[brohuhu]

Hi everyone. Sort of a long post. Once again thank you for this thread as this thread was very useful for me and my dad while deciding to get the Honda City. Before I write a detailed review about the car ownership, I would like to write about our disappointing experience with the Honda dealership here in Kochi. I am not sure if this was something that only I faced but from what I have read online, this has been the case with most Honda dealerships across the country in recent times.

My father usually looks for cars around the 10L range but due to the rising costs of car prices and my dad's love for sedans we decided to up our budget to 15-20L. We looked at Verna, the VAG twins and even the Basalt and Grand Vitara but both me and my father fell in love with the Honda City. But the overall sales experience almost made us reconsider it.

We initially paid the booking amount for both Verna SX(O) IVT and Honda City ZX CVT in November 2024 and we were looking for delivery on December end on my mother's birthday. Our Hyundai SA also mentioned that they would shut down production for Verna from Nov '24 - Dec '24 but the Honda SA did not mention anything like that. The Hyundai SA seemed very interested in selling us the car. They gave us regular updates and other information regarding the same. The WA group they created was very active as well. This was the case with even the Citroen, MS and Skoda sales team, always updating us with the latest price updates and discount. The Honda sales team however felt like some government office. They never seemed interested and for any updates we were the once who had to keep calling them.

December 2024 came by, and we got the final December prices for both the cars. The Verna IVT was cheaper, but we still just really loved the City and hence decided to cancel our Verna booking. We honestly felt bad too because the sales team at Popular Hyundai was very active and interested in selling us the car. We gave our final confirmation to our Honda SA by the first week of December. We were told the car would reach in 10 days (on December 19th). We told we would like the delivery to be on 24th on my mother's birthday. They said they can do that, but we were doubtful but fine with either.

Few days passed and we decided to give a call to get an update and that's when the whole ordeal started. Our SA mentioned that they stopped production of our model with the colour we needed (Obsidian Blue). Do note that we had to call him to get this update! They told there was a September make in the factory yard, but we were not willing to take the risk. Also note that we had cancelled our Verna booking and prices for most cars were going to increase on Jan '25. We were really annoyed and honestly sad. Our SA also gave the number of the person who allocates the car and told us to talk with him. Have no idea why they couldn't discuss this among themselves and then let us know.

Thankfully a person in Kottayam cancelled his booking for the same car we were looking at and we were told we could get that. It was a November end make and from what I heard was that the production for our make was halted in December as the new Amaze was launched and also for the similar reasons Hyundai had given us. We were again promised delivery December end but again we were highly doubtful. Both me and my sister extended our leaves for this too. New Years Eve came by and again we were the one calling them up for an update and they said it would come January 2025.

Finally the car arrived at Kottayam and later driven to Kochi. We told we will only pay the price they gave on December, and they agreed. My father had to go to the showroom for PDI and registrations. My father does not usually get angry but for this he told the dealership about his disappointed with their service. Funnily enough, another customer was also ranting out their frustrations at the team during our paperwork. Even the final delivery date kept getting delayed here and there.

During the super final delivery day our SA was on leave and the delivery scheduled on 10.30am was again, you guessed it, delayed to 12 pm. The delivery was nothing spectacular. We did not get any goodies as such other than a pair of Honda mugs but thankfully we did not have any expectations for them to do anything either. The car was not that cleaned up, but it just still looked really good. We had added the bumper guards kit, but it was not body coloured like the one shown in the brochure was instead black with a different design. They said the coloured costed extra and honestly, we were too tired to even argue regarding this and hence just took the car and left.

Honestly the only thing that did kept us from going through all this was the car and we really loved it. However, from owning Tatas, Fiats etc one expects a certain level of professionalism for a car worth almost 20 lakhs. I have read countless accounts of such sales service from Honda dealerships pan India. Even the Tata showrooms provided far superior sales service for our Tiago. Honda makes some good and decent cars but they are terrible at selling them.

Would love to know if other have faced anything similar here?

[Iconoclast]

Originally Posted by brohuhu

Honda makes some good and decent cars but they are terrible at selling them.

Would love to know if other have faced anything similar here?

I guess this is something that differs city to city, dealer to dealer and even SA to SA in some cases.

I bought my Honda City in mid 2023, just after the facelift was launched. I went to the showroom and asked for the pre-facelift VX variant as that came with a lot of features and was almost comparable to ZX (if you add leather seats straight from the showroom) which were deleted in the facelifted version. The SA didn't inform me about that model but let me know that they have it only after I specifically asked for the same.

I was looking at Honda City, Virtus and Slavia. From a dealership experience perspective; below is a summary:-

Volkswagen >= Honda >> Skoda. Skoda was the worst - the SA was not bothered whatsoever. But I have an acquaintance who bought a Kushaq from the same showroom and he had a decent experience.

Volkswagen was the best - the SA was extremely professional, gave me a good test drive, knew exactly where Virtus scores over the competition, answered my queries properly, followed up regularly, etc. but the Virtus Topline 1.0L TSI AT was 2L more expensive than the City VX CVT (after discounts).

The Honda experience was also very good, almost at par with Volkswagen. The SA politely answered my queries, allowed multiple longish test drives, took me to the yard to see the car I would be buying, etc. And I obviously loved the looks of the City (inside and out). So I went with the City.

[saket77]

Has anyone upgraded the stock speakers in the 5th gen City?

Although the sound has decent bass but the speakers lack the mid range punch. What I have noticed by using the fader controls is that the rear door speakers are particularly bad. I don't need more bass, just more clarity and mid range which I think is slightly lacking in the factory fitted system of the ZX. Can the front door speakers be moved to the rear doors and replace that with a better pair for the front door?

[rahulk2510]

Originally Posted by saket77

Has anyone upgraded the stock speakers in the 5th gen City?

Although the sound has decent bass but the speakers lack the mid range punch. What I have noticed by using the fader controls is that the rear door speakers are particularly bad. I don't need more bass, just more clarity and mid range which I think is slightly lacking in the factory fitted system of the ZX. Can the front door speakers be moved to the rear doors and replace that with a better pair for the front door?

Hi,

Yes I did. I had a pair of Morel Components with tweeters which i had recently switched with just the front stock speakers and the difference is huge. Much better clarity in music. For now, the front speakers overpower the sound coming from rear speakers. Plan to buy these Morel speakers for rear as well soon.

The stock speakers are of horrible quality and maybe they are worth less than Rs. 500 if you go to buy new from market. The mechanic who changed them for me refused to even keep them for free.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by saket77

Has anyone upgraded the stock speakers in the 5th gen City?

Although the sound has decent bass but the speakers lack the mid range punch. What I have noticed by using the fader controls is that the rear door speakers are particularly bad. I don't need more bass, just more clarity and mid range which I think is slightly lacking in the factory fitted system of the ZX. Can the front door speakers be moved to the rear doors and replace that with a better pair for the front door?

I changed all 4 speakers to JL Audio C1-650se and happy with it.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by rahulk2510

Hi,

Yes I did. I had a pair of Morel Components with tweeters which i had recently switched with just the front stock speakers and the difference is huge. Much better clarity in music. For now, the front speakers overpower the sound coming from rear speakers. Plan to buy these Morel speakers for rear as well soon.

The stock speakers are of horrible quality and maybe they are worth less than Rs. 500 if you go to buy new from market. The mechanic who changed them for me refused to even keep them for free.

Originally Posted by Latheesh

I changed all 4 speakers to JL Audio C1-650se and happy with it.

Thanks Gentlemen! That's great. Can you please share the costs involved. Pictures, if any, of the product or installation would be great too. Have the mids improved?

Regards.

Originally Posted by saket77

Thanks Gentlemen! That's great. Can you please share the costs involved. Pictures, if any, of the product or installation would be great too. Have the mids improved?

Regards.

Pls also share the size of the speakers- front and rear.
If bought from Amazon, link would be great. Change was DIY or by a professional installer?

Thanks in advance.

[SolitaryRabbit]

Originally Posted by saket77

Has anyone upgraded the stock speakers in the 5th gen City?

Although the sound has decent bass but the speakers lack the mid range punch. What I have noticed by using the fader controls is that the rear door speakers are particularly bad. I don't need more bass, just more clarity and mid range which I think is slightly lacking in the factory fitted system of the ZX. Can the front door speakers be moved to the rear doors and replace that with a better pair for the front door?

I felt the need to upgrade the speakers immediately and got Morel Maximo Components in the front and coax in the rear. Though not the best of best it definitely is better than the stocks however the system struggled to give power to the rear. Ended up adding an Amp as well and finally the speakers were breathing and sounding better.

Learnings which I can share:

1) Go for components for front and rear, I repent getting the coaxials as they are not able to give the same clarity in the mids even with the Amp.

2) Upgrading the system to an aftermarket unit which can provide more power to the speakers might be a better option than adding an Amp - in my case I didnt want to part with the stock unit and hence ended adding the Amp.

3) Always add damping along with speaker upgrade, it helps improve NVH and improve your overall experience

[saket77]

Originally Posted by SolitaryRabbit

I felt the need to upgrade the speakers immediately and got Morel Maximo Components in the front and coax in the rear. Though not the best of best it definitely is better than the stocks however the system struggled to give power to the rear. Ended up adding an Amp as well and finally the speakers were breathing and sounding better.

Learnings which I can share:

1) Go for components for front and rear, I repent getting the coaxials as they are not able to give the same clarity in the mids even with the Amp.

Thanks, that was helpful.

I am looking for Morel Maximo 6 but don't seem to find online. Do you think that getting 2 pairs of these for front & rear should be a good strategy and the stock HU will be able to drive them well as I want to keep the stock HU and avoid adding the amp? Or may I get one pair of the Morel components and shift the existing front speakers to rear as the rear ones are particularly lifeless and front are still somewhat better. What do members suggest? I am not looking for thumping bass, but for rich warm and natural sound signature.

[SolitaryRabbit]

Originally Posted by saket77

Thanks, that was helpful.

I am looking for Morel Maximo 6 but don't seem to find online. Do you think that getting 2 pairs of these for front & rear should be a good strategy and the stock HU will be able to drive them well as I want to keep the stock HU and avoid adding the amp? Or may I get one pair of the Morel components and shift the existing front speakers to rear as the rear ones are particularly lifeless and front are still somewhat better. What do members suggest? I am not looking for thumping bass, but for rich warm and natural sound signature.

Try Motorogue, I got it from them and their customer service is great, you can call and figure out what works best etc. For Maximo 6 you will need the amp as the cobined output of the front and rear is much higher than the stock unit can provide. I got the combo where the front were 2way components and the rear were coaxial which sounded very muddy untill I added the amp. I got the speakers in 2022 but I think mine were Maximo 6 too mostly.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by saket77

Thanks Gentlemen! That's great. Can you please share the costs involved. Pictures, if any, of the product or installation would be great too. Have the mids improved?

Don't remember the exact price but it was ~ 25K for the silk edition (4 components) if I remember correct. I can check and update you later. Speaker change alone improved the performance a lot. I did not add amplifier but may consider one after some time.

[Ashishknainan]

Originally Posted by Arun_S

Is anyone facing the below issue, if you drive in rain, due to water splashing, mud is getting accumulated behind the fuel door?

Any suggestions to avoid it from happening?

Yes noticed this at the petrol pump the other day. But this happened after a long highway run. Haven't seen it happen again.

[RM Motorsports]

Honda launched City Apex Edition.

Up next will be the Dark Edition like the Elevate.

[thaithdriver]

Has anyone hardwired their dashcam? I am unable to identify the right fuse for it and need help.

Originally Posted by sonil.luthra

Anyone here added dashcam and got it hard wired. If so can you share the fuse numbers used in the fusebox?.

Were you able to get the answer to this bro? I know you can use option at position #5 for accessories but I am unable to identify something to use for constant power. If I use one of those constant power ones such as Smart (fuse for smart switch), my smart switch stops working despite a closed connection so not sure what to use for VCC (constant power)

[saket77]

Thank you to the members on this thread, I was able to upgrade the speakers on my car. I got the Morel Components installed (at the front) and the sound difference they made is definitely worth going for them. Also got the doors damped and there is definite reduction in road noise apart from the audible benefits it might have brought.

I have posted about the installation in more detail in my car's thread: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post5920803 (Our 2024 5th-Gen Honda City MT comes home!)

Some pictures: