I own a 2014 Honda City SV MT i-VTec. The car is 31 months old and has run 24000 km. This post is about my experience buying and maintaining the City.
What car?
I live in a rural area. My driving is restricted to 60 km 2-3 times a week and a 1000 km trip every 3 months, all primarily in 4 lane roads. Urban driving is less than 10% of my total driving. I use my bike/scooter for going anywhere under 30 km. Ground clearance is not an issue for me because the place I live now has the best roads in Kerala.
Buying experience
I have always loved the City and it was a dream car. In April 2014, I was relocating back to Kerala after 6 years. I wanted a car and Honda had released the new City only a few months back. I had the money ready and wanted a car as soon as possible. I went to Vision Honda, Thrissur, which was then the Honda showroom nearest to my home, and they said the waiting period was 6 months. I checked and rejected other cars in the segment.
I called other Honda showrooms in Kerala and was lucky to find the newly opened Honda showroom at Kochi – Vivaan Honda. They opened a week before I called them (and shut shop one year after I purchased the car). They said they had few Citys in stock that are not allotted to anyone. I went there and they had E, S and SV variants. I wanted VX but was not willing to wait for 6 months, and my mother wanted the red color, which they had. I saw the car, finalized SV and paid. They promised to deliver the car on the morning of 26th May, 2014.
I reached the showroom on the decided date and they asked me to wait while they washed the car and got it ready. The waiting started at 10 AM and it continued for 6 long hours. What happened was that the guy who took it to the washing bay scraped the front fender. They did not have that part in stock and finally had to remove it from another new car. The overall sales experience was great until they did this. But since they promptly rectified it, rather than waiting for the new part to arrive from Honda, I still rate the overall experience as excellent.
The SV had many things lacking that I wanted, reverse camera and leatherette seats being the most important. I got them fitted from the Honda ASC itself. Looking back, I think it was a good decision that I got SV rather than VX. VX would have been good, but not as good to cost almost 2 lakhs more than SV.
Other than the city, I drive my father’s petrol Polo and a friend’s petrol Ciaz. I have extensively driven the diesel Rapid too. So these are my benchmarks.
Things I like
1.
Engine: It is probably the best engine I can get, for the money I paid, that fulfill my needs. It is well refined and smooth. It is silent till about 2500 rpm (around 100 kph in 5th gear) and even above 2500 rpm, the note is not bad. It gives amazing mileage if you are light footed and impressive performance if you are a spirited driver.
2.
Space: It has so much space that 5 people can travel in it all day. When I checked out the car, space was the first thing that impressed me. Till the introduction of Ciaz, City was the undisputed king in this regard.
3.
Comfort: Seats are supremely comfortable. It is better, in my opinion, than anything else in the same segment. It is definitely better than my father’s Polo and my friend’s Ciaz. A/C is excellent, cools well and fast. Rear A/C vents are really helpful.
4.
Ride at cruising speeds: Since most of my driving is in highways, this is important for me. City shines well in this. At speeds above 80, the ride is flat and stable. It is as stable as my father’s Polo at higher speeds, but not as composed as the Rapid. Even though both Polo and Rapid are based on the same platform, I felt that the Rapid has better high speed stability.
5.
Looks: I love the way it looks. It has a very cohesive design language and it grows on you.
6.
Safety: I know that India-made City has not been crash tested. But since Honda has been advertising its ACE structure in each and every brochure they have released so far, and none of the so far tested India-made Hondas had weak structures, I believe my City to be safe. Fixed headrest at the back is a gripe.
Things I don’t hate, but could have been better:
1.
Interior quality: Dash is full of hard, scratchy plastics. But the plastics feel durable and built to last.
2.
Horn: It is weak and sometimes changes its tone, but since my driving is mostly in the highways, I don’t get to use it much.
3.
Tyres: I have seen complaints about the lack of grip from the skinny tyres. But that is not the case with me. I feel that for this car the grip level provided by the tyre (Michelin in my car) is more than adequate. I indulge in spirited driving some times, even then the grip is adequate. It is only when I push it in tight corners that it squeals a bit, but still well within my control. My dislike is for purely cosmetic reasons. It would have looked better if it was wider, otherwise it is adequate for the car.
4.
Sheet metal thickness: Again this would have been better if it was like my father’s Polo. But given the pedestrian safety norms and weight reduction these days, we are going to see more cars with thinner sheet metal.
5.
Steering and handling: The steering is accurate, and the car goes where it is pointed to. But it is devoid of any feel. Even though it weighs up well with increasing speeds, it feels artificial. But overall the car handles well, mainly because the chassis is well balanced and steering is accurate, but could have been better with a little bit more steering feedback.
Things I don’t like:
1.
Rattling: It comes and goes and comes again. It will be there for a couple of days and then disappear for a month, and it will return again. It is present only when the road is not smooth and that too not all the time. Since most of my driving is in the highways, it is not much of an issue for me. But when it is present, it is really irritating. The ASC has not been able to find the root cause.
2.
Alternator belt grinding noise: It is present from day 1. It is present for about 3 minutes after starting the car and then disappears. It has not affected my driving or car reliability till now. Since I have extended warranty till the end of 4th year, I have not asked for a replacement. Also I plan to take the extended warranty till 7th year after my 4 year warranty is over. I want to see if this grinding noise is really a reliability issue.
3.
Low speed ride: It is really bad. You can feel each and every pebble on the road. I don’t know how they managed to design a car with a good high speed ride and horrible low speed ride. Again my regular driving route does not have any slow speed stretch, so it is not a big issue for me. But if your area has many potholes, forget the City. Ciaz has great low speed ride.
4.
Lack of attention to detail: Inconsistent panel gaps around the boot and the hood. The boot lid has about an 8mm gap on one side and 3 mm on the other. Also interior floor carpet has inconsistent cuts.
5.
Cost cutting: No inside cladding for boot lid, no cladding for wheel wells, dead pedal is just a rubber strip stuck with a glue.
Service experience is a mixed bag. It really depends on which ASC you are dealing with. I have serviced my car at 3 Honda ASCs.
1. Vivaan Honda, Kochi – Great service and clean work. But sadly they had shut shop.
2. Vision Honda, Thrissur – Average, never great. They always add unnecessary items and are always late in delivering cars back after service. Shoddy cleaning too.
3. Indel Honda, Palakkad – Had only one service from there, that was great.
Service costs are reasonable. My running is around 10000 km every year, so oil change is only once every year. With the recent price cut in synthetic oils used at Honda ASC, the overall service cost has come down. I have completed seven services till now, all according to the schedule. The car has been very reliable. Never had any major issues and never had to visit ASC for anything other than routine services.
Accessories:
1. Reverse camera and parking sensors.
2. Leatherette seat cover.
3. Transcend drive pro 200 dash cam.
There was some speculation, due to decrease in perceived quality of Honda products, that the car was not going to age well. Even though mine has run only 25000 km, the car looks and works great. I keep it covered all the time and, wash and wax it at least once every month. There is no paint fade or rusting anywhere.
Honda’s Indian products are, in general, very reliable. What Honda lacks is perceived quality, where the Europeans shine. Honda’s drive train and space utilization efficiency are second to none. By putting a little more effort, Honda can greatly improve the perceived quality and thus the customer satisfaction.
I am posting the invoices of 1st to 7th services in that order.