Honda City ZX diesel manual Long Term Review: Introduction

Love them or not, diesel cars are here for some time to come and they make a lot of sense for those who cover long distances daily. One of the most efficient diesel cars we have ever had is the Honda City and now there’s one that has joined our fleet just as the world is starting to get back to normal.

The City diesel has always impressed us testers here at CarWale, with its blend of strong performance and efficiency. Now, our chief photographer Kapil is finding out what it’s like to live with.

It arrived with little over 6,000 km on the odo, so there is still some running-in left for the engine before it can really open up and perform at its optimal level of efficiency. Nonetheless, what’s certain is that the City, currently the only diesel vehicle in our long-term fleet, is bound to rack up mileage in no time and soon we will be able to give you a clear picture of the first 15,000 or so kilometres of ownership.

So why the diesel over the silky smooth petrol powered City that’s nicer to daily? In a nutshell, our aim was to look for an efficient workhorse which can go the distance between fuel-ups and keep our lensmen comfortable after a long day’s shoot. The City’s 506-litre boot also drew our attention considering it would be home to Kapil and Kaustubh’s extensive camera equipment so there’s that. This is the first opportunity we have had to spend a good amount of time with the current gen City since it came out and we are looking forward to discovering little intricacies that can only be found in the long term. For now we are liking what we see and the level of features in our top-spec ZX trim have made Kapil’s life a lot easier – stuff like Apple CarPlay, cruise control, climate control and Honda’s lane watch system (similar to a blind spot monitoring system) have made his commute from Kalyan to our office in Vashi and back less stressful.

Our City has done nearly 2,000kms since it joined the fleet, covering a good mix of city usage and highway/expressway runs and it’s done rather well in terms of fuel efficiency, averaging over 16kmpl so far. Needless to say, Kapil has spent considerably less time at fuel stations than in his last few long termers. Now these are impressive economy figures and with six months ahead of us, we will be taking the City on road trips, too, to see how efficient that 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine can really be so stay tuned.

Vehicle log Odometer – 8,005 km

Kilometres this month – 1,560

Displayed Average – 16.2kmpl

Pictures by Kaustubh Gandhi