25 years of the Honda City: Our top stories

India’s most popular sedan name will hit the silver jubilee mark this year. Yes, we are talking about the Honda City and its 25-year journey in India that began with the first-generation car and today it is available as a hybrid vehicle. 

In an official statement, the automaker said that synonymous with the brand Honda, the City has been a key pillar of business for HCIL since the inception of the company and has cumulatively provided pride and joy of driving to more than nine lakh customers in India and overseas. India is the largest and most important market for the Honda City sedan, currently accounting for over 28 per cent of the car’s sales in Honda’s Asia Oceania region (Jan-Aug’22). In line with Honda’s global vision to realise carbon neutrality and zero collision fatalities by 2050, HCIL launched the Honda City e: HEV in 2022, which marked the beginning of Honda’s electrification journey in India.

To mark this occasion, we have compiled for you a list of our top stories with the Honda City over the last few years. 

Third-generation Honda City First Drive review 

The third generation of the Honda City arrived in 2008 and was a major step up from the car it had replaced. Our reviewers found that the car had become fun to drive once again, looked very much the part of a new-age sedan, and had enough features to justify a then Rs 9.50 lakh starting price. They, however, rued some of the plastic quality and lack of a CD player. 

2013 Honda City diesel

2013 would prove to be a turning point for Honda as it brought diesel power first for the Amaze and then for the City. It was the highlight of the fourth-generation City and with a 100bhp/200Nm output mated to a first-for-Honda six-speed manual, it was one of the most powerful cars on sale. To top it, this City provided great highway efficiency and an ARAI mileage of 26kmpl. 

2020 Honda City Driver’s car

In a new series during the pandemic, we decided to see how good the new fifth-generation Honda City was as a driver’s car. We drove the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol with the six-speed manual and had quite a blast. In our video, we looked at performance, handling, braking, and steering control as a part of our assessment of the Honda City. 

2021 Honda City diesel track experience 

From the petrol Honda City, we jump directly to the fifth-generation City and onto our 2021 Track Day experience. Diesels are not generally track cars but we managed to have a solid amount of thrashing around the MMSRT. It required maximum torque utilisation to keep the pace constant and beat out a respectable lap time. 

2022 Honda City e: HEV

From two naturally aspirated petrol engines, the Honda City, five generations on, now offers a NA petrol, a diesel, and a hybrid setup in the form of the e: HEV. It’s got a petrol engine, two electric motors, and ADAS as a part of the deal! We drove it and were thoroughly impressed with what Honda had to offer. We even got a second opportunity to spend time with it during Honda’s Drive to Discover 11.