[jetsetgo08]

SMT petrol is the only version spared for the urban middle class sedan buyer.

. The number of newly launched Cars receiving the bashing for excessive pricing is alarming. Not a good sign IMHO. Cars are getting increasingly unaffordable. May lord save the WR-V.

[deerhunter]

There is no point blaming Honda for their pricing. The whole industry is raising the pricing bar. Look at the newly facelifted Vento. It is a 7 year old model with notorious issues, but still the pricing is similar to the City.

The Chevy Cruze is now excellent VFM. For almost the same price of top end City/Vento/S-cross, we can get the top of the line Cruze. Cruze has 4 airbags, sunroof etc and its engine will blow the S-cross out of the ball park. Even though the next gen Cruze is out internationally, the current platform is only as old as a Vento.

[octane_100]

Do I hear loud cheers from Maruti HQ?

The city's facelift has played nicely in to the hands of Maruti. With City distancing itself from Ciaz in terms of price, Maruti has more room with pricing.

Apart from skimming, I hope Maruti also sees this as a chance to up the safety and premium quotient for Ciaz and gives us more powerful set of motors and some more safety (6 Airbags and ESP would be welcome)

[vipul_singh]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Official TVC:
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[/center]

Whaat! No UP 16 anymore??

Honda trying to move up the value chain (or 'price chain' at the very least!) in more ways than one

[aniketi]

This is pricey car now for sure. In comparison with Ciaz, its very costly, specially the diesel one. Paying 3-4 lacs more doesn't fetch you much in comparison with Ciaz. May be that is the reason, Ciaz is selling more and more. I can see gap will be widened now with Ciaz leading. Maruti must be smiling for sure

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by poloman

I am not a fan of Honda but love the City facelift and think that this car is much more aspirational than a Duster or S cross or a Creta.

This car has been around for ages and i really don't agree to the aspirational part at all. Duster 4x4 anyday is a better car and aspirational in my view, maybe am wrong in my reading.

It is strange for us to cry hoarse only when car prices go high, when everything around us are becoming costlier every passing year. Some of the new features like diamond cut alloys, sunroof, LED lights, all costs money. Now a days people are willing to pay for good features.

Read my post, i have included other makes also. Just because you add some features it does not make the car better, the underlying platform and the tin can build itself is a big downer. Only thing worthwhile would be the engine and gear box, otherwise the car is pretty cheap compared to even our current gen polo on build department.

Cheap tin..umm I don't think going by fatality rates in accidents, Honda cars are no way different from other cars in this department.

Good point would be interesting to see the ratings for base and the fully loaded top end. I for one have learned that a top end (read as with full safety spec) is the way to go for any purchase, even if i am forced to go one segment lower for that.

[The Hurricane]

Originally Posted by aniketi

This is pricey car now for sure. In comparison with Ciaz, its very costly, specially the diesel one. Paying 3-4 lacs more doesn't fetch you much in comparison with Ciaz. May be that is the reason, Ciaz is selling more and more. I can see gap will be widened now with Ciaz leading. Maruti must be smiling for sure

One must need to understand that the features currently available causes the cost to move upwards upwards. Built quality is also an area along with added safety features which indeed push the cost upwards. In case of the petrol, one needs to understand that the Ciaz comes with a smalle 1.4 ltr with 4 speed torque convertor instead of 1.5 ltr with 7 speed CVT with paddle shifters. Sunroof, All LED headlamps, Auto headlamp with Wiper, LED tailights etc.... all add up the cost. Built quality of the city is definitely much better than the Ciaz.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by The Hurricane

Built quality of the city is definitely much better than the Ciaz.

I would say the city is better finished than better build. Yes finish is better but the overall build of Ciaz is as good as city, infact if you look at cars that have done about 30-40k kms, Ciaz might be slightly (very slightly) better off also.

[Sarath_MoJa]

A look at how the 2017 City stacks against its competitors

[navin]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This car has been around for ages and i really don't agree to the aspirational part at all..

For reasons I never understood both Honda and Mercedes have been considered "aspirational" in India by people from my generation and older. There are still some who stick to these brands in India.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

I would say the city is better finished than better build. Yes finish is better but the overall build of Ciaz is as good as city.

Agreed. Maruti still has to shrug of it's "small-car-maker" image. Hyundai has slowly done some of that.

I have not seen the new City but I assume the higher models have a bunch of features to justify the price.

In the end it is all about positioning. All the "luxury" marques (Mercedes, BMW, Audi, JLR, etc.) have increased their prices significantly over the past 3-5 years.

[nd4$pd]

Originally Posted by poloman

The base model costs around 10L on road and 17L is top of line.

That's an interesting observation. The top of the line variant costs 70% more than the base variant of the same model!
For 30% more than the top of the line, you can get 2 base variants.

And I am seeing this more and more with different makes and models where there is a huge gap between the base and top variants.

I guess the manufacturers don't want to leave "food on the plate" (ie. cover as large a market as possible).

[mxh]

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

2017 SMT over pre-facelift:
Integrated LED DRLs
Rear seats ISOFIX compatible.

Briefly going through the brochure I see they have removed some more expensive and important features from S-MT :
1. No height adjustable driver seat
2. No steering mounted controls
There may be more as well; not checked the brochure in full detail.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This car has been around for ages and i really don't agree to the aspirational part at all. Duster 4x4 anyday is a better car and aspirational in my view, maybe am wrong in my reading.

I have never liked any of Honda cars before. But some how I like the current design. Looks a lot 'civic'ish (the new one) to me. If I were in the market currently, I would straight away buy this car. Duster may appeal to some, but the Jurassic age interiors is a downer to many. This was the major complaint against Honda a while back. They slowly realized how much people started caring about interiors and features. There are many who are willing to pay a premium on features and they don't care much if the price is digressing to next segment. If you care about only mechanics buy the lowest variant, if you care for features, buy the top variant. As simple as that. Vento is failing big time since it looks and feel more like a Polo or Ameo.

Read my post, i have included other makes also. Just because you add some features it does not make the car better, the underlying platform and the tin can build itself is a big downer. Only thing worthwhile would be the engine and gear box, otherwise the car is pretty cheap compared to even our current gen polo on build department.



Good point would be interesting to see the ratings for base and the fully loaded top end. I for one have learned that a top end (read as with full safety spec) is the way to go for any purchase, even if i am forced to go one segment lower for that

I rate build quality very high in my requirements list. The thud on closing door was very re-assuring while I selected polo. I agree Honda cars may be faring poorly in this department, but unless these cars are proved unsafe compared to a Polo, I don't care much about the 'thud'.

[deerhunter]

Ciaz is excellent VFM, no doubt about that. Ciaz is in a different segment now, price wise, and it will likely maintain the sales lead too. But not everyone is looking for a Maruti.

Petrol S, SV and V variants of the City is good VFM. Petrol V variant of the City matches the Ciaz top variant in features, and the price difference is not in lakhs. That price difference is justifiable because of the better engine. There are no Ciaz variants equal to VX and ZX, feature wise. So comparison is not possible there. Ciaz wins hands down in the diesel category.

When the next gen Verna releases, Hyundai will price it on par with the City. The current gen Vento, which is a much older car, is almost as costly as the City. Next gen Vento, due next year, will be priced much higher. I dont see the price bashing, that we see here, in the Vento facelift thread.

[adarsh76]

Waiting for the TBHP review.

Autocar test drive results shows that the refinement issue of Diesel engine still exists and for the petrol on high revving. Ride Quality seems to be the same. Handling not yet tested.

I do not think the premium pricing of the New City is justified apart from the cosmetic upgrades. Atleast, the dashboard rattling need not be there at this price points please Honda.

Here is the autocar review link:

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-rev...-404200,0.aspx