SMASH-HIT by Honda: But Enthusiasts Look elsewhere. Review on Honda City 1.5 Exi

I N T R O D U C T I O N: Introduced in late 98, the Honda City was an instant hit although it was a little on the expensive side. As with almost any Honda car/bike worldwide, the engines of City namely the 1.3 & 1.5 liter were the biggest selling points. The overall build was better than anything that Indians had seen save for the Benz & BMWs. Although styled conservatively it had enough Panache to keep consumer interested. Also, Indian car market was not matured enough to accept cutting edge designs that time.

Launched later the City VTEC became the best handling car in the segment with a high revving engine that gave you racing VTEC technology that Honda had patented. To keep the interest in the product Honda also updated it with the clear-lens head & tail-lamps which looked much better than the previous ones. Also colors were improved to extend City's life. City kept on selling steadily around 800-1000 units per month.

R E D E S I G N in 2003: With the recent redesign that appeared last year Honda has chosen to take the car a notch down wrt market position or the price spectrum. The previous global platform was much more expensive. Now City is based on the new global 'Small' Car platform that Honda introduced with Jazz/Fit in Europe/Japan. The price was reduced significantly & City now starts from 6.50 for Exi & 7 for GXi. The selling targets were also increased to 20K per year but it seems the selling rate is around 36 to 40K which means it is a SMASH hit for Honda. Average public love the new car: What not to like for them? Reduced prices, Increased space, increased fuel efficiency, much better interior. But driving enthusiast are not all gung-ho on the new City..why? let us see.

Walk Around The Car: The space Object called City!: The crowd is split in 75 to 25, the one that neutral/like the styling & the other that hate & ridicule it. The buyers don't seem to mind the new-age styling though. The front end is curious looking & with a very short nose. The lights are ok & futuristic looking. The grill is slightly awkward & small but the chrome strip given to make it a little up market, looks completely out of place. The side mirrors are classy & they fold completely. They are now lower on the door panel instead conventional place near A-pillars. The Exi gets black mirror & door handles with GXi getting body colored. Alloys are not offered on either! The tires looks very small compared to the body size.

The hatchback roots are highly apparent with Jazz based Cab-forward design/look. Think of Palio-Petra; Indica--Indigo transformation & here also the City comes across as extended version of teh hatchback. Being Honda it gets away with it & also Jazz/Fit are not anyway launched in India. The rear is stylish (futuristic: there it goes again!) & better executed than the front. The light cluster is just marvelous. The shape of the trunk is also modern & attractive. Overall the new City looks like a Space Object! :)

I N T E R I O R: High quality plastic adorns the interior. Compared to prev city it is a HUGE step ahead. Soft to the touch plastic makes it everywhere. The buttons are of precision feel & very high quality in their appearance. The usage is Honda-easy, that is to say couldn't been easier to understand/operate. The interior is also vast compared to the external dimensions. This made possible by the cab forward design & also the man maximum machine minimum philosophy at Honda where they have reduced the size of the front suspension & pulled the engine as fwd as possible to liberate amounts of space for the passengers. The seats are claimed to be the best in class & also best this side of Benz/Accord range. The rear seat gets huge boost compared to old City & now 3 passengers can seat with ample legroom & also shoulder room (similar to the last model). You seat much higher than in the old City, allowing easier entry-exit.

E N G I N E / T R A N S M I S S I O N: The 78 bhp, 1.5 liter engine is also all new i-DSI (Dual Sequential Injection) & is tuned for 'un-Honda' like characteristics. The engine uses 2 valves per cylinder compared to 4 in the old City. This gives better mid-range torque & drivability compared to peaky nature of the Honda engines. The HP is down to 78 now but torque is 12.8 at 4700(?) rpm which is better than 1.5 engine & that too at lower rpm. This is good for City drives & you never feel under-powered unless with 4 passengers & their stuff. The straight line performance also reduces by almost a second for 0-100 & cars like Ikon & Baleno also beat it in this respect. The handling although reasonable compared to Ikon is less than the previous City with lower center of gravity. This is a step down with respect to performance.

The 5 speed transmission is what Honda is perfect about & they are better than even Benz & BMWs in this regard. They make the best manual xmission this side of Ferrari & BMW M series period! The CVT offers an interesting options with two pulleys(sort of) adjusting the gear ratios constantly instead of a 4 speed Automatic box. This is unusual initially. I have driven CVT in Hybrid Civic & let me let you you need to get used to shift-less feel of the CVT. It is a godsend for the women & also men with leg injuries etc. The CVT offers same fuel economy albeit with a little toll on the performance. It makes sense in the new City more than old as it is anyways more mainstream.

R I D E & H A N D L I N G: Good but Ikon is better driver's car. Compared to previous generation City the handling is also a step down. The obvious flaw being the hatchback root with a relatively top heavy car. Of course it is not a dramatic degradation but a step down none the less. However, the ride is much better than previous city. The tire size is pithy at 14 inch specially when the profile of the car is much bigger than the old city. The wheels looks really smallish on this taller car. Doesn't help handling but maybe good for fuel economy for urban families with less rolling resistance. Overall a mixed bag compared to old City but a 'good only' for an average family oriented buyer.

P R I C E S /R E S A L E/ S A F E T Y: Heres the real kick! The name continued but the platform is totally different & this has allowed them to price it much lower than old City. 6.5 lac + Reg/Ins for Exi & 7 for GXi make it a great value. Traditional Honda qualities like build quality/reliability/resale are there to further sweeten the deal. The CVT costs additional 40,000 I think (could be more, not sure). CVT makes a perfect case for crowded city roads. There is a wait of 3 months for the City & more for the CVT specially when you need a specific color! (Black, Boring Red!, Silver, Gray, White the usual suspects!) They have increased capacity to 139 cars from less than 100 per day & are further going to increase it to meet the demand. They went from 2400 to 2990 in the last month due to added capacity. Hopefully it will improve. No dealer discounts/financing etc due to such demand.

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