[RotBohnen]

Hello everyone. After 15 years of lurking and reading, but always staying away from Car Ownership; I finally succumbed to weather proofing and family needs and bought myself a car. And having no understanding of cars in general, I've decided that it's also time to join in the discussion and understanding of cars in general.

I've always been a two-wheels feller. Translated to the 80s, 90s and the 00s that meant a lot of Royal Enfield bullets. An 82 Standard, 93 Diesel and 92 Deluxe came into my life before I even thought of any other vehicles as an alternative. Sure, the 93 diesel is not a bike strictly, but more of a greaves cotton generator engine on two wheels; but it cost 200₹ a month to run and could carry three to five boys to the bar. In general, two wheels are it. One is too few and three wheels are for the madmen who refuse to go anywhere but their own home.

Is it not obvious? Anyone can enjoy the openness and freedom of it and the excellent access to almost anywhere. Can I mention the economy and ease of fixing? Throw in the ability to swerve through the traffic and top it off with parking in the 2 feet between an electric pole and the garbage dump. We will be an amnesiac on all the bad behaviors - just for a few minutes here. I really imagined that I'd be retiring with a big fat Harley under me and a leather jacket over me.

Oh! And cars were that boring box that others drove, and one sat in when buses or trains were not an option. Sure, looking at and reading about a Ferrari Enzo and Jaguar S-Type redo or being chauffeured in a Rolls-Royce Phantom had its moments and many of them were great to look at. And who didn't dream of KiTT. But I think I slept better in cars, than in beds. And when not sleeping, one can read, listen, eat, drink - do anything other than take the darn wheel.

There was this a couple of silly little things with bikes in general. You could fall down and crack your skull - Did it once, the helmet saved my life. You could ride like an idiot and break injure someone's knee. Don't ask. And when this very rare event called rain happens in Bangalore, you feel like Phoebe Cates in Fast Times (pun intended) and Jack in Titanic at other times. So, a roof became a necessity and an affordable one at that. Goodbye dreams of Harley - Hello average box on wheels.

Needless to say, I couldn't really adjust to a stick and bought myself a used Honda City CVT from 2004. Didn't even bother to look at the details of the model. I know it's the dolphin model. Beyond that - No clue. I know, it takes petrol as the fuel and I do remember really hating on it back in 2003, but it is an Automatic and had enough space for 5 averaged sized people. And a boot big enough for me to step in. Ignore the fact that one needs to learn Yoga to get into the front seat and it's a perfect little car for the city. The only Big Fat in here is me.

Well 5 days of driving in Bangalore and nothing has changed my attitude so far. I'm confident that my eyeballs have worn out their lenses trying to see through the dusty windshield and the glare of modified LED headlights on every other scooter. Seriously though, how does anyone not go mad driving here? Can we have a supari taken on the next guy who overtakes on the left or that kindly obnoxious set of folks who believe that honking makes the road wider and the vehicles in front of them disappear? And can I use a bit of French about the City on Bangalore city roads or lack thereof?

The next few weeks are going to be full of reading and swallowing a whole lot of content on here. Like what on earth is a L mode and why's there a tiny little slot next to the gear changer? Is there any use upgrading from this Sony-MDX player and kit from 10 years ago on such an old broken vehicle? And why is there a tiny little wheel marked from 1 to 3 next to the mirror adjust pad.

Looking forward to the journey - Pun intended.

PS: If you survived this far, where on earth is the Manual to this Automatic?

[TusharK]

Hi RotBohnen,

Welcome to Team-BHP!

Well, I did make it to the end and what a fantastic read this has been.

I know, the world looks different from behind the wheel of a car. You spend ages sitting in traffic and those on 2-wheels who were once your fellow riders are now a big annoyance.

Hopefully, we will get to read more about your adventures with the Honda City soon.

Cheers!
TusharK

[GForceEnjoyer]

What an introduction! I read the whole thing twice. Welcome on board, you've come to the right place to find the answers to your questions.

Hope to see you around soon and maybe read more about your City!

[RotBohnen]

Thank you @TusharK and @⁨GForceEnjoyer for sitting through that prolonged diatribe.

It has been an adventure in the city so far. An automatic comes with a lot of advantages in traffic, but clearly the older CVTs had a bit more auto creep THAN I'd bargained for.

Most days I find myself resting my leg on the brake pedal and barely using the accelerator. Not sure how it's going to affect the brakes in the long run, but it appears to be the only way to handle the snail paced traffic at silk board and beyond.


There has been only one mentionable incident in the highway at Nice Road exit where the engine turned off at a smooth 100 kmph resulting in total brake loss just short of the speedbump. Thankfully a bit of bodyweight on the brakes and pulling on the handbrake reduced the speed enough to not fly off from the bump. Baring a thud on the landing, we escaped without any damage.

Perhaps unwisely, I ignored it as a one-off issue and now a few Weeks later at the 'first' service I've been informed that the Ignitor coils and spark plugs have all been flooded by engine oil and burned away. So 45,000₹ and a good lesson later the car is now back with me in a fairly good condition.

Acceleration has improved albeit slightly, but the greatest irritation sofar has been a loud grunt and a lull between 1000 to 2000 rpms post which it's a smooth criminal. The vehicle is stable all the way to a 100, but beyond that the suspension is too floaty to give me any confidence.

I've not crossed a 120 kmph and don't intend to in the near future. It is a nightmare to drive on bad roads with a memory foam liek suspension and a low road clearance that makes one wonder how it got through homogenization.

I'm unsure if I should be expecting any better from the iDsi cvt combo. It's certainly faster than the Maruti Dzire 3rd Gen that I drive from time to time, but the Dzire has it beaten on stability and economy easily. Not to mention the modern airbags and ABS giving one a confidence that is hard to have on the aging chassis of the City. I may have to replace the seat belt mechanism at the least before I get any real mental comfort in this vehicle.

PS: The color was originally Ruby Red but was changed to this daring Scarlet by the previous owner. Not sure how they got away with it while renewing the FC/Registration. Perhaps all Reds are the same to the RTO?