Jul 13, 2006 06:44 PM
18563 Views
I bought Honda City ZX iSDI around 4 months back. My first car was Maruti 800. I used it for 7 years and then Indica for 2 years followed by Maruti Esteem for 3 years. I had almost finalized on Baleno. I was really happy with cars in Maruti stable because of their maintenance free run. I drove Maruti cars for 10 years and there was not a single occassion when they let me down. Wish could say that about Indica.
I was impressed by Baleno's raw power when I took test drive. However from inside I did not get a feeling that I was driving a higher end car. The look and feel of Baleno is very close to Esteem. Also I had heard about the low ground clearance of Baleno. The clincher was the fuel efficiency. Most of the people who drive Baleno told me not to expect more than 10 KMPL irrespective of what dealers told me. I was also concerned about the resale value. Because of its dated looks it is not very popular in the young buyers.
I was also toying around with the idea of buying Ford Fiesta. However when I took test ride in Honda City, the confusion ended. This was the car for me, within the budget that I had.
What impresses me most about the car is the absolutely silent ride. One could meditate in the car right in the midst of Pune traffic. After Esteem's 85 BHP , City's 77 BHP (with higher curb weight) was a climb down. So I was prepared for a slightly leaden performance. The difference is however hardly perceptible. No doubt City will not be able to compete with Esteems and Balenos at signals. But response is not too bad.
I like to drive fast on the express way. I reached 162 kmph on Honda City on Pune Mumbai expressway. This is no exaggeration. My son would swear on this. When driven at these speeds the average is around 14 KMPL (a/c on 100%) on even highways. On another long trip from Pune to Solapur to Kolhapur back to Pune, the roads were not speedworthy and I drove at steady 80-90 range. On that trip it gave me 19 KMPL with 100% a/c , in summer. This one is truly versatile. Even at 160 KMPH I never felt unsafe. The car behaves very true.
On very rough roads, the suspension passes all the bumps to within the cabin. But then if we have to call stretches of dust interspaced with rubble and rocks as road, that is not Honda’s problem I guess.
So far the car has given me no problems. I have driven around 4000 kms in 4 months. See? Driving this car is addictive.
Before you suspect that I am a Honda salesman writing under pseudonym, let me cover some of the flaws that I have discovered. The big A beam is definitely a hazard. The small window that they have put there is absolutely useless. When your are driving in a ghat section, you have to crane your neck around to see whether there is any vehicle coming from the other side.
Another let down is the feeble headlamps. On expressways with wide dividers it is not so much of a problem because the distance cuts most of the glare. On narrow roads with no dividers, driving this on rainy nights is asking for trouble. Planning to get some fog lamps. Or at least an everready torch.
Air conditioning is good. Even in Solapur in summer, it delivered with something in reserve. I never had to keep the blower at top speed.
The service from the dealer is adequate. They do not wow you with the service like Maruti dealers do. Maruti dealer used to call me after every service to make sure that my needs were met and I was happy with the experience. Honda dealers could not care less. The exteriors and the interiors were meticulously washed by Maruti dealers. Here I always see smudges on the window glasses and paintwork. The waiting time for giving the car to dealer for service and getting it back happened in around 10 minutes at Maruti, here it takes minimum 30 minutes.
How I wish that Maruti Ltd made Honda City!!! J
