Old Honda City AT - The ultimate used car choice. Review on Honda City 1.5 AT

I bought myself a used Old Honda City 1.5 Exi AT (Automatic Transmission) in Nov 2008 for just 1.65 lakhs!

The car needed new tyres and a new C section of the exhaust pipe. I got these done - New Bridgestone tubeless radials (Rs. 14, 000) and a third party pipe (4000) and also opted to get the feel of a new car by replacing the shock absorbers by spending Rs.14, 000 plus Rs.1300 approximately (labour costs at Sundaram Honda, Hyderabad.

This car is very very special. If any of you find one of these Old City Automatics for under two lakhs, just buy it after getting it checked at a good Honda outlet in town. I have experienced the service both at Sundaram Honda and at Pride Honda. Let me tell you that I find Pride much better in their work. Infact I came to know that there are employees at Sundaram who offer to get the work done at a lower price by not reflecting it on the bill and pocketing some money for the 'favour' done. I experienced the 'offer' myself.

Guys, my car showed 56, 000 on the odo but after consulting a few mechanics and looking at the wear and tear under the hood it was quite clear that the car had done at least 90, 000 kms. No problem since the car engine and transmission was good for atleast 2, 50, 000 kms. We had a maruthi 800 running smoothly after 2, 00, 000 + kms!

The Car is a beauty, much loved, praised and is a sort of benchmark. It feels like you are in a sports car. It is low and sleek and literally sticks to the road.The beauty of the AT model is that it is available for a cheaper price than the manual version! Yes, because there is a strange misconception and fear about AT's. For India AT''s are a boon. If you buy a new AT, it costs a premium but a used one sells at a lower rate.

This combination of a superb car with AT under two lakhs is a winner!!

Go for it guys...I love my car!

Infact the gentleman who sold me the car opted to get himself another used Old Honda city when he realised that he would not be leaving the country (the reason why he sold me his car in the first place) afterall.

Thanks Macs_ vin, your comment reminded me of this important criterion - Mileage

Mileage was not an important consideration when I bought this beauty. But wanting to know everything about my new acquisition or rather to know ' how badly an AT can affect mileage' I checked. After 3 months of record keeping and checking - I calculated the mileage of my car to be an average of anywhere between 9.5 and 9.8 Kms per litre with the AC on all the time. Be amazed guys, be amazed......I was too!

Make no mistake here - I am talking about the Old Honda city. My car is a June 2000 model with most of the parts visible under the hood being made abroad. These initial batch of cars had a higher proportion of foreign parts before the natural process of sourcing locally began. This translates to better quality I suppose. In fact I read somewhere that the very initial batch of cars had an advanced rear suspension setup which was only found on more expensive cars. Of course, it was later discontinued. I am yet to see whether my car belongs to this special group. : )