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-   -   2014 Crystal Black Pearl Honda City VX-D - A new member in the family (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/146661-2014-crystal-black-pearl-honda-city-vx-d-new-member-family-10.html)

A pic of the spare tyre and the Honda car cover tucked away neatly


Haven't used the car cover yet


The City enjoying the lovely environs around Ranchi


Another 2014 City in my building, this one's a SV i-VTEC in Tafeta White

+1 to that. I am curious to know the reason too as I haven't heard about this recommendation before stupid:

I upgraded mine to Michelin 195/60R15 Primacy 3ST and have been told to maintain tyre pressure of 32psi on all tyres.

Yes the engine weight does have an affect so the pressure in the front tyres must be greater than the rear ones as there is not that much weight over the rear ones as compared to front.

In my Swift ZDi (185/65 R15), I tried the following:

1) F = 33 psi and R = 31 psi;

2) F = 32 psi and R = 32 psi;

3) F = 32 psi and R = 30 psi.

Out of these options, the best is 1. And the option 2 was making the car bounce a lot as pressure in the rear tyres were higher and no weight to counteract.

I have been maintaining the Option 1 since I got the car. I have a tyre pressure gauge that I check while top-up and every 3 days.

NOTE: The above mentioned pressures are when the tyre is warm as the place I top-up air is 8 kms away.

Anurag.

How's the performance of stock tyres?
From pics i can guess they are MRF ZVTV.

Yes, they are MRF ZVTV.

I am shocked to see that the City has a narrow profile as compared to Swift ZDi. As much I can understand the profile is 175/65 R15 but the Swift (ZDi) gets 185/65 R15. Isn't it under-tyred?

In the Swift, I feel it is good enough but a sedan should have 195 sections. I know efficiency will go down but safety is also to be looked at.

These ZVTV's are noisy but don't squeal under pressure.

Anurag.

Much has been already talked about the skinny MRF ZVTV's in several user reviews and also in GTO's official review. The tyres are fine for city usage and grip levels are good, but as speeds go higher the need for fatter rubber arises. 195 sections would have been an ideal choice. Road noise also creeps in a little. Since the car will be mostly used in the urban jungle at maximum speeds of 50-60 kph, we stuck to the stock tyres. However an upgrade is in the pipeline.

All the dough has been spent on the Santro in the last few weeks as it had taken quite a beating from its daily chores. Currently getting new set of tyres for the Santro and some accessories too. The City will get a tyre upgrade later.

Since we bought the City in 14th January, this morning is the first time we have used the Honda car cover. It fits in quite snugly. Some pics of the City under the cover:

After driving the City i-DTEC for over 3000 kms, some personal likes and dislikes that I would like to mention,

LIKES:

+ Easy to drive in the urban jungle, great maneuverability
+ Great fuel efficiency figures, 20 kpl in the city with 100% AC on, 22 kpl on the highways with 100% AC on
+ Cruise control makes the task easy on the highways
+ Sunroof tempts us to do a few late night drives enjoying the cool breeze
+ Amazing rear seat, perfectly angled and supremely comfortable
+ Rear camera with different angles of viewing makes parking a breeze in tight spots
+ Bluetooth connectivity and smartphone pairing is easy
+ Feather-touch AC controls are a pleasure to use
+ Huge boot swallows up almost everything

DISLIKES:

- No storage space for keeping important papers except the seat back pockets, I am somehow used to an underseat storage to keep some important documents
- Evident diesel clatter
- Road noise that creeps in at times
- I am 6'2" tall and headroom is quite limited for tall people, however there is excellent legroom, kneeroom and shoulder room
- Too much of blue lighting in the instrument panel, looks gaudy
- The dashboard is set a bit too high for my liking, ditto the rear parcel tray
- Crystal Black Pearl attracts way too much dust and keeping the car shining is a task

Overall, it has been a wonderful buy and the City is definitely a very capable car in its diesel avatar. The petrol City has been a benchmark in its segment for a long time and I am sure the i-DTEC will make things tougher for the competition too. No wonder the Honda City is the current king in its segment with 9500 units sold in March'14.

I have also ordered a Jopasu car duster and it should be delivered in another 2-3 days. I have never used a Jopasu product, but having heard great reviews about the car duster, it was time to get one for the City.

Got my Jopasu Duster delivered through snapdeal today. The crystal black pearl paint attracts a lot of dust and I hope it will do the task of keeping dust at bay from the City.

Some pics of the duster:

Great :thumbs upand thank you for sharing the pictures. How much did it cost you on snapdeal?

Thank You AutoIndian.:)

The duster costed me Rs 569.00 on snapdeal and it was delivered in 3 working days.

2nd service update:

The second free servicing was done yesterday at just above 3000 kms. The service interval was 5000 kms or 3 months whichever is earlier. Due to some outstation trips, the car was not driven extensively in the last month. However since it had been 3 month since the purchase, the servicing was due.

No problems with the car as of now. It has been a pleasant ownership experience. Yesterday I gave the car for its 2nd service and the car was returned in 3 hours. Apart from washing, cleaning of the air filter and general check-up of the car, nothing else was done.

Issues : There was a minor issue with the MID as the fuel efficiency figures hesitated to change/update at times. It was fixed by the service personnel.

Regarding engine oil change, the workshop personnel and the service manager (who is known to me) told that I should get it changed only while nearing 10000 kms and till then I need not worry about the performance of the engine as it has been designed to run upto 10000 kms without the first oil change. The user manual also suggests the same. I called up my SP regarding this and he also replied the same thing, that lot of testing and investments have gone into making the engine modern and handle such situations and if Honda says 10000 kms that means no owner should be worried about the engine's performance.

Convinced, I decided to get the oil replaced in the next service as per the user manual.

Finally some pics of the car:

Hi! First of must congratulate you on a very detailed and nicely written ownership report! I remember reading your review and looking at the pictures very diligently in January as that was when I had been researching on which car to get! And your review was a big help in my VXMT purchase.

I do want to ask something: with your smart-key, does your car lock automatically when you get out of the car? Mine used to do that first couple of days. After taking a few steps away from the car, it would just lock automatically.
But off late it has now stopped working for me for some reason which is quite weird. It unlocks as soon as I am close to the car but then I have to press the button to lock it. Have you faced such issue?

+1 to that. In fact this was one of the threads that both informed and impressed me. The style of presentation and the photographs - to be honest - are mind blowing. I purchased a Jopasu large kit like you, but haven't yet started using it.
I have done double bookings for the iDtec VMT white city and am waiting impatiently for it.:Frustrati Expect you are enjoying your ride.