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-   -   4th-gen Honda City : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/145656-4th-gen-honda-city-official-review-232.html)

Returned from a 600 Km highway run. Did a steady 90-100 kmph in 5th gear no AC. Got a MID indicated 19.1 kmpl. I have a manual petrol.

Firstly, I would like to thank the mods for approving my membership.:thumbs up

Very excited to put up my first post on this excellent forum. clap:

Being a novice on automobiles that I'm, I have been following this community religiously ever since I had started my search for a new car that would replace my Hyundai Santro which has served us wonderfully well for the past 7.5 years.

I'm also happy to say that I have purchased a 2014 Honda City V MT iVTec (Golden Brown) in Dec 2014, after multiple readings here and discussions with my family. Dealer was Sundaram Honda, Hyderabad. Chose a petrol as my running would not be more than 1000km in a month.

A few points about the car -

• Completed its first scheduled service (1-month/1000 km).
• Went for bumper protectors (front, rear and sides) and PU leather seats with the dealer itself. Everything else is stock (tyres etc.)
• The odo is currently at ~1100km. Car is a breeze to drive in city limits (owing to the light steering). I have not been able to take it out onto the highways yet but mainly for office-home commute.
• I'm also currently following "run-in". Have not crossed 80 kmph till date. Also keeping the tacho at 2000 rpm. The mileage figures show as ~13.5 kmpl (tank full method; MID: ~14kmpl) with 75% AC, 50% moderately heavy city-traffic. I would like to believe that these are decent figures and should only improve with time if I follow the same driving style. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
• Next service is a 3 month/5K one, so would be due sometime in March.

Proud to be part of Honda City owner group. Would appreciate to know from the owners, if any other specific care needs to be taken.

Thanks,
Kalyan

Guess what after following up with the Manager at the Dealership almost every day after he got the Complain from Honda Car India, he has just mailed me the VIN number of my Golden Brown Metallic 2015 Honda City VX CVT:Cheering:

I'm so excited, I can't explain how grateful I am to all of you for your helpful comments. I've now contacted my Bank for the Financial arrangements and taking every procedure step by step.

A Few Questions :

1. Is it advisable to take the Car Insurance from the same Bank (in my case HDFC) for better rates etc.

2. The Dealer says that Honda India offers no discounts and no Freebies and the Car price has been hiked by 55000/-

3. Should I ask for any discounts and Freebies, as per what I read in the papers the price hike was 40,000/-. Am I right in assuming so?

4. What else should I be looking out for with regards to Finance and Price Options

Thank you all so very much!

Congrats MMX on your allottment clap:

I hope you have already verified the VIN through the decoder. Even I tried to bargain for discounts/ freebies but was denied citing the demand the car is enjoying.

First of all Congratulation for your new car allotment.
If you had a No Claim Bonus with your previous car then you can transfer that for your new car as well and you'll get a good discount on the insurance premium.

Regarding discounts, well I hope you've already decoded your VIN and if it is a 2015 model then I don't think you have much hope of getting any discount. City's market demand is very high at the moment and they are unlikely to give you any discount on a 2015 model. If it is a 2014 model though, then you should ask for some discount. Else go for 2015 model only. It will fetch better resale in future. Freebies are mostly dealer dependent. I don't think the company has anything to do with these. In case you're wondering how to decode your VIN, here is the thread:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...cture-vin.html

As for the price increase, I can't tell you the exact price difference in the VX CVT model but here is the price difference of V MT model in Kolkata:

2014 price:
Ex Showroom--927500/-
Insurance Honda Assure NORMAL--24529/-
Extended Warranty--7975/-
5 Years Registration Permanent--52436/-
4 Years RSA--4,600/-
Handling Charges--6,500/-
Paint Pro & Underbody--7842/-
H. P. Charges--100

TOTAL ON ROAD : Rs.1031482/-

2015 price:
Ex Showroom--968000/-
Insurance Honda Assure NORMAL--25523/-
Extended Warranty--7975/-
5 Years Registration Permanent--54663/-
4 Years RSA--4,600/-
NIL Depreciation--7233/-
Handling Charges--6,500/-
Paint Pro & Underbody--7842/-
H. P. Charges--100/-

TOTAL ON ROAD : Rs.1067367/- (without NIL dep)

So the difference is somewhere around 40K. VX CVT could have a different price structure but the onroad price of 2015 model in Kolkata is Rs.1,293,423/- (with 5yrs registration and without Nil Dep, underbody/teflon etc.)

City Prices- Jan '15.pdf

Finally I gave in to my inner temptation to upgrade my car to C2 segment. It was a difficult decision to arrive at considering my present car is just three years old.

I have booked my Honda City iDtec VX MT, Silver color today at Sundaram Honda, Chennai. On the whole it was pleasant experience. It seems that I would be able to get the delivery by Feb end or even before it. The SA said he will update me by first week of February.

@Seran_Manian: Thanks a lot for sharing Naveen (Sundaram Honda SA) contact. For the last two days I had a good discussion with him and today (24th Jan) had a long (about 10 km) second test-drive of the car. Then, I decided to go ahead with my booking.

Test Drive Vx CVT (Honda City)

Hello dear BHPians :)

I think I'm one of those lucky few who got to test drive a Vx CVT model of Honda City, thanks to a new dealer of Honda in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi by the name Samara Honda. They brought the vehicle to my place only after a single phone call and overall it was a pleasant experience.

I've driven an Indica Xeta GLS for the last 8 years, which was supposed to be my 'bachelor days' car for just 2-3 years, but here I am, married with kids, yet driving it after 8 years. Indica Xeta is a tank, never failed me, I traveled from Kerala to Mumbai, Mumbai to Bhopal, Bhopal to Lucknow, Lucknow to Shimla and same route back when it was 3 years old. Still I take it on 600-700 kms drives, never fails me, but it utterly lacks in LUXURY. That's what kicked in the quest for deciding a new car.


Quest for deciding the Car: I've recently taken test drives of XUV500 W8 and Renault Duster. In Duster, I felt Renault is fleecing people by selling a raised station wagon with no comfort or luxury. The best point about Duster is its amazing suspension, and that's where the best-ness ends.
XUV500 pampers you, big, spacious, luxurious. 2nd row seats are BETTER and more comfortable than even Innova (believe me, have traveled extensively in Innovas). Interiors lack a little finesse, but XUV500 is a very good package overall. Wife says she won't be able to drive XUV, so there it goes off the list. So, finally, I zeroed in on the Honda City Vx CVT.


The Car - Vx CVT

Exteriors: It was a silver coloured model, and though I prefer white or carnelian red, that didn't stop the silver City to look majestic and charming. First I checked the car for paint finish and panel gaps if any. The panel gap in the boot lid reported by some other BHPians was luckily absent in this one. Paint job was excellent, only annoying things were no rear wheel well cladding and quirky looking alloys (spare wheel is NOT alloy), Malaysian models sport much better looking alloys.




Interiors: Plush..and Engaging, are the words to describe the interiors of this car. Some guys find the piano finish tacky, but I found it to be very premium looking. Yes, it IS a finger print magnet, so be careful before thinking of entering this 'pristine refuge of luxury' with greasy hands. It is a driver's car,and it gleams in the eyes of the instrument cluster as well in the dashboard gizmos which are slightly tilted towards the driver. The keyless entry is really good, some people call it a gimmick, but when I was taking remote locking & central locking with four power windows in my Xeta, some considered it a waste of money, but I required those and am happy that I did that. Keyless entry is a boon for ladies specially, they can keep the key-fob in their purse always, and they'll never end up misplacing the car keys.

Drive: The engine start-stop button is a big red one on the black piano finish console and looks inviting. You press the brake pedal simultaneously with it to start the car. The engine purrs in a sophisticated manner and the instrument cluster comes alive. I have extensively driven a second gen City and that was a slightly modest car when it came to acceleration. I drive my Xeta with a pedal to metal style, with a 'GotBHP' sticker on my rear bumper ;-). On highways, the only car whom my Xeta couldn't match at all used to be Skoda Laura. This City, is a different beast altogether. I was VERY apprehensive about CVT, but I need my wife also to drive it & thus I thought that I'd compromise on my 'pedal to metal' style and start behaving like a mature family man now :-D. I shifted the auto lever to Drive and pressed the accelerator, the car responded immediately and moved ahead swiftly. I started pressing the accelerator in a gradual manner and did not find any rubber band effect. To force the car to demonstrate the rubber band effect, I slowed down and jammed the pedal down, the car lunged ahead with barely any lack of response. I realized that this CVT is ages ahead of Nissan's or Renault's, where a very perceptible and annoying rubber-band effect exists. In Drive mode, I overtook a Sumo and a Dzire, without any sweat.

The paddle shifters were elbowing me silently to caress them, so I shifted the Auto lever to Sport mode and shifted up with the right paddle shifter while pressing the accelerator in my 'pedal to metal' style. That was the moment I fell in love with this Car. The car zoomed with a show of pure power and the excellent and swift steering was an icing on the cake. I went up to the 7th virtual gear ratio (it shows in the instrument cluster) and touched 100 kmph. There were four people sitting in the car (including me),and the car was in her elements. Wow,is the word, I forgot the excellent pull of XUV500's engine, driving Vx CVT with Sport mode and paddle shifters is actually like driving a sports car. It's decided now that Drive mode for my wife and Sports with Paddle shifters is for me:Cheering:

I've initiated the process for buying a Vx CVT, and I'll keep all BHPians updated on the same.

Regards.

WW.

Fellow BHPians,

After driving my i-VTEC for the past 8 months, I feel that the biggest safety feature after Airbags, ABS & seat-belts you can have in your car is it's acceleration. May be it's just me or others also feel that sometimes the safest option is to accelerate away from a tricky patch of traffic and zoom ahead towards safety. My City makes it very easy and all i have to do is just tap the pedal and angry the VTEC engine note takes care of the rest. This flawless execution sometimes takes away all the frustration of having to chew the stones pelted by the heavy truck in front of you.

a small question , i was looking forward to change battery of my ivtec to idtec's , can anyone here tell me what is the battery amp rating for idtec's ?

this change i want is due to the ICE setup in city .

I noticed the third stop lamp equipped with the single bulb and not led. Is this correct?

FEEDBACK - 1 YEAR 12000 Kms - I have a I-Dtec - V. Done 12000 kms so far.

CONS - There is a very audible rattle in the dashboard somewhere near the middle AC vents and also near the odometer The door lock sensor also goes crazy over potholes and speed breaker. Sent the car to the dealer a few times and they cant fix it.

Seat back pockets are sorely missed and should be available across all variants. Day time Running Lights with LED would be welcome along with a navigation system.

PROS - The increased ride height means that you don't need to worry about the speed breakers too much. The car is Comfortable, Spacious and Powerful and fun to drive.

I have faced all the three issues mentioned and was able to fix it. In my case
1 . the audible rattle near the AC vents were because of the loose plastic cover between the font wind shield and hood.
2. Replaced the driver door sensor which fixed the door unlock/lock issue over potholes. Part cost was 80rs.but covered under warranty.
3. Rattling sound near odo area was because of the Silver plastic cover that runs over the odo meter is loose. Tightening this part should fix this.

hope this will help

Gor call from Emerald Ahmedabad mentioning my car has been dispatched from factory, expected to reach by 2nd feb and then couple of days for process, expected to deliver by 10th Feb. Can't wait more to get hold.

Just made the complete payment for my Car at the dealership today and now starts the long wait with regards to the registration. Hope it's more streamlined now with the no agents policy. Though the reluctant sales agent said they'll start the process from Monday.

Query - Generally Should I be getting the copy of the Octroi receipt and the Challan? As i requested for both these copies and the Sales agent and Dealership Manager showed reluctance in getting it for me.

Registration should not take time at all. At least here in Bangalore, if you complete payment today, registration is completed the next day and car should be ready for delivery in a day or 2 after that. Is the process in Mumbai any different?
Hope you have seen the car and done a quick PDI?