[iamgyan]

Disclaimer: All views presented here are my personal views. Views presented here (all 13000 odd words and images of it, you've been warned!) are in no way affected/biased by my profession.

First things first – let me eat that frog and address the elephant in the room - YES! I’m a big time lurker in the forums here and only today when I was double guessing how long has it been in the shadows did I realise it’s been a good dozen years – give or take. And in full disclosure, if not for the lockdown and me sitting at home WITH additional leaves (“Never have I ever…” stuff right here), this post wouldn’t have been here. Also, going by my past behaviour (the lurking bit) and multiple unsuccessful attempts at joining the discussions here, I am not very confident of remaining chirpy enough on the forums post this lockdown also but I’ll sincerely try. Part of the reason why I don’t post much (read: at all) is also because I work in the automotive industry and cannot be too sure of not slipping up in excited debates (which go off in my mind when I see some of the comments from this side) I also understand that I’m not the only guy from the industry here in the forums but still.

Now with that out of the way, I guess an introduction is warranted. I’m an automotive engineer with about a decade of industry work-ex now. However, even after 10 years, the more I learn about stuff, the more I realise how much I don’t know. I find this very amusing. I’m also almost equally a driving/riding enthusiast with a slight bias towards riding and can’t sit at home without atleast one longish ride or drive every other weekend and some overnight travels every 3-5 weeks once. Have owned so far in chronological order,

1. A Yamaha FZ16 (2010-2014)


2. Benelli TNT300 (2015-2019)


3. And a Honda Brio SMT (2014-2018)


Currently running the show are

1. A Yamaha RayZ



and the latest acquisition *drumrolls*

2. The 2017 Honda City VX CVT.



There should be a bike addition to the garage soon once things normalize although “Which one?” is a separate headache at the moment.

Right. Onto the story of how I met my City. Here's a curtain raiser timelapse.

https://youtu.be/9680XfZPhaE

[iamgyan]

Chapter 1 – I feel the need, the need for an automatic steed! (WHAT? I tried!)

I clearly remember the day the seed of getting an automatic was sown in my mind. I had the Brio SMT then and we (Me, wife, in-laws) were returning on a Sunday evening, from an impromptou weekend drive to Madikeri, via the – you guessed it – MYSORE ROAD! And got royally stuck in one of those jams this road is famous for. Long story short, that day was the first time my left knee started to pain so bad that I literally reached home in a limp-home mode (pun intended). I had to keep trying different foot positions to kind of spread out the pain but was of little help.

I realized two things that day

1. Never return via Mysore road on a Sunday evening or for that matter, at the end of any long holiday weekend.
2. I’m going to need an automatic sooner than later.

I normally dare not travel by car to office, given Bangalore’s upcoming tourist attraction – the jams (I’m sure people will soon flock from over the world and pay for the experience), and travel by bike or the scoot except maybe once a week or so. My last employer had alternate Saturdays working so normally Saturday was the car day with empty roads to be enjoyed. The knee pain didn’t show up for long. But soon the pollution started aggravating my asthma. Doc said it was seasonal also as I’m allergic to pollen and advised me to take the car as much as possible. A few days into travelling by car, on odd occasions when there was more than usual slow moving traffic, the underlying knee pain used to raise its ugly head and this got me worried. I had just crossed 30 years of age then and would’ve loved to retain the service of these wonderful anatomical marvels for as long as possible. My wife also knew of this by then and being the amazing wife she is, she also agreed that maybe we should switch to an automatic. This was a full year and a quarter before I actually got the City. However, I just remained lazy and kept this in the perennial to-do list since I absolutely LOVED the Brio to bits and somehow couldn’t bring myself to the thought of parting with it. Retaining it was not an option as we have limited parking and wife doesn’t drive (very very rarely).

In the meantime, there was another new development. In January 2018 we realised that roughly 9 months down the line, we were going to be parents! Soon after we realised a lot of planning about all aspects of our personal and official lives needed to be done. One of those realisations was that we need a bigger, safer car. Putting two and two together, I listed down what do I want from the car (of course the wife was consulted). The list was as below (in a rough order of importance):

1. Must be an automatic but no AMT
2. Must be safer than the Brio with atleast two airbags and ABS
3. Gasoline powered
4. Should be able to seat 4 adults and a baby in a baby seat
5. Should have boot that can swallow a pram
6. Must have projector headlights at the least to retaliate against erring high beamers (Bangalore roads are squirming with these morons). Brighter, stronger the better
7. Must have Automatic AC
8. Should have a good ground clearance
9. Should be fun/involving to drive
10. Better ride quality than Brio
11. Relatively cheap to maintain (of course mostly costing more than Brio)
12. Preferably an SUV
13. Preferably a rear wheel drive
14. Preferably better performance


I actually wanted to try something other than Honda. Not because I was unhappy or anything but just that, you know, You Live Only Once sort of thing. I was open to try out other brands. Next, I drew up a list in my mind of all the relevant automatics I could think of. Below is that list recollected from memory (in no particular order). Keep in mind that this list was made somewhere in the middle of first half of 2018

1. Ford Ecosport (Launch of facelift with new TC autobox was around the corner)
2. Honda City CVT
3. Honda Jazz CVT
4. New Honda Amaze CVT
5. Creta AT
6. Verna AT
7. i20 CVT (again, launch was around the corner)
8. Baleno CVT
9. Duster CVT
10. Polo GT
11. Rapid with the DCT
12. Vento DCT
13. Toyota Yaris CVT


Next up, trimming and filtering.

[iamgyan]

Chapter 2: The trimming, filtering & test driving around, only to find what goes around, comes around (NOT inspired by Justin Timberlake, No sir!)

Part 1: Trimming and Filtering

You might’ve noticed I haven’t touched upon the budget yet. That’s because we honestly were clueless on how to decide the budget! I’ve never met anyone else with this dilemma so far and it does sound funnily stupid even to me as I type this down. We already had a home loan going on but seemed like anything upto 15-17ish on-road should be doable but weren’t exactly able to gauge how much we can vs. how much we should spend on a car at this stage. And then as happens in such cases, with no compass and hence no bearing of where we stood, we arbitrarily decided that Rs.10 lakh sounded like a million bucks so that’ll be it (No, I’m not stupid. Yes, that was intentional). This decision happened somewhere mid-way through the “taking test-drives” process and I’ll touch upon this when we come to it. We also left the door a bit ajar in that we would re-evaluate this if needed but at a later stage.

Let the bloodbath begin!

Right off the bat the VWs and Skodas were out for the simple reason that I couldn’t enter into a pre-nup before saying “I do” to them and a soured relationship on any account, much less a divorce, with any of these families, only ended in you losing your peace of mind and money. However, I would probably at some point in my life might still look at getting into a fling with one of these IF I end up making some good amount of moolah. Also, I expect my rides to require minimum care and work like the machines they are meant to be in all conditions (crawling traffic in Bangalore included. Dry clutch DCTs, I'm looking at you!). I don’t have the time, nor like to invest long hours at service centres or waiting for parts or worse, deciding whether or not I should replace a part based on its cost rather than its importance. And I had heard and read stories. Scary ones.

That brings it down to 10.

Next off the list was the Yaris. I was there at 2018 Auto Expo and I was there when the press launch took place. Just a few hours earlier I had had a fleeting glimpse of the Yaris under the covers and boy was I excited – this might just be the car I wanted and what timing! Being a Toyota and a sedan, it was expected to be

1. Reliable & high on quality
2. Safe
3. Spacious
4. Low maintenance
5. Function over form (aligns with my ideologies)

I promptly fixed a reminder on my phone for the press launch schedule and was in attendance a good 10 min in advance. The launch ceremony was beautiful with some Japanese traditional instruments being played by artists flown over from Japan (duh!) and looked like Toyota had left no stone unturned. Good. So speeches done, cars unveiled on stage, cars unveiled near the press stand and the mad rush begins. I’ll digress a little here as this part was unexpected and mildly amusing. It's almost like one of those Wildebeest stampedes they show on NGC, just that the watering hole is the car, and Wildebeests are the journalists interspersed with corporate spies (OK, more like benchmarking ninjas but spies sounds cooler). These spies (first time I ever saw them, also most of them were Chinese, Korean & Japanese), as I saw at other launches too, mostly work in teams of 2 and are almost always the first guys to reach the car. They literally pushed aside anyone ahead of them and got inside the car and were very methodological and clear on what needed to be done. One guy held a point & shoot camera and took some specific photos of some specific areas while the other took out a swiss army knife equivalent of shade cards of different materials, then went over the interiors, matching the dashboard with some dashboard-y plastic color cards, seats with similar leather/leatherite color cards and so on while the other clicked pics. All this happened in under 20-30 sec that is, till the time the actual OEM guys get to reach them and get them out. Very intriguing stuff.

Right, so coming back to the Yaris. Once the crowd thinned out, and I had gone over the exterior and boot space (projectors-check, boot space- check), I went in and sat on the driver’s seat and the feeling was, “Hmm, this seems OK. Not great but OK.” And then I went and tried to sit on the rear bench with driver’s seat set at my driving position (For reference, I’m 6ft 2in with longer legs). My head hit the roofliner before my back could hit the backrest, something that I didn’t expect. Even my Brio had better headroom AND legroom at the rear on the rear bench. And then the weirdly designed centre armrest for the driver which protrudes towards the middle seat passenger almost rendering the middle seat unusable. As such the cabin space felt too small for the car. I had such high expectations and here I was, not angry but heavily disappointed.
Yaris went from “This is it!” to “No way” in less than 12hrs.

After this, the Hyundais had a slightly lower priority in my mind, again because of my function over form philosophy (case in point: I liked the Suzuki Inazuma as a bike. Go ahead, judge me all you want!)

Next up, the test drives.

[iamgyan]

Chapter 2

Part 2: Test drives baby!

1. The 2017 New Honda City

City has been an aspirational car since it was launched and I liked it too (except the Indian 2nd gen with that Dolphin design thing going on). In-fact I like to call it the middle-class BMW
That said, both me and wifey were a bit apprehensive that somehow the City projects a more sophisticated and less fun image (We would rather be the opposite! ) and I had this mental block that if I get it, I have to drive it with certain decorum and gently baby it around which I just cannot. Thankfully, it has remained that way and I still drive it like I used to drive my Brio.

The TD car was a ZX variant. This was at Whitefield Honda showroom near KR Puram as since the time I landed in Bangalore, I had been getting my Brio serviced at their workshop and was and still am happy and satisfied with the service offered. The sales rep had the typical sales rep enthusiasm and we drove from the showroom to Marathahalli U-turn and back. This was the first time I was driving a proper automatic. While going towards Marathahalli, I took the service road near Baghmane tech park flyover (was still under construction) to check out the ride quality over bumpy broken roads. Wife sat in the backseat. Straightaway I didn’t really like the ride quality, felt only slightly less stiff and bouncy than the Brio. Wife had the same opinion. Also, in hindsight I realise that the sales rep who came along for the TD didn’t really explain much about the car and that I could’ve adjusted the steering rake and that the ECO mode button MADE THE RIDE SLUGGISH! I had turned it ON after asking the guy about it, right after sitting in the car and throughout the drive it was ON. As expected the car felt too sluggish for a 1.5l iVtec and told the same to the sales guy who in turn tried to pass it off as typical CVT behaviour and the infamous “That’s how these things are”. He didn’t link it to ECO mode. Came back to showroom and went over the pricelist and realised that only V variant was within reach (approx. 15 lakh on road). VX was a good 2.5 lakh more IIRC and all I remember about ZX was that it was plain stupidly priced. I understood that between VX and V only things I missed out on were mainly the bigger alloys (the designed seemed more or less similar to me then), LED headlamps & foglamps, leather interiors, sunroof, telescopic steering adjustment (I think), frameless auto day/night IRVM and indicators on ORVM. Frankly, only thing I really wanted out of all these were the LED headlamps as they look smashing to my eyes and had seen their brightness on some random cars on road earlier. But I wasn’t ready to pay 2.5lakh more just for the need of better headlamps. Both me and wife were not fully convinced and kept this on backburner and moved to the other showroom on that road, the Renault outlet.

2. Renault Duster AMT & CVT

I have always liked the Duster. I liked the wide bodied squat stance it has and had already heard of the amazing ride quality it offers, even better with the all independent suspension on the AWD version. Although I knew at the back of my mind that I won’t be putting my money down on it for reasons listed below, I still wanted to use the opportunity to drive one. Now the aforementioned reasons were:

1. Not a safe structure – The Duster, IIRC didn’t score very well in the GNCAP crash tests and mainly the chassis was not upto the mark for the Indian made ones
2. Joke of an airbag – This was infuriating to me. The Duster sold in India actually comes with smaller driver airbag compared to international versions. Not acceptable at all!
3. No projector/LED headlamps

We enter the showroom and look around, there are a couple of customers and couple of sales reps going around but no one bothers us. We check out some limited editions and other vehicles on display and immediately find the interior plastics quality very poor. Rough edges, hard plastics almost Alto types. Finally a lady shows up and asks us to wait and somebody will attend. We wait. A good 10-15 min later a chap joins us and we apprise him of our interest to drive the Duster CVT. Seems the car has gone out for another test drive and should be back anytime soon. Meanwhile he offers us the diesel AMT to test drive and I say why not? And off we go. Drove the Duster on the same route as before plus some specific, pretty bad, kutccha road location inside Mahadevpura where wifey and me are suitably surprised by the amazing ride quality (the elders were right!) and I am extremely surprised by the Brio-esque turning radius – DID NOT EXPECT THIS. City had a much wider turning radius that had caught me by surprise coming after the Brio. The AMT had hill-hold which I liked and the head nod was not that bad but I was pretty sure I didn’t want an AMT. I also liked the commanding and high seating, the thin but functional armrest and the phenomenal amount of seating and luggage space on offer. What I didn’t like was the fact that you can’t adjust your seat or access map pockets without opening the door, the below knee level head unit, interiors plastic quality and the steering wheel (I still like only Honda ones and the new Tatas), I was pretty quick with getting to use the much lambasted, behind-the-steering audio controls so that was fine.

Came back and the Duster CVT was back so off we went again. Right after the diesel, this one, though smooth, felt sluggish. What also didn’t help matters much was that CVT wasn’t available in top variant so some of the features that I don’t remember now, were missing. I had heard of hilariously low FE numbers on the CVT version and cycled through the MID to take a look and was surprised to see a number around 15 before I looked at the units which were in l/100km. I almost chuckled at this smartassery. I remember checking the tripmeter also in case it had been reset recently but there was a decent mileage on it. So I turned to the sales guy sitting next to me with the “Achha ye kitna deti hai?” to which pat comes the reply, “Sir, anywhere around 12-14 in the city, aap dash pe dekh lo!”. I make a show of checking it out and tell him “Yaha to 15 dikha raha hai...” when he cuts me off with a “See! Told you so” and I cut back in with a “…but ye to l/100km me hai which means about 6-7 kmpl, nai?” with a blank expression. And then I sit back and enjoy the show as he squirms, tries to speak incoherently and changes the subject. That itself made my day! Coming back to the transmission, it didn’t have the paddle shifters like the city and even though a +/- button was available, I couldn’t make out any difference while using them. At one point of time I pressed the accelerator pedal half way through and there was nothing, not even the rubberband effect. The elders were right here also – Duster CVT is meant for sedate city driving only which was not my cup of tea so the that was where, the Duster. Bit. The dust.

3. New Ford Ecosport AT

In the meantime, the first choice in my mind, the new Ecosport with torque converter based automatic was finally launched (It ticked almost all boxes). We went to the Ford showroom in Koramangala, opposite NGV to check it out. It’s a small, sales-only, outlet I think and the guys were busy attending other customers. We meanwhile checked out the display car and already the major thing glaring at us was the interior space, or rather the lack of it. There was hardly any leg room left at the back with driver’s seat set to my liking and the width seemed enough for two and a half people only. We went for the test drive and I liked how solid everything felt. Even the materials used seemed worth the money being paid. The floating screen had been updated and was simply the best in class. Steering felt nicely weighed and the driving position was great. Even the transmission felt nice and smooth and I couldn’t feel any lag during manual shifting with the paddle shifters (maybe due to low speeds) However, I felt that the sales rep was under the impression that we were window shopping and was being just about courteous. Even the test drive route was very slow, through the lanes inside NGV to Koramanagla bus-stand and back. I hardly went beyond 2nd gear I think. And it was near the Koramangala bus stand u-turn that I got a shocker. See the Brio has one of the shortest, if not THE shortest, turning radius and I could almost always take tight u-turns anywhere without moving away from the divider (almost like an auto) and of course I did the same with this car only to find myself perpendicular to the traffic flow with a bewildered I’m-not-this-stupid look on my face. And then began the struggle of figuring out the reverse gear on an unfamiliar transmission on an unfamiliar car coupled with random scooter dudes passing behind me while I try to reverse, trying to make sense of random warnings popping up. Managed to do an unexpected 3–point turn and go straight back to the showroom and say ciao to the salesgirl. Purely on the criteria of interior space, we were clear this won’t work for us. Also another thing I realised in the showroom was that sideways opening rear door wasn’t too practical in my books – you always need to plan and park if stuff needs to go in or out the boot. Even worse, the hinges are on the wrong side for a RHD country.

4. Writing off the Hyundais

With another unexpected disappointment, we walked into the neighbouring Hyundai sales outlet to find out that the Creta AT was a bit too pricey for us while my research told me it wasn’t too high on interior space too. There was no car on display and the looks didn’t really appeal to either of us so we crossed it off the list. Kind of same scene with the Verna AT also but the problem was that AT was available either at the lower end without much other features or right at the top which was beyond our means. Still picked up the brochure and came home even though we knew these were out too.
At a later stage, when the i20 CVT was launched, I was bit excited but the reviews were unanimously bad and all agreed that it was not the CVT to be had. Not to mention that it wasn't available in top end variant. So it was out too.

5. Maruti Suzuki Baleno CVT

Almost a month or so would’ve passed in disappointment at not finding something that was acceptable. This was also the time where we fixed the budget to a million bucks. The Baleno had been there at the back of my mind since I drove one of the manual ones from a friend to Coimbatore and back (my Brio was in service getting the brake booster replaced). The thing I had liked the most about the car were interior space, boot space, ride quality and stock audio system while what I didn’t like were the gear ratios, lack of lumbar support in the front seats and the steering that didn’t seem to return to center and I had to keep doing small corrections all the time. It felt a bit sticky to move whenever I tried to move it. I mentioned the same to the friend who owned this car and he got it checked and unexpectedly, the service guys heard and immediately agreed to replace the steering under warranty (not sure which part of the steering system it was). I was surprised at this and to me it almost sounded like a silent recall of sorts going around because the said friend hadn’t even suggested replacement and here were the service guys pushing it through under warranty. Or maybe, it was just a rare, good service advisor. Whatever.

Edit: Couple of days after writing the above part, I came across tbhp news article from 9/19 about a silent recall on this topic going around. This was surprising to me as the issue was clear even in Jan 2018 (when I drove the car). I re-checked with my friend and he informed that the steering column was replaced during last service!

Meanwhile the NEXA showroom on Sarjapur road had popped up and was literally a stone’s throw from my house. So one fine Saturday, me and wifey decided to go and check out the Baleno there. This was by far the best showroom and best staff we met throughout this car search. We checked out every car on display although I was clear it was only the Baleno I was interested in since everything else either had AMTs or no AT or was a Ciaz. Yes I don’t like the Ciaz which is why it wasn’t even on the list. The 104 bhp 1.5L engine doesn’t sound like much and the 4 speed TC does not belong to this millennium. On the other hand, I would’ve bought the S-cross eyes closed had it had a decent autobox on offer, even in diesel avatar. Coming back to the Baleno, the Baleno RS was clearly a looker compared to the standard one and I loved those grey-blackish alloys but alas! No automatic option there. So off we went for a test drive in the Baleno CVT. Loved the smoothness and silent cabin and was satisfied with the performance. Wifey had nice things to say about the rear bench comfort and spaciousness too. However, the Apple Carplay didn’t seem to work. I had never used my phone with any other Carplay device also so wasn’t sure whether it was the car or my phone. Sales guy was also clueless so I told him I’ll check and come back again. After a couple of weeks, I went again, alone for a longer drive (already informed to the salesguy). Drove till Sarjapur bus stand and back and tried out various things and functions. The Carplay was still not working. Meanwhile I was still mentally fighting over overlooking he safety aspect considering the debates over Baleno’s build and safety ratings going on. I decided to be open about it with the sales guy. Turned out, he was earlier at a VW dealership and had recently joined NEXA and he kind of rather agreed with me on doubts regarding the safety. I came back home and discussed over a week with wife and even though Baleno seemed to meet all our requirements including budget (around 11 on-road for top spec) we simply couldn’t bring ourselves to overlook the safety aspect and had to drop the car. I called up the salesguy and told him the same since he’d invested a lot of his time in me and I didn’t want to ghost him. He wished me well.

6. The other Hondas
By this time, I had evaluated the Jazz CVT on paper already and it didn’t make sense to me to buy a bigger heavier car with same engine as the Brio. Also it fared poorly in terms of features when compared to Baleno. The new Amaze was launched around the same time and having seen one at Auto expo, I didn’t really like the design and it again had the same engine and when I sat inside one later, it felt the same as Brio to me. So that was out too.

And so here we were, having run through the list, in a “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” situation.

[iamgyan]

Chapter 3: Decisions Decisions

Frustrated (as I’m sure you must be, having read through some 4700 odd words so far without me coming to the point), we just took a break from thinking about this. Meanwhile I put the question regarding budget sizing to a banker cousin of mine who finally gave me a mantra – Your car should cost at max as much as your CTC today. At this point I was looking for any reason to decide and this gave me one. Again, I have no logical reasoning for this but this worked for me. If you heed this advice, neither me nor my said cousin will be held in anyway responsible!
With this newfound knowledge, and keeping my wife’s CTC out of this for hedging purposes, we decided ~14lakh-ish budget and quickly realised that we were again looking at the City with a 1lakh deficit. Time to go deal hunting then!

It was already about June by now and I hadn’t got any good discounts from Whitefield Honda earlier. So we went around other dealers nearby i.e. Dakshin Honda on Hosur road and Saphire Honda on ring road, opposite New Horizon College. It was during the test ride at Dakshin Honda (ECO OFF) that I first got a feel of how much more the car can do. While returning from the test drive, through some backlanes with shifter in S mode, I had just committed to an overtake when suddenly out of nowhere an auto came hurtling from the opposite direction. I had just about enough time to floor the throttle and do a sort of accelerate hard and single lane change manoeuvre, overtaking the other vehicle just in time. I was a bit surprised with the sudden kickdown performance and drove some more and was finally fully satisfied with car. Later, Saphire offered me the best deal so far (I don’t remember the details but I remember it was the winner).

And so Honda City V CVT in Golden Brown it was to be for just about under 15lakh INR on road.

I didn’t yet put down the down payment as I wanted to find a buyer for the Brio before booking the car (None of the dealers were offering a good enough price). And then one fine Thursday afternoon, about a week later I get a call from an unknown number who starts off in Tamil and I understand only “Honda”. I beg their pardon and the language switches to English. Turns out, it is a call from the Grand Honda Showroom on Hosur road – or so I hear. Nope it is a call from Grand Honda IN Hosur and they have Orchid Pearl White City VX to sell. And that they are upfront willing to give a discount of 1.5lakh! :O

OK! Now I’m listening. A bit wary but listening.

The car is a December 2017 make and it was already July 2019 and hence the discount. I ask how did they get my number and seems Honda gave it to them looking at my past inquiries as a potential customer to get their 2017 stock moving. I was surprised. I tell them that I don’t want the hassle of buying in one state and registering in another and they have it covered too. They promise they’ll get the car registered at Electronics City RTO (KA-51) and have sold quite a few cars to people staying in and around Electronics City. I ask to see the car in person before deciding and they agree. So the next Saturday (yup, all good things on a Saturday :P I was born on a Saturday) me and wife reach the showroom and also realise that it is actually at the other end of Hosur on the highway. Car is already on display. Here's the first pic I clicked of the car.



I go around inspecting the car and find nothing alarming. Car was quite clean all around, even in crevices, only some dead bees near the sunroof channel area which meant the car had been on display for some time (was parked right under a spotlight indoors that would explain the sunroof being left open sometime and the bees falling in). Post all discussions, the price came to 16 lakh plus some change. It was turning out that for just a lakh more, I can get the VX, though not in my first choice color (only white was available) but still a good one nonetheless. The reason I didn’t want White was mainly since the Brio was White too and in City, White came with almost a 6k premium by the time it reached on-road. VX was an absolute no-brainer for just a 1 lakh Rupee premium over V now. Swiped the card and booked it there and then. This was also due to the fact that the showroom is almost 40km from home and I wanted to complete the buying process with minimum number of trips. Also I didn't mind few trips considering the deal was one that I couldn’t refuse. The complete sales experience was good and the sales rep Rakesh was very helpful. Only hiccup was my name being spelt wrongly with an additional initial on the invoice. Got it corrected and asked them to take care for further documentation. But then the insurance and RC later also came with the same error. I took it up with them and after slight coaxing they agreed to get them updated and did deliver on the same. I had to make a couple of more trips for getting the car loan and some documentation sorted while for some other stuff Rakesh sent his team member to my place which was nice.

In the meantime, I had found a buyer for the Brio over Olx- a couple similar to us with a young kid and buying their first car. Felt nice to know that the much much much loved Brio would find a caring home and will continue to receive love and be cared for. It was an extremely emotional moment for us to let the car go. It was our first car, bought just before getting married (Not a dowry car, just so we are clear). We’d driven it down from Bhiwadi to Chandigarh, Agra and finally to Bangalore and numerous trips around south and never once had the car let us down. Ever! We had even taken the car on one last farewell trip before we were to hand it over. That car had been a part of so many many memories that both of us were teary eyed and asked the buyer to take one last photo of us together with the car. I remember talking and consoling the car also the last time I parked it when no one was looking. Once the car had left the apartment, both of us came back, sat on the couch, hugged each other – and cried.

Some parting shots of the Brio, fondly named Bumblebee by my wife.

Parking for one last time


You might not be ableto see it but we are misty eyed here


Last pic


Even today, almost every other day I feel like messaging the current owner to let me know first whenever he decides to let go of the car. I’ll probably do that now that I’ve written about it.

Phew! That got me emotional. Coming back to the City, my parents were here when delivery was supposed to happen. So we rented an Uber (outstation thing) and reached the showroom. The car was ready and documentation took about 45 min or so. Not much freebies were given. Some basic chargeable welcome kit was there (couple of Honda branded cushions, floor mat, perfume, the works). Paid some more for a Ganesha idol and got it fixed. Showroom had arranged the puja stuff and one of their employees cum pandit did the mantras and pujas in front of the small temple right in front of showroom. The whole staff was there for the “unveiling” and puja and completely made our day.

We left and I gingerly drove the car home (pregnant lady + parents = absolute focus!), getting used to the new brakes, the new bigger footprint, a taller dashboard ahead of me and fighting the muscle memory to shift gears.

And now, time for some photos from the first delivery in our family that year!

Ready to unveil


Unveiled


Lady in White


And some bonus pics

[iamgyan]

Chapter 4: 18 months and 18000km later

My mental health has definitely improved over the past year and a half (not that it was questionable earlier).

I say so because the first thing you notice while driving an automatic in Bangalore is how much calmer, relaxed and zen you are. You’re not stressed to the same levels as before when you spot a jam from 100m away, that you’ll soon be jamming with. And that is good enough for me to know that I did the right thing getting this car. Let’s break down the review from here. Also, I’ll keep it mostly to the stuff that matters to me or was new to me.

1.Exteriors

I didn’t like the design of 2015 Honda City with that fat chrome strip and flat headlights and was pleasantly surprised how much just a bumper nip and tuck, some contrasting plastics and new headlamp cluster can change the looks of the car. Even the rear bumper just with the addition of the lower black strip looks so much better. I don’t think the car has any bad angle as such and comes across as a very well balanced design. However, in my photo library, I find myself more inclined towards the rear 3 quarters and the profile view with that undoubtedly City silhouette. The Orchid Pearl White is basically a metallic white shade and that makes it shine very nicely in most photos.

Would you just look at those alloys!


Move over home office, there are better options


I think the amount of dental real estate on display says it all


Also, I LOVE THOSE ALLOYS! And Honda has provided a full sized alloy spare too! I know a lot of guys feel that the design looks a bit too busy but works for me. Also the way they shimmer at night when driving is a treat to eyes. I would’ve been sad if I had got the V variant because now whenever I look at any of those, the alloys just look a bit too plain. Tyres are OK. I wanted to replace them with Pirelli Cinturato P1 (I had these on my Brio and made a WORLD of difference after the horrendous stock JK tyres) but my budget was already overboard by 2 lakh and I wasn’t getting much in return for the brand new Bridgestones considering they are a unique size for this car. So far I’ve found the Bridgestones lacking mainly during braking as in they reach their limits quickly under heavy braking and ABS cuts in pretty soon. Stickier tyres should improve this. Another thing that I like here, that I also like in any car that has it, is that the rear door edges do not take the shape of the wheel well and continue in a straight line upwards.

I have no major dislikes about the exterior except the fact that the outer pointy end of headlights doesn't align with the bonnet lines. Very unsatisfying. Would’ve looked nice if the bonnet line dropped lower and met the headlights. Maybe.

This. Satisfaction denied! Also notice uneven gaps in the bonnet shut line



I haven’t added any exterior accessories except the weatherguards bought from JC road in Bangalore for about Rs. 700 I think. I had them in the Brio also and I liked the practicality they offered of being able to open the windows a bit and drive without the AC in rains. However, on the City, I find that these add significant wind noise above 100 km/h which gets irritating on the highways. I’ll probably remove them once any one of them starts peeling off.
I found the OE accessory of bumper corner protectors too costly (about 4K for 4 corners + painting and installation charges extra! = a new bumper, almost) and frankly stupid because even if you were to scratch them, the paint on them would be scratched and look as bad as a scratched bumper. At one point I wanted to add a spoiler too from AliExpress, the one that look like the tiny narrow spoiler on the Rapid, but finally dropped the idea in favour of pure joy of being able to jump and sit on the boot.
Apart from this, I replaced the stock windshield wiper with Bosch Clear Advantage wiper blades around 5 months ago and am very satisfied. They wipe really well with no streaks even at 3 digit speeds with no perceptible noise. The stock size is not available in Bosch portfolio but going by Amazon reviews, I purchased the 24” and 16” ones and they work absolutely fine. The stock one’s were streaking from the beginning and off late had become more of a hazard in rains.

The LED headlights are fantastic for stock lamps and at high beam, light up the highways very well. Initially I felt the throw wasn’t proper and after a couple of hits and misses, was finally able to adjust it to my liking. The headlamps are "Triple barrel", if I may call them so, as there are 2 clusters of LEDs for Low beam (outer two) and 1 for high beam (innermost towards the grill).

"Triple barrel" headlamps


The sharp cut-off of the headlights however becomes the proverbial Achilles heel in the ghats and this is where cornering lamps are sorely missed. It’s quite scary at times since you’re almost turning blind as there is hardly any light spread towards the corners in sharp turns. I’ve been looking for some aftermarket options for static bending lights but haven’t found anything interesting. It also doesn’t help that there is no steering angle sensor to help enable such function. The foglights on my car seem to be focused a bit too low as in I can’t even see the light from driver’s seat, only kind of an afterglow. I asked the service guys to adjust it but they simply said fog lights cannot be adjusted. I forgot this later and while writing this review, I got back on this topic and some googling suggested that they ARE normally adjustable. I re-read the user manual but no mention. I went down to the car, opened the hood and put the apex tech of our smartphones – the torch to good use. I could see some sort of large screw head with knurling below the foglamp with the screw head facing the ground and a long shank partially visible. From the construction it looked like an adjustment screw that could tilt the lights up or down. But accessibility seemed an issue. Logic said that if it was an adjustment screw, then there should be a way to reach it from below the car through some access hole. Looked under the bumper and lo and behold! There were 2 sweet access holes exactly below the screws. Too bad I don’t have the correct socket driver (it looks like a size 6) and will get one post-lockdown and fiddle around. Will keep you guys posted. Pinky promise! Also the foglamps seem to have one set of LEDs permanently focused into corners. Hopefully the adjustment should resolve the corner lighting issue also.

Below are lighting images taken with fixed speed, aperture and ISO settings so the difference is clear.

Only DRLs ON. Although difficult, notice the brightness on the pillars that goes off in next image


Fog lamps + dimmed DRLs. Notice the very short fog lamp throw


Low beam + fog lamps. Sharp cut off to prevent glare can be clearly seen


High beam + low beam + fog lamps. Can clearly see the driver in the santro up ahead (if any) would easily be dazzled.


Fog lamps and DRLs in action


All except high beam


From the reflector design, foglamps seems to have 2 sets of LEDs, one pointing ahead and one into corners, kind of always ON. Also notice the Made in Japan label. No such label on headlights.


On the dislikes, I feel Honda has been unnecessarily stingy in some very basic areas, case in point being no rear wheel well insulation. That could’ve helped reduce road noise and the occasional rock hitting noises inside the cabin which isn’t exactly a benchmark in cabin insulation. Also the panel gaps around the bonnet seem a bit too large to me.

2. Interiors

In short, typical Honda. Man Maximum, Machine Minimum. HUGE amount of space available, good ergonomics though I would’ve liked some more cubby holes and a can holder in front of the vent.

Front seats & Dashboard view


The dashboard looks great to me although I feel Honda could’ve tried to differentiate the design a bit more compared to Jazz or BRV. I have no complaints w.r.t quality of plastics and materials used inside the cabin. The meters are clear and simple with a 3 dial layout and soothing white backlight. Pre-facelift ones came with a blue backlight and I never liked anything that came with blue backlights. You get a tacho on the left, speedometer with tell-tale lights in the middle and MID on the right which displays the Odo, 2 tripmeters with average FE for each trip, time, fuel level and instantaneous FE and outside temperature. What could be better here is providing more info from the MID on the dials, for ex: which door exactly is open?
Apart from this, the dashboard houses the ECO mode ON/OFF button along with ORVM control. This also gets electronic folding ORVMs with additional button to enable auto-fold/unfold which I find very practical. ORVMs are nice and wide. The start-stop button looks and feels nice and chunky. Digipad 1.0 that comes with the car is plain disappointing. While the stock 8-speaker sound quality is good enough for me, the only new things I get, compared to the Brio, is Bluetooth connectivity and telephony, HDMI input, a web browser, optional connectivity to internet via an accessory dongle, 1GB on-board memory, Mirrorlink, an extra USB port & pre-loaded maps on a micro SD card – all of which, except the Bluetooth part, are absolutely useless in my opinion. As if to add insult to injury, there is no Aux input option and the maps card was stolen in first service (that I realised in 2nd service)! :O
I let it go as the on-board maps were too tedious to operate and like always Gmaps won.
The car comes with only reverse camera and no reverse sensors. only some times I have had issues with this due to low contrast, especially at night. The reverse cam is highly required though due to a high rear windshield that severely limits visibilty while parking. The reverse lights are quite bright. Visibility through the rear windshield is pretty good for driving though. Limited visibility at rear plus the added boot meant I had to be on high alert in the initial days when I had just moved from Brio to City.

The front row seats are pretty wide and very comfortable although I feel the lower back support was better in the Brio. Driver’s seat gets 6-way adjustment and an armrest to be shared with co-driver. However, the construction of this armrest could’ve been sturdier as this one flexes and sometimes squeaks if extra pressure is put on them when getting out of the car. There is ample leg-room and headroom everywhere. I normally sit with the seat all the way back minus 1 or 2 notches and a six footer can still sit comfortably at the back. In fact, once at a tea stop, I realised that I can stretch my left leg completely straight with heel resting on top of the dead pedal! Also, this being VX from 2017, gets the perforated leather seat covers and so far I haven’t had a sweaty back. Seats offer good all-round support and no complaints as such. However, I feel Honda should’ve provided adjustable seat belts here. On the topic of seat belts, only Driver’s side gets a seat belt alarm and none for the shotgun rider. Driver’s door gets controls for all 4 power windows with driver’s being one-touch up/down, window lock and central door lock/unlock button. Central locking / unlocking can also be done by pushing/pulling the door release lever.

Acres of space with driver's seat set to my liking


Same at the rear with driver's seat position unchanged. Also notice the small center tunnel hump and the sloping floor


Rear AC vents


Coming to the rear seats – I think it’s pretty well known by now that you can’t beat the City in back seat comfort. The middle seat backrest folds out as a centre armrest and can hold 2 cups/bottles . Despite this, the middle seat backrest as well as the seat itself feels quite comfortable even for long rides, additionally aided by a very small "transmission tunnel". The bench and the backrest spread from door to door that makes carrying 5 adults or in my case, 4 adults and a baby (in a baby seat) a comfortable affair. There is also one AC vent for the back seat passengers but the air flow is not that great (probably like 20-30% of front). There are also 2 12v charging points below the rear AC vent available. Rear seats get only two integrated headrests (I think Honda calls them pillows?) and none for the middle seat guy. These headrests /pillows are filled with a much softer material and are extremely comfortable if you want to rest and sleep but not sure how effective these are in their actual role i.e. whiplash prevention. Back seat comfort is also aided by the upwards sloping floor (towards driver seat) which makes a very perceptible difference in how your foot rests. This complements the slightly extra-laidback backrest by still maintaining a more or less right angle between your foot and leg. If you’re wondering why does the floor have a slope at all, the reason is that this version of City is based on the current Jazz platform, where the tank is placed under the front seats to enable magic seats and more utility space. However, in the City, it still lies below the rear seats. Points for improvement at the back could be to provide a proper 3-point belt for middle seat also (some variants elsewhere get it as per the manual)

Edge to Edge seat cushioning. Goes a long way in ensuring comfort for 3 at the back.


The air-conditioning, in true Honda fashion, is nothing much to write about. Given the large glass area, the performance is above adequate for Bangalore weather but leaves a lot to be desired in hotter coastal regions. Honda should’ve provided UV cut glass like the Baleno or even their own Amaze here. The cool down after starting with a hot soaked car could be better. Also, its either comfortable at front but uncomfortable at the back or uncomfortably cold at the front while comfortable at the back. Sort of a workaround I’ve managed is to almost close the side vents (middle ones can’t be closed). That kind of equalises and also allows for better air throw from the rear vents. A short note on the Auto AC control logic (not sure if this is the norm, risking sounding stupid here) - the blower speed and possibly the compressor loading is a function of the difference between outside temperature and set value of AC temperature apart from actual cabin temperature itself. What this means is if the outside temperature is 20 deg C and you set inside at 19 deg C, the blower speed would hardly be at 1 or 2 bars but if the outside temp here was 30 deg C, you'll have the blower running close to max speed. I was a bit apprehensive about the touch panel control for the AC but off late I’m used to it and it doesn’t seem so much of an issue as mostly said to be. That said, I’m a mechanical engineer and will always prefer knurled dials and toggle switches for controls.

In terms of storage, the glovebox is neither cooled nor too large. For this reason, I’ve moved the manuals to the trunk, in the lap of spare wheel, cocooned in bubble wrap. Each of the doors can take a 1 liter bottle each, with two cup holders in front of the gear lever. The armrest covers a deep recess too. There are slots on each side of the hand brake which are probably meant for wallets I guess. On the right side of steering wheel, there is a small flip down compartment that and hold loose change / toll tickets etc. The boot is quite large and well-shaped and can easily swallow 5 people’s luggage and a full size pram with still some room for holiday shopping for a weeklong roadtrip. The rear seat is not foldable but it seems from the user manual that some markets do get fold down seats which would’ve increased the utility factor even more.

Large, well shaped, 510L boot can gobble up more luggage than you need. Although folding seats would've improved it further.



Look up and you’ll find 4 cabin lights and latest craze – Sunroof!
I wasn’t really much for a sunroof and it was a good to have feature for me when deciding a new car but now I realise that for my next car it’ll be a must just because I’m used to it now and the airiness it brings to the cabin. It also helps cool down the car faster when parked in the sun faster by letting hot air rise out of it when opened. However, where I find an issue is with the compromised noise insulation, especially in the rains. It’s LOUD but pulling in the felt liner does help, a bit. The sunroof is pre-tinted and gets a one touch open/close function and a tilt feature which is useful to have some circulation going or suck out the stale cabin air quickly while driving. However, there is no indication of any sort if you park your car and forget to close the sunroof. In my understanding, this is a very important function which Honda could have enabled without much effort via a software function.

Sunroof with some clouds thrown in


On the topic of sunroof, I would like to touch upon the hazards of letting kids or even adults stand through the same while the car is moving that somehow people just don’t realise. Even the salesmen sell the feature as one that is meant for kids! I’ve seen countless such examples and I’m sure you must also have seen/experienced. I’ll just list the ways people have been hurt grievously or even died doing this:

1. Since you aren’t wearing seat belt, you’ll either fly out of the car in a strong impact (read anything more than 25-30km/h) or have your rib cage crushed, worse sliced by all the impact force being transmitted through the thin roof width

2. You could get hit by small or medium sized rocks thrown up by the vehicle in front of you, compounded by the relative velocity of you and the rock, resulting in death or serious injury.

3. I can distinctly remember at least 2 cases of kids getting their throats slit and dying because there was a stray “maanjha” hanging over the road after Sankranti festivities.

If even these reasons are not convincing enough for someone, then I’ll let Darwinism run its course.

Now coming to the most irritating thing and the feature that I think was the result of a “Oh shit! How did we forget that!” moment – the fuel filler cap release lever position. It is placed at the bottom of the A pillar, near the floor almost and right above the bonnet release button (you get the drift). Reaching that place from my position of driver’s seat pushed back all the way, steering telescoped to the max and then lowered, is stuff yogis dream of. You level up when instead of opening the fuel filler, you pop open the bonnet to disapprovingly judgmental, taunting smiles of petrol pump staff. Why can’t they have just placed it next to the boot release lever, in its natural habitat?

The fuel filler cap release lever, placed out of coverage area.


Oh I just remembered another ergo failure, the centre tunnel trim sidewall, where your left leg rests, has a very strategic ridge line which will inadvertently perform a slow stab of your calf muscles on longer drives. Although, I think my calves are used to it now.

Among interior accessories, I’ve installed:

1. Aukey Dashcam that came with a dual USB port 12V charging adaptor (~49GBP off Amazon.uk via friend returning from UK)
2. A cheap AC vent mobile holder bought from SP road that has held up surprisingly well. (90 Rs wonly)
3. Child seat from BayBee brand bought off Amazon (INR 5000)
4. Amazing aftermarket floor mats from Elegant Auto in Delhi (INR 1944 including COD shipping). The OE ones I got part of essentials package didn’t even last a year!
5. Magnetic mesh sunshades for all windows + rear windshield from Amazon

Aukey DR02 Dashcam




All have been very satisfactory purchases and are working flawlessly so far.

3. Safety

The car satisfies my requirement of at least 2 airbags and ABS with EBD. Apart from this, being a sedan, I get decent amount of crumple zones at the rear and front and Honda’s ACE architecture for the chassis. As mentioned, adjustable seatbelts would’ve been good. While I couldn’t find any Global NCAP or any other crash test ratings for the Indian City, I did come across a Latin NCAP test for a 2015 Honda City with 2 airbags and ABS and it had a 5-star rating for adult and 4-star for child occupant. That gives some confidence and satisfaction. Collapsible electric power steering is standard.

[iamgyan]

4. Ride and Performance.

Of the 18000+ km run so far, the City has seen mostly highways, I’d say ~70%, and remaining was spent in Bangalore traffic. My normal office run is about 25-27 km a day depending on the route taken but I hardly drive to work (mostly once a week) thanks to the traffic and the guilt of being one person in a large-ish car contributing to the traffic. Although in the post-corona world it looks like I’ll be using the car more often. Be informed that all further views are mainly what I felt being in driver’s seat

The ride quality over slightly bad city roads at low speeds is a bit bumpy and not as plush as say, a Verna might be. Every car I’d test driven, except the Ecosport, I think had better low speed ride quality. I’m not sure how much of a difference the 15 inchers make in the lower grade variants. However, the same stiffness becomes a boon on the highways and helps keep the car well composed. The suspension does transmit a lot of road bump noises inside the cabin especially large potholes that you couldn’t avoid at the last moment but I realised that the amount of shock actually getting transferred is almost negligible. But the car makes its displeasure clear so much that you do end up saying “Sorry” even when driving alone. Honda has increased the ground clearance with the current gen City. After the Brio, I can clearly make out the increased GC. Even tall speed-breakers of Bangalore aren't a problem with 2 on-board. With a full house though, tackling them at S-L-O-W speeds normally does the job and so far I haven't resorted to the 45 degree sideways approach Another thing I notice is that my car gets most of its under-belly scraping action within Bangalore city and much lesser even in the western ghats, the coffee estates with broken roads thrown in. The alloys and suspension have so far proven to be pretty tough with multiple high speed pothole encounters and some mild off-roading. That said, I did end up cutting the sidewall of my front left tyre when I least expected it – Parallel parking on a road shoulder inside one of the many lanes of Kalyan Nagar. The street lights were off and I didn’t spot a pyramid of a stone projecting out of the surface. Tyres were hardly a few months old. I swapped the wheel and tyre with the spare, got the damaged tyre repaired (vulcanised I think they call it) and have kept it solely for stop gap spare wheel arrangement. If this wasn’t enough, the tyre shop guy managed to scratch the alloy along the circumference while putting the tyre back. The alloy and tyre are now dedicated for spare wheel job only, for as short a duration as possible.

The culprit pyramid of a stone and the damage done.


The car is very stable and planted at high speeds with minimal roll and inspires confidence even when braking hard from high speeds. Although I still miss the Brio with its short squat footprint and tighter turning radius in the ghats that allowed for sharper turns and gave me more space on road to play with. Braking is quite progressive and bite is pretty strong, nothing to complain here. Below is a short speed test done in a controlled environment shot on the dashcam. The car maxed out at 175km/h just before my mentally decided braking marker. Throughout the run the car felt very stable and you can make that out even from our voices. I wasn’t exactly doing a timed run, heck! Even the thought of putting pedal to the metal only came once I rounded the final corner and saw tarmac till the horizon. Hence, a running start. I’m shifting gears manually via paddle shifters here although in hindsight, I should’ve done one in fully auto sport mode.

https://youtu.be/UBhO7AJg2sY

There are in total 3 drive modes that the car has i.e Drive and Sport on the shift lever and the separate ECO mode. ECO mode can be activated in both Drive and Sport but the effect is only felt in Drive mode. Below is a short description of what each mode does based on my understanding:

1. Drive or D mode: Most preferred mode. My car has probably spent 90% of its life in this mode. Smooth throttle map except when you want to creep small distance and stop. Feels a bit jerky there and initially scary in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Engine revs stay below 2500rpm and you can hardly hear the engine unless you give a strong throttle input. CVT moves up the gears early. You can still cycle through the “virtual” 7 speed gears via paddle shifters but the gears are held only till either you are decelerating (braking or engine braking) or accelerating. The moment you touch the accelerator pedal after braking event or even slightly get off the throttle, the transmission goes in auto mode. Helpful in mall parkings and office areas where you need to stick to speed limits on down ramps also.

2. Eco + Drive: Preferred mode in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It has a lazier throttle mapping and that enables extremely well controlled, smooth launch and stops in bumper-to-bumper traffic (boring otherwise). The other noticeable change is reduction in AC blower speed. Basically the rate at which FATC tries to achieve the set temperature is reduced to aid fuel economy. I’m not sure if the AC compressor is a variable displacement type and if it is, I’d assume that gets set to a lower load also. Can change ratios via paddle shifters as in Drive Mode. I can make out heavier engine braking during coasting sometimes, probably due to stronger alternator loading in such conditions to charge the 12V battery.

3. Sports mode: Perceptibly sharper throttle (almost like a quick throttle) and immediate response that brings along some jerkiness in throttle on/off transitions. The engine revs more freely here. Perceptibly stronger engine braking, basically the transmission stays longer in lower gears. Engine revs are held around 2000-2500 when driving even at constant speed and the engine is immediately audible inside the cabin with the i-Vtec coming into picture. If you use either of the paddles, the CVT holds that gear and doesn’t shift up until you manually shift. Downshifts however happen automatically if the rpm drops too low. Very helpful in ghats. I normally don’t drive in this mode in the regular highways due to its noisy nature and use it mostly for overtakes

Despite all the different modes, the total power available in all modes seems to be same unlike, say in Nexon where each mode caps the max power also. Because of this, regardless in which mode you are driving, if you put your foot down quickly, not necessarily to the metal, the transmission kicks down and you get max possible acceleration for that pedal position. This is good in times of panic when you have to quickly get out of a tricky situation. Also, you can change between modes without taking your foot off the throttle although the manual says otherwise

On the topic of cruise control, a lot has been discussed on its practicality in Indian conditions but I find myself using it more often than not on almost every highway I’ve been on, sometimes even on the ring road. Initially I was a bit apprehensive that using it might make me even more drowsy on straight highways since there’s hardly anything left to do as a driver. I couldn’t have been any more wrong as I soon realised that using the cruise control actually makes me more relaxed physically and I’m able to concentrate on the road better with a calmer mind. The cruise control behaviour changes depending on whether ECO is ON or not, in D mode. When ECO isn’t ON and you press RESUME to get to the last set speed (post a braking event), the car tries to reach the set speed in shortest time possible and the acceleration felt is very strong, borderline scary since the engine keeps pulling and almost feels like unintended acceleration. It is also very loud. Surprisingly, I’ve never been able to match that acceleration manually even in Sport mode. However, when the ECO mode is ON, the rate of acceleration on RESUME is quite slow as the car tries to reach the set speed in the most economical way possible, i-Vtec doesn’t seem to come into picture here. I haven’t driven much cruise control in Sport mode but whenever I did, I couldn’t see any difference in acceleration behaviour under RESUME function.

Regarding fuel efficiency, I normally don’t keep a track of tank-to-tank numbers on any of my vehicles and only time to time check it (mainly because I forget). As per the MID, I get anywhere between 9-11kmpl in the Bangalore traffic with average speeds of ~8-12km/h with only me in the car. The numbers are about 2kmpl lower than what I used to get in my Brio so I’m okay with it. On the highways, most of my trips have been with a full house of 5 + luggage or atleast 3 + luggage. Here, for more than 500km trips, the FE numbers lie around 13.5-16 kmpl. Numbers are closer to 14kmpl when there are ghats involved. Others should be able to get better numbers as I normally leave the car running with AC ON during the breaks as my 18 month old daughter is mostly sleeping. On routes with less of ghats, I’v seen FE numbers of 16 to 19.7 which was the max I got. My highway speeds are normally hovering around 100km/h. AC is ON in 99.5% of both city and highway cases.

Here I would also like to touch upon some basics of CVT transmission as I’ve seen in multiple forums, people equating them to CVT found in scooters which is as good as saying that an Alto and a BMW are more or less the same since they both ride on 4 wheels. Also, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Basically, any powertrain has 3 basic components:

1. The prime mover - IC Engine or an electric motor

2. The decoupling device - friction clutch as seen in manual transmissions, torque converters or a positive engagement clutch like a dog clutch

3. The torque multiplier - the helical or spur gear based gearbox, planetary gearboxes, Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT)

Normally a powertrain with electric motor as a prime mover may not require any decoupling device but sometimes (especially in hybrids) these may be required to prevent damage from overspeeding the motor.

In principle, CVTs and conventional ATs are the same till torque converter. YES! CVTs have torque converters too. You will have an engine (mostly petrol) and a torque converter with a lockup clutch inside it. The output of the torque converter is the input to the CVT which in case of cars is a push-belt type CVT. The belt is made of steel plates held between 2 sets of conical pulleys. The term PUSH is added because the pulleys are PUSHED in or out via hydraulic actuators, to increase or decrease the transmission ratio, independent of the engine speed UNLIKE the CVT you find in scooters. The hydraulic pressure for the actuators is developed by a hydraulic pump running off the engine. The torque transmission is not yet complete though. The CVT output normally goes through another gear reduction via a conventional, simple single speed gearbox before being transmitted to the wheels via the differential.

CVTs, viewed in isolation, normally have an overall lower 1st gear ratio compared to their manual counterparts. This is where the torque converter comes in and with its torque multiplication characteristics, helps the CVT attain similar gradeability as their manual counterparts. Next, the lock-up clutch in the torque converter basically works by, as the name suggests, locking up the torque converter when required so it acts more like a rigid coupling rather than a fluid coupling and thereby reduces some transmission losses. In a conventional AT i.e. TC + planetary gearsets, this locking up happens only once the top gear is reached, reason being the lock up clutch is unable to take the shift shocks of the gearshifts (even if you can’t feel them) and its endurance life would rapidly deteriorate. In a CVT, since there is a CONTINUOUS change in ratios, there are absolutely no shift shocks to speak of. Thus, the lock-up clutch in a CVT based transmission will normally lock the TC somewhere around 8-10km/h vehicle speed (depends on the torque demand, CVT specs etc.). This along with the primary benefit of CVTs i.e. to keep the engine running in its optimum efficiency operating point at all times contributes to better FE than conventional ATs. However, there are some losses attributed to pumping of hydraulic fluids for push-belt pulley operation. This is also why you see single digit FE numbers in routes with low average speeds.

All said and done, if you ever plan to get a CVT car, I’d suggest sticking to Honda as they somehow seem to have the best of the lot with minimal rubberband effect (purely objective view, not a Honda fanboy view). Also, when you ask someone for feedback on CVT, please ask someone who has owned and driven one for atleast a month or two, in city and on highways. Don’t go by views derived from a single or couple of test drives as it takes the said amount of time to actually understand its characteristics and how you need to work with CVTs (random flooring is not the answer). Simply said, you cannot drive a CVT the way you’ll drive a manual or even a conventional AT and vice versa. All have their own pros & cons.

[iamgyan]

5. Service and Maintenance

The City comes with 3 free services and a weird service interval of 1 month (1000km), 3 month (5000km), 6 month (10000 km) and then every six months or 10000km, whichever is earlier. This short service interval with high mileage requirement when the new Amaze with a smaller engine needs service only every 10000km or 1 year is where I have a major grouse against Honda. I tried to take this up with them and got bulldozed with mind-numbing dumb replies and routing of query to the local dealership who of course can’t answer why there is a difference in service intervals between City and Amaze!

Nothing more than some checks and washing happens in the first 2 services. The first oil change along with other consumables happens only during the 6th month/ 10k km service. Honda has moved to fully synthetic oil since couple of years now and the rates are surprisingly cheap, like Rs ~1600 incl GST for 3.6l of oil cheap! Services at 10k, 30k, 50k km and so on are minor services where only oil change is required apart from regular checks. The labour charge for minor service is ~2100 INR. 20k, 60k, 100k and so on services are medium services where additionally air filter and cabin filter changes are recommended. The labour cost here comes to about ~3200 INR. 40k, 80k, 120k km and so on services are Major services where the transmission oil needs replacement apart from changes needed as per minor and medium services. I should be experiencing the major service around August-September this year. Generally expect service costs to be in the range of 4-7k INR depending on what service it is.

I’ve so far serviced my cars at Whitefield Honda only and till the second last service, experience was good. I used to always handover my car to Mr. Vishwanath (Service Advisor) and was absolutely satisfied and never faced a bill where some silly stuff was unnecessarily added that I hadn’t agreed to before. However, it seems he has since left Honda for some Hyundai dealership and I must say it’s Whitefield Honda’s loss (and mine). Since then in the last two services I've faced the below issues:

1. Couple of things that I had explicitly asked to be fixed/replaced weren’t done and the car was sent back (I had opted for pick & drop)
2. Items / services added that were not asked/agreed before
3. Trying to sell me some silly services (de-scaling) and almost conning me into getting my car key cell replaced (costs about 600 I think, OE accessory price).

I’ll try out Saphire Honda (much closer to home) this time or drive myself and be at Whitefield Honda during the service.

Apart from regular service, I’ve claimed zero-dep insurance once for a scratched rear right quarter-panel + partial bumper (reversed into one of the pillars near my parking spot) which came to about 11.5k INR. Then by last service I had accumulated one rear ending by a distracted moped guy in Mysore and a dent in front left bumper from a misjudged parking somewhere between Athirapalli & Valparai. Got both repaired for 4000 INR total which I felt was pretty decent. Didn’t claim insurance for this as per service adviser's advice.

On the issues side, I’ve all my problems with the Digipad 1.0 only - it gets randomly frozen at times and needs a full car restart to behave properly again. On other random occasions, it would wake up blasting radio at full volume upon turning on the ignition. The second issue seems to have resolved itself over some resets but the random freezing does raise its ugly head every now and then. I checked with Rakesh from Grand Honda on the possibility of replacing it with Digipad 2.0. He suggested against it and that it’ll cost close to 70K! I think I’ll rather stop and restart the car by the road side.

6. Tit-Bits

Here is a collection of some random things I remembered that I couldn’t enter elsewhere.

1. The speedometer console lights and Digipad backlight gets dimmed the moment you turn on the headlamps/foglamps which is nice. But this affects the visibility of rear view display since the feed from the camera isn’t exactly HD and bit noisy. My workaround here is to turn off the lights (DRLs are pretty bright) and get the display brightness back again while reversing into a spot. Very helpful.
2. The area behind door handles on the outside are highly susceptible to scratches from human nails and I already have a decent collection of my own (the scratches). Planning to put a chrome protector for the same that comes as OEM accessory. Being a chrome part, I don’t trust aftermarket stuff as most of them will quickly blacken in harsh environments.
3. One of the rubber bushes that the bonnet rests on was missing in my car and I realised this only in November last year. Got it installed. Took forever to explain the topic to the service guy over phone what exactly was needed.
4. Under the bonnet, ONLY headlamp screws are rusting.
5. No under bonnet cladding available here.
6. No spare bulb provided since headlamps are LEDs. If it conks off, just hope you have warranty remaining.
7. Digipad 1.0 reads an Iphone also as an Ipod and hence you can connect and play songs while charging your phone via the USB ports. This allows to have two phones connected as audio sources to select from, simultaneously (Bluetooth and USB). Also if you have the same phone paired via Bluetooth, it helps to switch from Ipod to Bluetooth as source when Ipod source gets stuck and continue listening to the song you were playing (happens if you have a somewhat loose connection in the lightning connector).
8. Mic for handsfree telephony seems to be placed near the sunroof switch. Ensure you don’t have the middle vents point up when you take a call.
9. Although it comes with dual horns, they leave a lot to be desired. I tried to replace them with aftermarket ones but they all seem to require cutting / splicing original harness that I'm unwilling to do (read electrical warranty lapse, worst case headlights conking off after getting this done)

Why save money on only 2 specific bolts, Honda?


7. Summary

So here I am at the end of 20 month, 18300 odd km of ownership of the City, 2 weeks into compiling this write-up and at a loss of words on how to end this. What is the summary here, I ask myself. Well the summary is that I still believe I made the right choice and the car has served me well so far. I also think this will suffice for atleast another 4-5 years before I get the itch again or if I plan to move out of Karnataka. However, as things stand today, I doubt my next car will be a Honda. The car does what I expect of my cars & bikes i.e. put a smile on my face whenever I ride them. And that should be enough.

Following the TBHP guidelines, here is a summarised list of what I like and what I don’t about the City.

What I like!
1. Performance in sports mode, especially when driving alone.
2. Off the line performance at traffic lights.
3. Roomy spacious cabin
4. Comfy seats
5. The LED headlights!
6. Highway ride quality and stability
7. Humongous boot space
8. Open sunroof in the ghats
9. The 16” alloys that shimmer at night
10. The looks

What I don’t like!
1. DIGIPAD 1.0!
2. Service interval (too short in terms of time)
3. The horns
4. Low speed ride quality
5. Headlight spread in corners
6. No indication for sunroof being left open
7. No UV cut glass
8. Small glovebox, not cooled either
9. Rear blower performance
10. Thin plastic panels in the center console trim (Nexon has probably double the plastic thickness)
11. No sunglass holder

And here, I shall leave you with some images from the numerous short and long trips the City has taken us on. I might pen a travelogue sometime now, dotted with poems to match – courtesy of my wife (who has been asking me atleast once every day when am I gonna post this review).

Untill then...

[iamgyan]

City-scapes

At KRS Backwaters, Mysore, alongside friend's nexon


Chasing the sun, on the way back to Bangalore from Chennai


One of those times when I don't mind parking in the sun.


Returning from Gopalswamy betta, Near Mysore


Weekend trip to Sakleshpur, at Coffee Inn homestay


Another one from same place


Near Kodanad viewpoint, Kotagiri


Same place


Through the Kodanad tea estates


Another one


Near Kotagiri


Odiyur lake bed, ECR, Mahabalipuram to Pondicherry


Near Panchapalli, Hosur


On the way to Mahabalipuram, some 40 deg C


Sunset near Panchapalli


Baby on-board!


I Repeat! Baby on-board!


Hidden gem - Vatadahosahalli lake near Gudibande alongside friend's Nexon


Sunsets on highways are always amazing. On the way back from Coimbatore.


Outside Athirapalli. Friend's Nexon again makes an appearance.


A wrong turn, albeit beautiful one, in Kotagiri


Last milestone

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by iamgyan

Chapter 1 – I feel the need, the need for an automatic steed! (WHAT? I tried!)

Congrats on your car and really nice write up. You have surely traveled a lot in City.

I too had Brio SMT which I traded for Nexon XZ+ (d).
I do agree Brio is an awesome car that is super reliable. We too had gone to Munnar and Coorg and never faced any sort of issues with Brio.

We were really confused between City V MT and Nexon Diesel and I chose Nexon over City an year back.

Congrats again, I sometime do think if City would have been a nice choice then, though I love the Nexon

[iamgyan]

Originally Posted by aniyo

We were really confused between City V MT and Nexon Diesel and I chose Nexon over City an year back.

We were almost in the same boat. My wife and I took a test drive of nexon also. AMT wasn't launched then and i really liked the noise insulation and ride quality. However, since i was sure about no AMTs, had to drop it.

Congrats on the nexon!

[Sabrish]

Great write up and a detailed summary of your views and experiences with the City. I see you have gone to some great locations The list is almost very similar to our footprint as well! Your munchkin is super adorable

I am at crossroads now as well in terms of opting for an automatic over my manual and was fishing for a good deal, thanks to COVID all are now done and dusted for a while...

I am sure we will have a few new launches when the lock down is over...

[iamgyan]

Originally Posted by Sabrish

Great write up and a detailed summary of your views and experiences with the City. I see you have gone to some great locations The list is almost very similar to our footprint as well! Your munchkin is super adorable

I am at crossroads now as well in terms of opting for an automatic over my manual and was fishing for a good deal, thanks to COVID all are now done and dusted for a while.

Thanks! Keeping the munchkin tied down in the baby seat is getting challenging by the day
Wonder how others manage it!

Although you're in Chennai (not sure if traffic situation is as bad), I would suggest to go ahead for an automatic as I've been recommending left, right and centre to anyone asking that question atleast in Bangalore.

[Reinhard]

What a lovely thread. The emotional connect is evident when you talk about your Brio. It reminded me so much about my own experience of bidding a farewell to my 9 year old car last year. You've detailed things so well! Loved reading through the thread. You sure are one mile muncher.

Nice pictures! The ones with the "baby onboard" will win all the prizes though. No matter how well shot the other pictures are - the cuteness overload in those 2 pictures cannot be beaten. God bless!

Wishing your family unlimited safe & happy miles with the luxurious City VX & healthy safe times in the current COVID-19 emergency. Take care.
P.S. - welcome to TBHP and I hope you stay active even after the lockdown! Your photography & nice writing shouldn't go missing afterwards! Spare some time for the forum mate!