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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-351.html)

Nothing to be surprised about. Sheer arrogance when things are going good and desperate pleas when things are in the dumps.

From my own experience while choosing between City/Verna/Ciaz, I tried to hold on as much as possible to buying the City, unfortunately teh Ciaz won hands down because each and every City dealer in Pune had the same arrogance. Their point of view was that I must be lucky as I'm going to buy a Honda. Period.

Crystal Honda was even worse, they were blunt when i asked about discounts saying Honda never gives out discounts . Touche anyone??

To add insult to injury, the same salesperson from Crystal Honda called me up in mid september to discuss about deals on offer for the up coming holidays. I obliged, went to the showroom in newwly acquired Ciaz, jut to rub it in saying he lost a prospective customer.

I love the Honda brand an have driven accords during my stint in the US and caribbean, but this treatment is uncalled for. Good luck to Honda and they should inculcate some professionalism in their dealers. Hope things turn around quickly for this brand.

Sorry, but I'm a noob and hence the question. How can the disc get scratched when the pads are fine? Isn't that a defect?

Have purchaed and use d magnetic shades only twice. Didnt like them. They don't fit exactly. Even if they do, when you close the door, they tend to bend and put continued pressure on rubber beadings on the door. Though lot of people on the forum have said that it's not a problem, I am afraid that the rubber beadings will get damaged. So stopped using it. Would recommend installing the pull down ones on side windows too.

As per SA dust, stones etc. are all causes of disc scratches. Again, I am not sure if that is the only reason.

Again, this is a reflection of the deterioration in quality of the materials and parts they are using. Dust, pebbles etc are the same for each and every car on the road. But discs should not get scratched like this. In my Jazz as well as my Scorpio, as a thumb rule, one set of discs is good for two sets of brake pads. But with the City, I have had to change the discs along with the pads.

Sold my Honda City Diesel SV variant after 2 years and 10 months of ownership. i had bought Honda City to replace Fiat Punto.

I would like to summarize the ownership as below.

The Good :

1. Good ride quality
2. Zero Turbo Lag
3. Fuel Efficient ( have sometimes got > 23 KMPL)
4. Soft seats which offer excellent support
5. Generous rear legroom
6. Boot Space
7. Reliability
8. Cruise Control
9. 6th Gear

The Bad:

1. Inconsistent Panel gaps
2. Ever persistent minor niggles
3. Beige carpets
4. Evident cost cutting in every area
5. Horrible OE music system
6. Boring to Drive

The Ugly:

1. Rattles from every where (Especially from the dash board)
2. Engine noise
3. Wind noise above 80 KMPH
4. Skinny Tyres (which I had upgraded to 195/60 R15)

Overall I would like to give a 3/5 for ownership experience. It is not a car that brings smile onto the face every time you drive.
I would say its a good car to get from Point A to Point B.

Upgrade : Definitely yes. Pondering between Innova Crysta / XUV 5oo. Should I spend xx big ones on Hexa? Not sure.

It was only minor scratches as per SA.

I do not think this is the problem with the City alone. A Skoda Superb and a Chevrolet Cruze in my apartment where I am staying had disc scratches/damages of a higher nature within 35000 kms. The cost of polishing them was on a higher side around 5000 bucks.

I had to change brake pads at 25000 kms for my Hyundai Accent when I was owning that.

I guess this is purely dependent on the environment we drive and no vehicle can escape it.

How much was the deal?

Surprised to see that ride quality is mentioned on the good side :). Personally, that's one area I feel City is below. However, the soft seats do compensate for that rough ride on bad roads. But it's a bit too soft for me so I had put a backrest while driving. No complaints from the passengers though.

I agree, this depends on the environment the vehicle is used in.

But it should also be considered that the likes of the Supeb and Cruze are much heavier than the featherlight City and have 60-80% more power. The demands from the brakes are correspondingly much higher. Ditto for the tires as well. This is the trend with all premium cars.

My point is that if the discs/brakes of the City, which has the weight and power output of a City, last the same as that of a Superb or a 5 Series, it paints a picture in itself. The City's stopping prowess is anyway only par for course, nothing great to begin with.

I will add that my older gen Jazz is still running on stock discs and rear shoes at 90k km. Only the front pads were changed a few weeks back. Brakes are MUCH better than the City's (new discs and pads).

Disc 'polishing' is a basic 5 minute facing procedure on a lathe. What they charge for it is entirely the dealer's prerogative.

I would rate the ride quality of cars like say Punto, Polo, Vento, Rapid as excellent! Comparatively, Honda City's ride quality is Good.

Was not easy to sell at the price point I expected, despite the car being in excellent condition. Looks like Honda cars have minimum aspiration value left in the used car market.

Will I buy another Honda? Definitely NO! B-RV is a lost cause (personal opinion). It just looks like a face-lifted Mobilio. What else do Honda have? Overpriced Accord and outdated CRV. :Frustrati

OT : Was going through the Innova Crysta review thread and looks like Innova Crysta is NO more sturdily built and niggle free! So may be its better to hold for a few more months and look at the ownership reviews of Hexa.

I sold my VX Diesel after 2 and a half years & driving it for ~25,000 kilometers for almost 10 Lakh, which I think is prettay prettay good. The car didn't illicit a lot of responses though. Out of the few it did, almost everyone wanted it for ~8 or those who were ready to match the asking price wanted to pay cash, which I didn't want to deal in.

About the ownership experience, the interior quality was by far the worst part of it. Terrible build quality, the like of which I'd only seen on Suzukis before.
The driving experience isn't anything to rave about either, 5/10 on a good day. A pretty underwhelming car to my eyes when I look at the price and competition.
The car was always dependable though, had absolutely no mechanical issues. And, it'll be very hard for the next car to match the City in terms of comfort. I absolutely loved those seats!

Honda's after sales service was exceptionally good, albeit eye wateringly expensive.
Not even going to look at Honda in the future unless they improve the interior build quality and NVH levels of their cars substantially. Didn't expect this after paying over 14 Lakh for my car.

Don't buy the Crysta or XUV if you care about rattles as much as I do (which is a LOT). I've driven both enough to know that I'll be better off if I stay away from them. :)

Not trying to single out your post, but I've seen a similar sentiment across all SV variant owners.

Most of the difference in features between SV and the V variant is not just cosmetic but real valuable features directly contributing to an enhanced driving experience.
Essential driving aids missing in the SV variant.
* Auto foldable outside RV mirrors, so useful in traffic conditions.
* Map lights, very useful to the driver.
* Fog lamps, does make a difference in visibility in times of need.
* Alloy wheels, although looks like a cosmetic addon, its actually good due to the reduced unsprung weight.
* Reversing camera, the single most useful gem of a feature while reversing, makes a world of difference. The best of all driving aid features.
* OE music system in V, again significantly better than the SV, has been designed well, well integrated, with good voice telephony and A2DP bluetooth steaming. The voice telephony and the mic positioning has been added like an afterthought in the SV and this I've observed is a major grouse among SV variant owners.

The above extra driving aids in the V variant make a world of difference in the driving experience and the feel good factor and are really useful (not just cosmetic).
I'd strongly advise all prospective buyers to choose atleast the V variant over SV if possible. The extra bucks for the V variant is really worth it to bring a smile on the driver's face everytime it is driven.

Agree. Good summary of the points - took me back in time to Jan 2014 when I was debating between the SV and the V and finally went in for the V variant. Those tiny things are the ones which prick you everyday I guess and having them makes a big difference in the end...agree:

Hm. I drove a Jazz SV that was from Miles so likely bone stock.

It did have a reverse camera, not a terribly good one though. I doubt they added it on ..

The honda assist stereo was pretty clunky with manual dials and such, but the speakers were decent for the price.

I would say - buy SV and add most of the stuff as either honda genuine or third party accesories, get a better music system (Pioneer avh XXXX-bt at 25..40k will blow the socks off any Honda OEM music system for sure) and component speakers. You would still end up saving a significant amount from the V price.

Exactly my point, the OEM camera in the V is pretty good (perfectly calibrated and customised for the model) with display integration with the Head Unit and multiple views.
The SV model doesn't come with a reverse camera.

Point taken, there will always be Audiophiles who will always need a better music system and there will always be better options than what an OEM music system fitment provides.

But for the vast majority of listeners, the stock music system in the V is pretty decent.
Again here the emphasis is on the overall integration of the Head unit with the rest of the car which an aftermarket Music system cannot match, such as the following:

- Convenient volume, channel switching buttons and changing the input media button on the steering.
- Call receive and end buttons on the steering.
- The location of the Aux input sockets at the bottom (USB, 3.5mm Jack) next to the cubby hole where devices can be placed.
- The placement and calibration of the telephony mic between the map lights and crystal clear experience.
- Even the mobile can be placed in a bag in the boot and music and phone streamed in via bluetooth using the steering buttons.
- The synchronisation of the clock on the Head unit and the instrument cluster MID display, both show the same time always.

All these little things add up and make an enormous difference in the feel-good factor.

Honda provides safety equipment (ABS+ EBD + Airbag(atleast driver side)) in all variants, so by the same logic, instead of an SV, a base S variant could be bought and all the other add-ons can be added to make it like an SV, V or VX with aftermarket/OEM add-on fitments and money can be saved, but it will never match the fit and finish and integration levels that an OEM fitment provides and the better ownership experience that comes with it.

Its time the car manufacturers in India stop all these unnecessary variants to confuse the customer (but in reality the OEMs are also simply giving in to the pulse and needs of the Indian customer, the customer has to mature first and things will improve).
Safety features should never be compromised (changing for the better now), similarly essential driver aids should never be skimped.
The differences can be in the cosmetic aspects (leather, chrome and other gizmos).