple of times as I misjudged the cues but who cares…I was there for the fun and I had loads of it. Finally I made it to the final destination and was glad that wasn’t the last one to reach there..

The final stop was Synthite Grounds  in Panagand which was set up like a rally track and to our surprise we were introduced to Lohit Urs, the current MRF driver and former National Champion. It was a privilege to see him performing on the track with the SX4…. I also got the chance to interact with the champion and even drove a few laps with him (wow!).

There are no words to describe the power-packed performance that was on display…have uploaded a few pics for all of you to see and enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c3q3QZ0dJU 

Welcome to CW Forums. 

The experience must have been quite exciting, I can imagine.  Thanks for sharing it.

I am sure you had a lot of fun ,Chris. I can make out from the pictures.

By the way ,in which city was this held?