[charthom]

Fellow BHPians,

I can see no new ownership report on the City. No one seems inclined to buy it. Or are they buying it but are not interested /embarrassed to share the experiences?

By the time this report is being made ready Honda reduced the prices by 44000-66000/- I bought my ANHC on the 4th of June.My search for a new car ended with the City.My intention here is to attempt to illustrate how good the City is, which most of us already know. It has managed to stand out against all the new cars and won over the hearts of a skeptical couple (my wife and myself). In my opinion the City still is the “King of upper C segment”, if you rate pleasure above pocket. Pray read my following account and judge tenderly of me,my undisciplined language and the ANHC.

I would have posted this write up earlier-but had been ill for many days-now recovering.

Does anyone buy a Honda City anymore?! Oops! I did-and fell in love with it!!

City now? No, no!! Vento, Fluidic Verna, new Fiesta, look slightly upwards-Fluence, new Corolla Altis CVT, cast a glance downwards-the Etios!! Is not City the dethroned king of C segment? To be loyal to the erstwhile king? Well, I had to be-my purpose and personal experiences made me.

I would not buy a Honda City-being a faithful husband. My wife despised it. Every time a City passes my wife would give a weary toss of her head. Her reasons:

1. The premium badge sported by Honda is unjustified-why is everyone gushing over one car anyway?

2. The grill looks arrogant-no smiles. The optional grill?-the owner appears to miss the Accord badly.

3. Those people who ride a City must be equally arrogant-so arrogant carrying arrogant, a super arrogant scene!!

4. To put the first and actual reason last, she felt intimidated by its looks. Being a shy person she would be embarrassed with the attention she might get while driving/riding it. A more conservative and neutral looking car like the Vento would be better-or the fluidic Verna with its smooth curves.

Why a new car for us?

We were content with our Hyundai i10 Asta with upgraded tyres. Powerful engine, good handling, being small helped maneuvering around the crowded city. Mileage was less-still we, being a family of only 3, found the small but stylish and sophisticated car more than sufficient.

Then the tragedy struck-my wife suffered a really horrible back injury.

Months passed by- treatments, rests, frustration, agony, prayers, anticipations, expectations, tears, tearful laughs, birthday celebrations..…

She is almost back to normal life now, after about a year and a half. But the ride in i10 is proving to be rather harsh and risky for her delicate back-hence the need for a new car.

The search and cars tested

I, being a chief engineer with the merchant navy, had to go sailing for some time. I returned in April and the search began. The main source was of course Team-BHP. Our criterion was comfortable ride above everything else. We needed all-seat comfort-as my wife should be comfortable while driving, on the front passenger seat while I do the driving and the rear while being chauffeur-driven. I wanted her to enjoy her life to the fullest rather than being restrained and be at the mercy of anyone else-be it her husband or a chauffeur.

I will post a separate thread for the experience at various dealers under the relevant section. There are many experiences to share. Presently let me stick to the cars tested. Dealer experience at Honda show room is explained in detail.

I had omitted Linea(stories about bad service, fit and finish-even though feature-loaded and with T-Jet),SX4(learnt that ride is not ideal, less snob value, looks are subjective ),Honda City(explained earlier).The cars we considered were Skoda Yeti, Innova, Corolla Altis(diesel),Etios, Vento and of course the new fluidic Verna.

I read Rehaan’s TD report carefully and decided the Yeti is not for us. I did not TD it.

Innova was fantastic but we had problems. First, my parking space was not enough to contain the Innova comfortably. Innova proved bulky for daily commute and parking in the city and a bit too much for a family of 3.Also we found it not very desirable as a stylish car-it is more functional and comfortable.

Corolla Altis Diesel was a shock. My wife found the bobbing rear seat utterly uncomfortable and experienced back pain. The executive pleaded that the test car has damaged suspension!!How can you bring a damaged car for test drive unless you are too sure of yourself? He said he needs 1 month to repair the suspension!! I was not interested in the existing petrol but asked the sales guy to inform me when the 7 speed CVT is launched. He never did.But I must admit that the 88 BHP diesel engine is better than I had expected.

We found the Etios a pleasure. I had read every line of GTO’s great review. The interior fit and finish could be better in some respect-otherwise everything was alright for us including the slightly boxy design. The ride was just right for my wife’s back and I found Etios’s driving manners superior to the Corolla’s. We booked an Etios right away in order to get priority-the waiting period quoted was 4 months. One fine morning I got a call from the Toyota-the waiting period is now 6 months; their plants are going to operate with less efficiency. I felt utter frustration.

Then I became so obsessed with the fuidic Verna that I began following Sidindica’s thread very keenly. I almost finalized it as my ideal car and prayed that the rear seats and ride are great. Then Zappo’s review came. May 11th -Verna was launched and soon the test car arrived in the show room-I went to visit it. Alas! I did not like it. The rear seat was really low and the under thigh support, less. Even I with mild back pain found it very uncomfortable. The cabin looked cluttered and not airy and spacious. It is feature-loaded and within my budget but it did not fulfill my requirements. I did not TD it as I was interested only in the Diesel version and the Hyundai dealer was not interested in providing me a test car despite reminders-may be too much demand has got into their heads. I will elaborate in my separate post.

Desperate, I decided to try Vento even though reports suggested low,upright rear seats. GTO’s review had suggested low rear seats which would not induce confidence to a person with bad back. I walked into EVM motors, the Volkswagen show room at Cochin one morning with the intention of checking out the Vento. But the shockingly indifferent and unprofessional treatment I got from the staff was unbelievable for the modern age (will elaborate in my account about the dealer experience later). I inspected the car and found the rear seats better than Verna’s. Still many things were not to my taste-however I requested for a test drive. But nobody bothered to follow up from Volkswagen let alone getting me a car for test drive. I had decided against Volkswagen cars anyway. I am not giving my hard earned money to the people who ill-treat customers by throwing their weight around, and I am sure, will ill-treat me with bad service in future if I made the mistake of buying a car from them. Vento was not a dream car anyway-and certainly not ideal for my purpose.

Soon, my son and me, sat in my i10 near Kundannur junction at Cochin and looked at each other.”What is next?” asked I.”Peninsular Honda!” said he!!We gingerly began trotting towards the Honda dealership.

Booking and dealership Experience

In the sunny afternoon on the 19th of May, at 1:15 pm, Ms. Leena Austin, Dy.Sales Manager, bowing politely, pre-occupied in her mobile talk, held open the entrance door of Peninsular Honda, one of the two Honda dealers in Cochin, as the two of us approached nervous and uncertain. She immediately extinguished the phone and treated us to an excellent and thoroughly professional customer experience which I suspect will take the Volkswagen guys at least a decade worth of improvisation of attitude to match with-or at least some shocking period of “no demand”.

When I entered the cabin of ANHC V AT for the first time, I had to struggle for my breath-it had been taken away! I side glanced at my son who was busy fighting for his own. He took my arm firmly and whispered hoarsely, ”Appa(father), this is it, please. The Verna is no match!”

We decided upon a test drive the next day and left happy but confused. Rear seats were fine but the ride quality had to be tested. We began pouring to my wife how comfortable, airy and spacious the City felt. She agreed for the TD reluctantly and skeptically but playing along with our enthusiasm.

The urban Titanium V AT arrived my residence at 5:00 pm on the 20th. We stepped into the car; my wife in the rear passenger seat. I turned and looked at her. The losing breath has been catching!! She managed to croak after regaining the breath, “My God, fabulous!” The seat and ride were just right for my wife, the auto shift, for me. Excellent TD experience. We drove around and tested her over pot holes etc. ,comfortable. On the highway-bliss.We drove to the dealership and drove back in the manual version. We found the automatic better. Seamless transmission completely eliminated the jerking and any discomfort.

My wife was speechless-she could not gather any reason for having resisted the City so far. She sheepishly began gushing in praise of the car which she had despised without realizing its true value. Next morning I called up Leena, reached the dealership, placed my order for the ANHC V AT Exclusive Urban Titanium, of which I am the proud owner now.

I opted for AN Honda City V AT Exclusive Urban Titanium. I opted for only the leather seats and leather wrapped steering wheel. I could feel a slight enthusiasm in the Exec’s voice to convince me that V version is enough-they will do the Stanley job for me for 20000/-only.But an after market seat cover,be it Stanley, will reduce the leg room by about 10cms at least. Also no-one can give that original feeling of factory fitted leather wrapped steering. Hence I decided upon the Exclusive version.

The dealer informed me that the chrome sash moulding , the chrome trunk garnish and the Exclusive badge will be another Rs.15000/-As we did not like too much chrome and found the Exclusive badge flashy, we said no.

Booking amount 30000/- and the delivery time was 2 weeks for the exclusive-they had other editions ready.

The expenses:

Since my car was delivered much before the price cut,the price is pre –price cut.

Car price( on road Cochin)-11, 36,185/-

Booking amount-30,000/-

We opted for the flg as extras:

1. Caska ICE(IN3631G)-55000/- including “Mapmyindia” maps and reverse camera(after 2000/- discount).
2. V Kool sunfilm-18000/-(Rs.20000/- with 2000/- discount)
3.3M Teflon coating-4000/-
4.3M under body coating-complimentary (worth 5000/-)
5. Leather cladding for the door arm rests.-2000/-

Accessories-8, 8000/-

The dealer offered free insurance (29015/-) and discount of 9000/- on accessories. For the accessories I had to really haggle hard.

Total discounts offered: Rs.38, 015/-

Total expenses paid-11, 86,170/-


The delivery:

We took the delivery on 4th June. It had begun raining cats and dogs in Kerala which certainly dampened the excitement. Fortunately on 4th till about 2 pm the weather was sunny. The delivery experience was very touching. I found the Honda procedure very pleasing and extremely systematic (will post the experiences elaborately in the relevant section).

Peninsular Honda people have been very helpful throughout. They sounded interested, responsible . They stuck to their words and commitments and made us feel really good.

We have yet to take the car for servicing. Hence I will comment on after sales service only later on. So far things look bright.

Now about the car.

Exteriors.

I personally like curvilinear lines something I have noticed on certain Cadillac cars too- to total curvy lines. IMO, the arrow shot design of the City still looks very stylish, classy and contemporary. The boot is rather high.Convenient, could be, but slightly lower boot would have enhanced the looks. No turning indicators on ORVMs. No badging for the “Auto” version. Any reason why the B pillars have to be black on most cars? Why not body coloured (like say, the Skoda cars)? I find the original grill more attractive than the optional one, which will make others think that the owner regrets not owning an Accord. We did not opt for the abundance of chrome that Honda had in offer as optional. Not even rub strips and corner protectors .One small damage to the paint at the corner was taken care of by polishing with Amway Silicon Glaze and applying Fix IT Pro scratch repairer.

The doors need a good push/tug to close. No weighted feeling which is present even in i10.The boot lid feels wafer-thin.

My car came with MRF ZVTV tyres-not Michelin XM1s. The Sales people expressed their helplessness. If found unsatisfactory, I might upgrade to 195/60 R15 Michelin XM1+s ( hope these are the ideal ones).

The fuel lid should have been controlled from inside. But to our surprise, all gas station attendants are familiar with the touch to open system too well!

Interiors

Truly classy, especially with the leathers-much better than the Vento and ANHV. The Vento interior has a solid feel-but too basic. The Verna interior looked claustrophobic, the dash cluttered and overcrowded.

The original leather seats are good. After market fitments including Stanley will reduce the leg room (remember how Toyota saved leg room in Etios by providing thin seats).The under thigh support, firmness, cushioning-just right. The inclination of the rear bench too is good though the seat could have been slightly higher(might interfere with head room). I have compared the rear seats to both ANHV and the Vento. Both are not upto the mark for my purpose-with due respect to the people who found them agreeable.

However the fit and finish of the arm rest appears to be poor(see the snap).

The leather wrapped steering wheel too is very good. But the wheel is of elliptical cross section. I found the round and chunky steering wheels of my previous cars (Santro and i10), ANHV and the Etios VX better to hold. Still I found it better than the Corolla’s rather thin and semi wooden wheel.

The door arm rests too are leather wrapped-done at the dealership(2000/-)(snap attached)

Missing ACC is very serious. Other gizmos like electrically retractable ORVM are missing.”You don’t really need them!” Why? Why not offer them-at least as optional. Honda is trying to protect the Civic, in my opinion. More facilities on City-many will buy the City which is already 90% Civic for 75% price, than the Civic itself? No offence meant friends, only an opinion-that is what I did. I will be glad to be proven wrong, though.

The AC is reasonable. I have to figure out how the A/C could be adjusted for better flow to rear passengers-as seen on Bluevolt’s post.

The Caska music system is good.See 2 attached snaps. Only one phone can pair with Bluetooth at a time. The steering mounted audio controls work well with Caska. Have not tried it out extensively. You don’t really need it-unless you want an all in one unit which can even measure the tyre pressures-I have not opted for it (about 12000/-). Will do it later if found necessary.


I have installed beige coloured 3D kagu mats(Rs.4250/-,Global tyres, Vyttila-Aroor bypass,Cochin,0484-2112407,Benny George-09446395664-details added with their permission) which have contributed to brightening the interiors.

The 3D kagu mats look like original equipment-they look very classy and have contributed to the bright look of the cabin-see the snap.

See the snap: The leather wrapped steering, dash with Caska unit that supports the steering mounted controls, beige coloured 3D mats make this cabin spacious, airy, cheerful and classy-IMO. Perhaps even the auto ‘box may contribute (this picture and the one below). The silver facia is less offensive now-though the omission of ACC looks glaring.

The driving experience

I had test driven both versions.

The manual gear box is good and precise. But I feel my first car, the 2000 built humble Santro GS and my i10 have slicker gear shifts. The fluidic Verna has much smoother shift than City manual .City gear shift is similar to Etios-short and precise but the shift levers are spindly and I found them both slightly rusty. I have only test driven them. It may be my inexperience or the condition of the test cars. I found similar vagueness on the Corolla Altis test car too.

Apart from gear shift, both the versions felt the same for me. But my wife commented that the auto version was seamless and jerk-free which made her feel very secure and comfortable which is the reason why we decided upon auto shift. It really keeps my nerves cool during the “bumper-upon bumper” traffic in Cochin during the rush hours, apart from protecting my wife’s back with jerk free, seamless acceleration.

Engine felt very powerful and smooth. Excellent acceleration and braking-but since the cabin insulation is not upto the mark, the slight change in the engine sound filtered into the cabin was embarrassing initially-now we are used to it. A bit more torque would have done wonders. Unlike a manual, the car does not immediately glide over say, a speed breaker, which made me instinctly grope for a shift to 1st gear only to realize my helplessness! You have to press the pedal harder, and car waits for a moment before climbing the breaker. The auto gear lever shift is good.butter smooth-I had read in GTO’s TD of Vento that you have to firmly move the auto ‘box shift lever(compiled by Rehaan). This one is very smooth.

Great visibility- all around. Very confidence- inspiring, clubbing together the reverse cam and Caska. Very tight turning circle-turning is as easy as my much smaller i10.

The noise from the MRF ZVTVTs is only comparable to the Michelin XM1+s of my i10-nothing bad. I find the narrow tyres ok-though, of course, wider ones must be heavenly. I have filled the tyres with Nitrogen for enhanced experience, just in case. The cabin insulation is only comparable to the Etios-which lets a lot of sound penetration, but still bearable.

Ride and Handling

No car can escape the mile-deep gutters in Cochin esp during the rainy season. However the City falls and comes out in “slow motion”-not in thuds-there are no jerks and shock. So that is okay. Ride on bad surfaces is slightly bouncy. The car does sway sideways on bad roads but is planted always. The back seats do not bob up and down unlike the Corolla. The suspension is softer but I found the ride similar to the Etios. The Etios, even though much lighter and with stiffer suspension offered a well modulated ride-City is not better than that but I am relieved it is as good. I have not scraped the bottom so far but I have only begun.

I had heard that Honda cars are not great handlers. But I have, so far, no problems. My wife has begun to drive after 1.5 years and is familiarizing her first auto ‘box. To her pleasant surprise, she is very much at home in the City and is looking excitedly forward to a great driving experience.

Fuel Efficiency

I know there is no point in creeping about the FE when you drive an automatic, in winter, on busy city roads 95% of the times, of course with 100% A/C on-that too extremely carefully to protect some one’s bad back. This could be the most un-ideal situation to judge the fuel efficiency. I am getting around 8.5 kpl during my city endeavours. I have not driven her extensively on the high way yet-but I have got upto 13.7 kpl average during my short stints. I will do lengthy drives on good weather days and update on the fuel efficiency. As of now, FE is not my priority-hence no abundant tears.

Service

The buying experience has been good. Ms.Leena Austin and Ms.Sunitha of the accessory department have been extremely helpful. Hope the owning experience will be equally good.

I have a habit of putting my point bluntly and frankly, expecting blunt and frank response from receiver and trusting him/her to a great extend. This strategy of straight forwardness has given me reasonable results so far. So I asked point blank,”How is your service? I have read on the Team-BHP a few years back about the owner of a Civic having been ill-treated by Peninsular Honda? Also I have read about your ‘below average customer support’ (in GTOs TD of Vento). Can I expect decent services?”And the Dy Manager quipped, “Sir, all our customers are premium ones. We give good services and make you feel special”

Hence I am looking forward to a good service. Will revert with the ‘special’ experience in due course.

Here is what I have liked with the car and my dislikes. Everyone knows the Goods and Bads of the City by now. Still I am listing them from my purely individual point of view.

Likes

1. The knowledge that I possess a reliable, well engineered Honda City too. Fluidic Verna, being the new girl in the office, has snob value too, but does not fulfill my purpose. Vento is too basic. Drives good, but not better than City. Diesel- so only pocket friendly but I found the Volkswagen staff not friendly at all. SX4 will declare to most people that the owner wants to spend minimum but wants that big car feel (no sarcasm intended-logical statement. Many people have expressed this view to me) -ride quality and in-city handling are debatable. Linea would be bargaining for a head ache.

2. Still looks fresh and stylish, still manages to turn heads. It makes us look and feel polished, refined modern people (yes, your possessions speak for you)-not exactly arrogant.

3. Airy and comfortable cabin with bright beige interiors, leather seats, good overall visibility, not claustrophobic at all. Fluidic Verna is stylish but not as comfortable as the City. City will be far superior as a chauffeur driven car than all the other cars with the exception of perhaps, Linea.

4. Excellent driving experience-spot on driving position, joyful automatic gear shift and controls. So far the handling has been good for me.

5. Adequate ride quality-successfully surviving the pot holes. My wife feels psychologically better and is willing to venture out of the house more, which is more important for me than anything else.

6. Cavernous boot-vacations (yes, we are slowly looking forward to them again), air port/railway station pick up etc are a breeze. Occasional visits to the in-laws can now fetch humongous numbers of Coconuts, bananas etc etc!

7. 2+2 warranty and road side assistance. It induces peace of mind.

8. I did not find the silver coloured dash that bad, especially coupled with the Caska-sorry for the bad taste but I like light colours for interiors(reason why the Cruze was not not considered even in dreams)

Dislikes

1. Very expensive. The initial expense was too much for a petrol car-not pocket friendly(The price-cut was offered before my purchase).

2. Less features-some of them essential for a contemporary car.ACC is a must for a new generation premium car. Of course we miss it.MID is very basic. No internally retractable ORVMs. No turning indicators on the ORVMS. Not even a parking sensor as standard. The original music system is inadequate. Music quality is so so.No blue tooth. Only one key with remote operation which they call “the master key!!”Buying an extra key is a lot of formalities.

3. Ground clearance low. Could scrape the bottom

4. Build quality could improve. The doors are thud-less. The boot is wafer thin.

5. The tyres are skinny-and the OE tyres are not of the same league-how MRF ZVTV will fare with Michelin XM1? It will make owners feel inadequate with some going for a change at extra expense. Why not give only Michelins? Or Bridgestone Turanzas and Apollo Aceleres? Am I being ignorant here? My ZVTVs feel and sound fine. The exec warned me that a tyre upgrade will cut the FE further by about 2 kpl. Why there is no spare alloy wheel for an expensive “premium “car?

6. Present FE is less. Hope it will improve. With instructions to use only premium fuel, the running expenses are definitely high. Even though FE is not my present priority, I like my money like everyone else.

7. 3 month service intervals! When all other cars come with delayed service intervals, City owners will have to take her to the doctor every 3 months! The execs claimed they are filling synthetic oil-so why 3 months?

8. And lastly-lack of a diesel engine, or a hybrid-to reduce the ownership costs. Everyone loves his precious and scarce money which he/she has one thousand other uses for-spending money and drooling over a car need not be the favourite hobby of everyone.

My dislikes are as many as likes. But if they reverse, ie. whatever I found negative is provided at the expenses of whatever I liked-would I buy the car? No way!!That would rob the car of the character it has presently.

I could not click too many photos on these rainy days. Everyone know the City inside out anyway. I have managed to add a few pictures of interest. Will add more when the weather stabilizes or if my fellow BHPians feel so. I will also extensively drive the car and add more facts and impressions in due course.

What is in store for Honda City?

38015/- discount to a customer and as of today 44000-66000/- reduction in price and 6.99% loan with conditions. How long more can City hold the fort? City’s or rather Honda’s weaknesses stand exposed now. What can be done to regain the throne which is slowly slipping from underneath? In my opinion the following may help.

1. Continuous research and improvement. Honda has hardly improved/modified its product significantly in the last 2.5 years after its launch. Too sure of themselves, right!! Well, the tortoises are overtaking the sleeping rabbit. See how they have justified the price cut! They had been contemplating the price reduction from 2009 onwards. By effectively controlling the component prices etc, they managed to reduce the expenses now-hence the price cut. While other Japanese car makers find it difficult to control their expenses due to natural calamities in Japan, Honda has managed to economise, which is good news-but only for the City, which is not very good. This economic achievement was well timed with the Vento overtaking it in sales and the Verna knocking at its door must be purely coincidental.IMO, they reduced the price to make room for the next face-lifted ANHC. When they launch the ANHC with more features, they may re-introduce the present prices-before-cut. The reduced prices are “reasonably reasonable” for want of better words.

2. Overcoming the limitation of only Petrol. They should introduce the Diesel version fast. Not at a leisurely pace. Alternately, why not the hybrid? The fuel does not matter-the economy matters. How about a 1.2 litre petrol engine coupled with an induction motor? The smaller engine will enjoy some duty cuts , I believe. Which may help Honda to offer the hybrid City at around the same price as the present one. There will be good economy coupled with less emissions etc.

3. Serious improvements in features(hope the face-lifted one will have these).

a. Externally-turning indicators on ORVMs, electrically retractable ORVMS, parking sensor/cam, wider tyres(but may eat into the FE),a little more ground clearance(may affect
the handling),other sufficient fancy items like rain sensing wipers etc to outsmart the competition.

b. Internally-ACC of course. Then better fit and finish, , better original music system with blue tooth connectivity ,telescopic steering, better design of the dash, cooled glove box, at least leather wrapped steering as standard, auto dimming IRVM with reverse screen(aka Verna) cruise control etc etc.

Just offering a little discount, taking the customers for granted and hopping for the best will be too optimistic for Honda. Hope the speculated, face-lifted City will arrive in Oct/Nov as expected.

Hope I have not bored you all and my write up measures upto the Team-BHP standards.I am a person who began driving with the idea that driving is a mechanical way of reaching faster from A to B.It is team BHP that has developed me into a car enthusiast.Now I have even managed a review of a car.Thank you very much for transforming me.

Please find a few snaps attached.I will post more if my fellow BHPians feel necessary-also,weather permitted.

Comrades, I request your comments, inputs, advices and criticisms.

Moderators, please do the favour of editing/moving /deleting etc. as you may find necessary.

Love you all, charthom.

[pamishra]

wow! Thats a wonderful buy.

Was the Caska unit provided by the dealer itself? The unit looks amazing.

And can you please post some more exterior pics of the beauty in Urban Titanium shade?

[charthom]

@pamishra,

Thanks for the first response.I appreciate it.

The Caska unit was provided by the dealer.Glad you found it good.

Please give me some time for the rains to subside here in Kochi-and I will post more exterior pictures.

Rgds,chrthom.

[ghodlur]

@Charthom,

Congratulations on the ANHC. In these times when the options are plentiful and recent City price cuts we finally find an ownership thread. Very nice and crisp descreptive post.

Caska provided by Dealer, whoa. Thats must be something new. 55K for the HU, very huge.

Happy mile crunching, drive safely. More pics needed please (mostly of the CASKA)

[charthom]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Charthom,

Congratulations on the ANHC. In these times when the options are plentiful and recent City price cuts we finally find an ownership thread. Very nice and crisp descreptive post.

Caska provided by Dealer, whoa. Thats must be something new. 55K for the HU, very huge.

Happy mile crunching, drive safely. More pics needed please (mostly of the CASKA)

@ghodlur,

Thanks for the appreciation and best wishes.

Caska is selling their products only through the dealers-that's what I understand.But they do send their technician to demonstrate/calibrate the GPS etc.The dealer offered me 2000/- discount.Expensive-but good I feel.Pl note the clarity of the reverse cam.It is much better in reality.

I will post more pictures in due course.

Rgds,charthom

[vb-saan]

Congratulations Charthom! From the title, it did not look like an ownership thread
That’s an awesome colour, and the leather cladding on the door looks great.
I have to agree on Honda dealership in Cochin. Twice I interacted with them, and I was thoroughly impressed with their professional and friendly behavior.

[srishiva]

Congrats Charthom, very well written. Looks you are very satisfied. The ergonomics on offer is better in the city. The trunk lid's function is only to cover the trunk and might be contributing to the FE, see if putting some damping sheets can bring some thicker sound. Enjoy.

[theexperthand]

Congrats Charthom. A very well laid out detailed ownership report

The Caska HU looks interesting - did the dealer source it for you?

the mats looks good - it will help you a lot in keeping the car clean.

Some more pictures of the car please.

[mayankjha1806]

Why bother if others are buying Honda or not, I am glad you bought what you liked. Congratulations on your new buy.

Honda makes very good cars, they are reliable, last longer and A.S.S is also good. Earlier they had the highhandedness (the likes you see in VW these days) but these days they are very much grounded (Good things competition brings).

Awesome choice of color and the leather upholstery looks very good. Drive safe.

[raghu230506]

Congratulations on your new ride, drive safe and have fun.

Head unit looks cool,

Cheers
Raghu

[jk007]

@Charthom,

Congrats on the wonderful city! The AT is a pleasure if you don't mind the gas prices and under 10 kmpl mileage. I believe that is the best AT (even compared to the Civic)

Love the CASKA. I might pick it up once it is launched for the Fuidic in July. Impressed with the clarity of the reverse camera. And how much did you pay extra for MapMyIndia to be integrated with CASKA instead of SatGuide?

Drive Safe!

JK

[GTO]

Congrats on the most sensible petrol sedan in the market; just can't go wrong with a H City. Ask those amongst us who have owned these cars for several years together. Thanks for sharing a thoroughly unbiased, detailed review. It's these kind of threads that uphold the values that this community was built on. Clicked Thanks & rated thread 5 stars.

I would have posted this write up earlier-but had been ill for many days-now recovering.

Get well soon mate

Caska ICE(IN3631G)-55000/- including “Mapmyindia” maps and reverse camera(after 2000/- discount).

Great looking HU! I've been hearing of an awful lot of Caska units on the forum. Clearly, they are doing something right. Hope to play with one in the near future.

3M Teflon coating-4000/-

Useless. Didn't you research on Team-BHP?

More facilities on City-many will buy the City which is already 90% Civic for 75% price, than the Civic itself?

Agreed. I'd made exactly the statement about a year back, though the Civic itself is poorly equipped.

Tip : Purely for driving within the city, lower your air pressure by 2 PSI. The wife's back will appreciate. Of course, revert back to company-recommended PSI ratings on long drives.

[souravc]

Congrats on your fantastic buy ! I loved your review too , straight from the heart just as your buy is

[volkman10]

Congrats on the owing the most sensible petrol sedan currently in the market. In times when most are talking of the Vento, Fluidic Verna, new Fiesta, etc Honda seems to regain some lost ground. IMO Honda Iis still and would hold on to being the King of the C segment (Petrol!)

Cheers!

[bharatbs]

Thanks for your detailed and unbiased review. It was very good to read your experience. After having driven ANHV Diesel and Vento Diesel I also personally feel that ANHC is definetly the all rounder.

Originally Posted by charthom

But an after market seat cover,be it Stanley, will reduce the leg room by about 10cms at least.

Do you mean 10mm? I think 10cm is to much.

Originally Posted by charthom

I have installed beige coloured 3D kagu mats

Is that a ANHC specific Kagu mat or did you use the Vento one? because I have seen only VW owners with Kagu mats.

The three-month service intervals are definetly bad on Honda's part. Any idea what happens if you don't follow the routine and take it once every six months?

Lastly, how do you rate the Caska in terms of sound quality? Because I have seen many people mention that touchscreen units do not offer the same sound quality as regular 1din/2din HU.

Enjoy your car!