Cruising at 165 Km/hr on Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Review on Honda City 1.5 Exi

Have you traveled on the Mumbai - Pune Expressway? Normally in Mumbai you may across boards that sign ''Speeds below 40 Km/hr only''. This highway took me by surprise where the boards read ''Speeds above 80 Km/hr only''. One should really see the pleasant smile on drivers face while they test their limits on this driveway.

I saw it, too, a big smile on the face of my friend, who had recently sold his Esteem for a Honda City 1.5 EXiand was proud of his decision. He invited me to his farm house in Pune for the weekend. So even as I was waiting for him outside my building, the elegant beauty wheeled away from the road and parked itself gently a few feet from me, ever so quietly, gracefully. What a beauty it is!

Though, most sedans look similar, one can still distinguish a Honda City, with its low and gentle sloping front and bold bodyline, the chrome-plated grille with the metallic ''H'' attached to it. The side panels and rear deck are not as curved as a Merc S320, but it does give Honda its sharp sporty look. The front lights look big and perhaps enhances the looks with its multi-reflector arrangement. The glass on these lights made me feel that lot of engineering has gone into its design. Even the rear lights that is a combo of red brake lights, yellow turn indicators and white light for reversing are neatly arranged and also visible from the sides. The metallic silver-gray color made the car look royal. The metallic handle covers, fog lights, and the tyre covers matched the cars beauty just perfectly, but they were separately purchased accessories (I learned later).

''Are dekhta hi rahega ki andar bhi ayega?'', my friend asked getting out of the car. ''It's magnificient'', I said as I got in the car. The front was occupied by some another friend of his and I had to get in behind. And yet, surprisingly the portion behind was nicely cooled by the air conditioning through a center vent. The interiors seemed quite big and spacious. It didn't seem so from the outside. But yes, big and comfortable with plenty of legroom. The legroom on front side seemed even bigger. The beige colored interiors were so plush, so rich! The dashboard was nicely shaped and the speedometer and instrumentation was appropriately placed and illuminated. ''If only it was mine'', is what came to my mind.

I saw my friend turn ON the ignition key and then some minor rumble as the engine came to life. I held my hand behind my ear to try and hear the engine growl, and was badly disappointed. The engine was quite, very quite. It only whispered. My friend placed his left palm on the wooden knob with a golden ''H'' on it - the floor gears, and moved it on 1st and the car suddenly swirled on the road and zoom we went like a silent snake slithering rapidly towards its prey.

I don't know if it was my friends driving abilities or the car's, but it would stop at signals majestically, without any jerks and start just as smoothly. The pickup was great and the needle would hover around 60 Km/hr within 7 to 8 secs. Soon we were on Eastern Express Highway, singing loudly with the music that his car deck was spewing out. It was surprising to see my friend participating in our singing. He was supposed to be driving, concentrating on the road, especially on a highway. He was totally at ease, controlling the wheel with only one hand. ''Power Steering, Chougoo, makes the driver's life so easy'', he said with a flushed face and chest full of pride. I glanced at the needle 90 Km/hr. Cool! Thanx to the wonderful flyovers.

There we were on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. There he started glorifying the supremacy of the highway and his Honda City. My friend is an engineer like me with a passion for cars. So he began:

Meri GF has a 4 cylinder 1.5 litre engine with 4 valves on each cylinder and has 100 bhp power. Saala Sumo wumo jeep hoke bhi, have only 60-65 bhp. Are bhai Japanese technology hai. The fuel-air mixture, timing of opening/closing of these valves is all computer controlled. Most cars have very powerful engines. The valves lift high for a longer time, generating high power at high speeds, but it ends up eating lot of fuel, especially when driving through traffics in city. Baki Maruti, Santro Vantro are fuel efficient but on highways like this they should stick to the left lanes. Honda uses 'Vtec' (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) technology. It makes the engine highly fuel efficient when driving normally and only at high speeds, the mechanical system, will raise the valve higher giving more power. It's like having two engines with different settings. So at all speeds, it runs ekdam chaka chak. Uppar se it has 5 speed gearbox with the right ratios.

I was feeling tensed and beginning to chicken out as we sped past a Josh machine and the needle hovering at unbelievable 165 Km/hr. But the car was going smooth, no jerks, no vibrations. The engine noise was now more audible than before. ''Hey Pushpen, Shaadi ke baad mar jau to ghum nahi, kunwara nahi marna'', I said. He only laughed nonchalantly and added further:

Don't worry, my beauty also has front ventilated disc brakes with servo control and rear drum brakes. The power steering control is also speed sensitive. Besides this steering is collapsible, there are front and rear crumple zones, side impact beams, safety belts.

''All that is fine, but I hope you don't intend to test these claims that Honda has made''.

''Aha that worked'', I thought as he slowed down. But that was only because the expressway ended and we were climbing the Ghat section. Honda 1.5 EXi had no problems with that. The engine is truly power machine. Some construction work was going on and the roads were bad, with small stones everywhere and pits. I must appreciate my friend's skills as he maneuvered zig zag using power steering to his advantage and avoiding the pits. The independent McPherson strut suspension worked very well as we hardly felt the jerks as we moved over the stoned path.

The road smoothened ahead of us and we resumed our journey and songs. We reached Pune in less than 3 hours and the hood felt only warm as against my expectations that the car would be hot and would need some water.

What a splendid journey! What a fantastic car!!! If I am ever going to buy a car, it's going to be a Honda City 1.5 EXi, unless they launch a better version