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

I took delivery of 1.5SMT on 21st nov 08.&  400Km done now, Avg mileage is 13.5kmpl, city mileage is 9.8kmpl & highway mileage is 16.5kmpl. Drivers seat adjustment & tilt stearing makes driving lovely smooth & easy. Smooth suspension adds quality to drive & makes cabin very silent.  Low ground clearance is troublesome at bad roads & humps. Gear shift is very smooth. Boot is very spacious. Audio quality is very good.
Specified minimum speed for OD is 85km/hr!!!. AC knobs looks dull. The fabrics on seats are of low quality. Alloy wheels would enhance the exterior looks.
The overall quality & driving pleasure is far better than FORD IKON 1.6 exi(petrol) which i was using for last 4 years.
I would definately recommend this machine for those who love long drives.

Pretty shape, Good handling, Good fuel econ, Good ride comfy.Low ground clearance, No alloys, poor seating materials

This is my first review.

I bought Honda City VMT in Late September 2009.
Car is very good.
Pickup is good.
The feel of the car is worth spending 9lacs+
Inbuilt stereo is decent.

When driving at 100KM/Hr .. you don't feel the speed .. i mean the car is completely in control ...

I have not faced any issue yet.

the only negative point is "Low Ground Clearance" .. by that i mean that you have to slow down the car at a bumpy speed breaker not that it will hit everything on the road.
Decent Fuel Economy, Good PickUp, Good Rear leg room,Low Ground Clearence

As per my understanding, not many people drive the car for 400 KMs (Bangalore to Chennai) on the same day of taking a new car delivery. Anyway, I did that. And the review is based on both my selection process, delivery experiance and driving. I do not want to write too many points as well. So restricting to as minimal as possible...and have tried to control myself fram rattling...about my car craziness...

The Dream
It all started with 2007 when I wanted to buy a car after selling my Indica Petrol (Pro- space, Con- No resale value, Okay kind of Service, Frequent issues in the fag end after 20K KMS)...I decided to go for Honda City, however, ended up in purchasing top end Swift petrol (2008) model, with all features which I was looking for ABS, AIRBAGS, Good Service & Performer. Time had come to move out from Hatchback to Sedan, and decided to go for Diesel version (Vento and SX4 on my mind), still CITY in the Petrol segment topping my list. Are you a person who dreams about the car every day (or alternate days...)...? My wife would point to me at any point in time. Did a good amount of reading on reviews, pros, cons, evaluation, eliminations, recommendations by friends, etc..all done. Booked SX4 Diesel , asked for black colour, however, only grey was available (with my constraint of Pre-budget price). Convinved myself, with 99% saying that I have made wise choice for my pocket with lot of money save calculation (thanks to BHP and other magazines recommending Diesel Vs Petrol and how much you can save over 5 years of ownership). From the day of my Swift till the day of confirming SX4, I had Honda City in mind running in parallel - the dream car, which I think of my own pinaccle of achievement. One fine day, I decided to ditch my booking for SX4, quotting the reason of not  getting my color and went ahead and booked CITY. Please note I have done all my transactions via phone and mail, since I am in Chennai, but wanted the vehicle in Bangalore as am moving out...sooner.
I should stop here to say, Pratham Motors did a fantastic job (sales person - Ravi Prakash) from day 1, in assuring the color options, delievery issues, collecting details and processing loan, (again all via phone and mail)...unfortunately..I could not convince my heart over brain (3 idiots effect)...so cancelled the booking ...ofcourse lost 2.5K.

Honda City V MT - Sparkling Metallic Brown was my choice (closer to Black, as black is not available as an option in City, at least during the time I booked).

The Delivery
I got the number for Manjunath from Magnum Honda and tried to call him when I decided to go for City, the number is now changed ( I believe he moved out) and I got Sriram as my point of contact. Again, I should say, a complete professional touch in each of the transaction. All dealings including complete money payment, loan processing, etc all by Mail and phone. Delivery date was yesterday and went to pick up the vehicle around 11:30 AM. Pooja went well...got the keys...!

2 issues I could find, one - the tyres - there was a small tear on the front and slight damage on the alloy. The sales manager immediately replaced them with new. (not sure how this did not figure out in the PDI), the second one there was a very minor (only visible if there is a reflection from ground level and visible at one angle only on the back door), both sriram and the Relationship manager were apologitic about it, however, I was a bit sad to take the vehicle in that condition. They promised me that they will get that done without any charges by next week as it will take close to half day...!

The Drive

I had to come back to Chennai for my next day to office, so started driving from Bangalore around 6. MAN...the vehicle response was very good...especially the new improved GC (not even a single place in my few KM travel, I hit the speed breakers, which I am sure the older models would have) and additional feature - Cruise control. I could not exceend 100 so was driving all the way with max of 90 KMPL. With close to 45 mts break in Vellore, the Drive I should say was very smooth with comfortable seats. Mileage - its showing as 16.8 or something, however, am yet to get the tank empty to check that.
I do not know or want to use any jargons...the car is really good...and for me...it is more than achieving my goals...in life...! Go for it...!
The entire streatch of 370 odd kms...is an absolute breeze...!

 

Cruise Control, Interior Chromes, Ground ClearanceNone at this time

I am one of the 1st customer to have the new 2012 city.😇

This car definately looks better than fludic, vento or rapid. nice use of crome and srrow design.

Seats are comafortable and space in rear is alomst double of fludic bt at this high price  leather seats was a must. where is the CLIMATE CONTROL cumon its 2012 and evn cars like i20 have it. otherwise overall sitting is good, enough leg space. Another vry impt feature missing is the folding side mirror cumon Honda.

Engine is best in class atleast that is what evry1 says "I-vtech" and yeah its fairly above ther petrol engines in the market. It is silent when you want it to be and Revvs hard when u want to test those 5000+ RPM. But the fuel economy is just average about 11 in city when driving extrmely smooth and on Highways around 13-14.

So if you can manage the interior centeral console and pay a lil extra in terms of cost and day to day running then it is far better and above Fludic and those boring german cars 😝 (rapid n vento).

Looks, Cruise control , Steering, Paddle shift , Honda badge.plastic quality, Climate control, Central consol, folding side mirrors

The Car is appealing with the v-tec engine, the looks and all the safety features present, but it is not going to be available till the month of Feb 2009 when delivery begins for the E and S MT versions . The only ready car available for delivery from november 15 is the automatic version and the car will be on display from october 15. I was planning for a car this festive season and was waiting for the Fiat Linea. The City was launched and i was tempted to buy it with all its features and good looks, sadly even Linea launch is delayed and Honda delivery is 6 months. hoping the Linea will launch by 15 october. will not wait for 6 months for New Honda City.A Very good looking Car from the Honda stable.

It's absolutely superb.very very good car.feathery control,long slim body,comfortable seat,hi fi JBL music system,nice bright headlight,huge boot space,nice leg room,good head room..

 

Every Auto car magazine was praising the Honda City, so I took one for a road test and found the interiors to be very good quality. But the cons are huge:- Low ground clearance (so every speed breaker will hit your car bottom), Super expensive to maintain, Spare parts expensive, Poor ingress and outgress. The car is also much more expensive than other cars in that segment such as Fiat Linea, Maruti SX4. I liked the Linea but am wary of Fiat as a company and hence find the SX4 the best value for money car in this segment. SX4 also has an excellent driver's position being a tall boy body and the car styling is also very masculine. Being a Maruti means peace of mind for service, spare parts and easy availability of any part. So I went to Maruti showroom and did test drive of SX4 and loved that experience.

Interior quality of plasticsLow ground clearance, expensive maintenence

I am driving the SMT model of the Honda City 2008. I didn't like the earlier model because of which, when I was planning to buy a car, I wasn't even looking for this car. Then I heard about the launch and was stunned by the looks of the new City, and after reading the configuration, I found it to be the best car amongst its rivals.

First of all, the car stands out for the looks. It has the Best Look in this segment.

Performance:
It has maximum power of 118 Bhp the best rival has a power of 103 bhp(Hyundai Verna). The engine is very smooth, as it is Honda. You won't hear the sound of engine inside the cabin. I have not yet tested its top speed, but I have touched 140 Km/Hr in this and still it was quite stable.

Interiors:
The best thing is its Leg space both in the front seat and in the back, it is huge. The rear seat is very spacious. It can accommodate three people very comfortably. I have even driven it with four people in the back. It handled that too. It has a nice dashboard, the orange lights somehow gel with the interior. The combination of Beige with Black is perfect. It has nice spaces for putting small things.

The other feature worth mentioning is the audio control in the steering wheel. I found it very useful when you are driving the car and you need to change the channel. you don't have to move your hands from the wheel.

Also, it has a nice feature of displaying instantaneous average which you will find very useful, while driving, to maintain a good overall average of the car. Thus it is up-to you, whether you want a high performance or high average from the car. So far I am able to get an overall average of 13.3 Km/Ltr from this car with my aggressive style of driving, and i am sure it can give 3 to 5 Km/Ltr more in normal driving style.

The things it lack are:
No climate control which is there in Hyundai Verna. The ground clearance is very less. It hurts when you hear the sound coming from the bottom when it hits speed breakers when fully loaded. I recommend to install a 16 inch alloy wheel which will give it extra clearance. The price tag is also high. Otherwise the car is the best one.

Overall the car is excellent. If the budget is not your main constraint in buying a car, and you enjoy driving, City is the car to go for in this segment.


Looks, Backseat Legspace, Smooth Engine, Instantaneous Average Display, High speed ControlNo Climate Control, Very Low Groud Clearence, High Price