I have owned the new City Automatic for 2 months now and have done
3500 km till date. Good enough a period to write this review! Here you go
Engine
Where else do we start when its a Honda! The engine is the strongest
point of this car(it always was). I would like to state my understanding of
the i-VTEC here. The earlier model came in two models namely VTEC(which was
meant for flat out performance) and DTS-i(which was meant for fuel economy).
Honda engineers have now combined both these into one and the result is the
i-VTEC engine. Basically this engine, as I understand, has two sets of petrol
nozzles – one is for economy and one for performance. Atop them is a computer
chip which constantly monitors the driving conditions, and intelligently
interprets if the driver is looking for performance or economy and accordingly
engages the relevant nozzle. What an idea – getting best of both worlds! The
flat out acceleration is very good and I hardly miss the Manual here. The car
takes off from the word go. I haven’t yet driven past 100 kph so not sure how
the engine behaves at very high speeds but up to 100 its a super and silent performer.
I just love it.
Transmission
The 5 speed auto gearbox is the second ace in the pack. Though the
transmission is automatic, Honda has also given us the Paddle Shift which
enable you to override the automatic transmission. So, for example, if you are
driving on the highway and need sudden acceleration(for overtaking etc), you
can press the “-“ paddle shift and the car goes into lower gear and then you
can comfortably accelerate to accomplish the job at hand. Similarly, if you feel
the car is unnecessarily running in a lower gear and want to go to higher gear
you can press “+”. As simple as that. In the “D” mode the car decides which is
the best gear, save for the up shifts and downshifts that the you may force onto
it. But once the car detects that you are not shifting gears any longer, it
again goes into auto mode and decides the best gear for itself. This is
extremely feature I thought as you don’t need to worry about putting the car
back in auto mode having overridden it for some time. I use this override
feature very frequently on highways and also occasionally in the city. Just in
case you are lazy enough not to use the shift, you can use the accelerator
instead – if you put sudden pressure on the accelerator the car goes in lower
gears and if you suddenly release the pressure, it goes in higher gears. But
you must realize that there is a small time gap in these shifts as compared to
manual transmission. In case you want the transmission work only to your
orders, then you can go to “S” mode – here the car does not shift the gears
automatically and you need to necessarily shift them by pressing “+” and “-“
shift. The gear, however, takes a little longer to shift than in a manual
car. I also use the “N” mode(Neutral) very frequently when I want to use the
momentum of the car without needing to accelerate further, eg when climbing
downhill or coming to a gradual standstill, because in that mode, the engine
runs at idle speed and thus you get better fuel economy. This is a very good
idea on the highways if you are careful enough to use it!
Ride and Handling
I graduated to this car from the Swift Diesel and hence am compelled
to compare the two in this department. The Ride on the City is far superior and
composed than on the Swift. Diesel Swift had this tendency to “jump” all the
time even on highways. The City is very smooth on the highways, though, it does
lose some of its Ride characteristics on rough roads – but here too it rides
better than the Swift. So this is a great car for family outings – the longer
wheelbase comes handy here. But for those of you who love to negotiate corners
at high speeds(Handling), Swift is better. Honda is not bad at all but having
used the Swift, the City is sort of a downgrade in the handling department. Swift
is a very agile handler - being a hatchback helping the matters.
Interiors, Space and Equipment
I love the interiors. The dashboard is dual tone – beige at the
bottom and black at the top(and rightly so because beige top becomes a hindrance
while driving as it reflects on the windscreen). Rest of the interiors are in
beige and look very good.Space is another forte of this car – Honda engineers have worked
hard at maximizing space besides also increasing the length and width of the
car over the earlier version. The boot is a good 504 liters(Swift was 235
liters) – enough to pack 2 large suitcases(US travel dimensions!) and 2-3
small ones.The car comes loaded with
features – 2 Airbags, ABS, EBD, MP3/iPod/USB player, steering mounted audio controls,
6 speakers including 2 tweeters, instant and average fuel economy indicators,
etc. The only glaring omission is the lack of automatic climate control – yes
you have to make do with a manual AC. That said, the AC is very powerful and
cools the car in minutes even on hot summer days.
Fuel Economy
How can any review in India be complete without the fuel
economy! Right now I am driving the car in a very Gentlemanly(yes, believe me!)
manner and the results are there to see. On the highway I get a constant 16
km-pl(with AC on) and 17 km-pl(without AC) – this is when I am driving at a
constant speed between 80 and 100. In City I get between 12 and 13 – but I must
say that my city road is a very good road with much less traffic. In bad city roads and with
traffic, this can easily go down to 10(my guess).
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