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10000 kms with my Honda City CVT: Likes, dislikes & other observations

31st October 2022, 09:03 by Dev Shah

The car has a fuel efficiency of 11 kmpl in the city. It makes no difference whether I operate the vehicle in Normal or Eco mode. FE stays the same.

BHPian arpirocks recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I've driven my Honda City 5th gen for 10,000 km and thought I'd share some of my experiences with everyone.

Lost ORVM cap:

Let me begin with a recent incident in which I mysteriously lost the ORVM mirror cap (driver side). No mishaps or accidents; just took off!

Last month, while traveling to Mahabaleshwar in the rain, I suddenly felt something fly out of the right side of the car. As I was at speed and in the first lane of the highway, I decided to inspect it at my next stop. Oddly, I discovered that the Right ORVM mirror cap had just come off. Not a trace of damage. The ORVM was operating just like new!

Post incident:

I grabbed a black garbage bag from the nearby restaurant as I was driving down the highway and covered the exposed area to prevent water damage.

After sending the pictures to the Honda Service Advisor when I got back to Pune, he promptly called and placed an order for a replacement part after explaining the repair cost. One of the key PLUS points for me with Honda is its consistently excellent customer service. The SA informed me over the phone that the replacement component had come in and that he had sent the cap to be painted.

The work was completed in about 15 minutes when I arrived the next day. Everything was resolved in one trip.

No hassle service:

Getting the mirror cap fixed:

Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed following the fitting was that the ORVM had developed a gap. At first, I assumed the replacement cap was defective. However, the SA quickly took it off and tried it in another City, where it was a perfect fit.

ORVM cap:

The explanation given for the gap was that the ORVM casing has slight deformation, which is what caused the original cap to fall in the first place.

The only possibility I can think of is that something or someone played around with the ORVM while the car was parked. Again, there are no visible symptoms of damage; all I see is a strange gap that makes me anxious every time I see it. Any suggestions to get rid of this are welcome.

Total Repair Cost: INR 1615.

Skullcap: INR 612.
Painting: INR 1003.

A quick 10,000 km ownership review:

So far, owning this car has been a great experience. I've taken several road trips, and they're always enjoyable. Never experienced fatigue even after spending a lot of time driving. Ground clearance is the sole significant drawback. 90% of the roads are easy for me to navigate, but the remaining 10%, particularly during the rainy season, are troublesome.

How did we end up with the City?

Our nine-year-old Chevrolet Beat needed a replacement vehicle, so we started looking (mainly because Chevy had exited the market and I wanted to own a brand I can trust for service and maintenance). The first factor in selecting a car while we were leaving Beat was SPACE. Lots of it.

These are the vehicles we narrowed down:

Tata Nexon: We never considered owning a Tata. We had just arrived at the Hyundai showroom in Pune when I learned that the SA I was speaking with had taken a customer out for a test drive. We were told to wait for 15 minutes. By chance, the Tata showroom was right next to the Hyundai dealership, so we decided to spend some time there. I fell in love with Nexon as soon as I got in. A large, sturdy, modern vehicle.
Tata had truly exceeded expectations. Despite the fact that I had heard a lot of bad things about Tata, the positive energy and entire experience at the Tata showroom convinced us otherwise In the end, we even booked a car! Later, when I told one of my childhood friends—who had owned a Safari Dicor—about this, he persuaded me to cancel the reservation and avoid Tata because of the terrible after-sales experience he experienced.
Hyundai Verna: My first love was this car. I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the BS6 Verna, and it appears that I was among the first to test drive the vehicle as soon as it entered the dealerships. The car's inside seemed a little crowded, which was the only aspect I didn't like (we had already taken City Test Drive and were spoiled by the space).
Hyundai Creta: Not booked due to the blatantly unprofessional attitude of the Hyundai salespeople. They take great pride in their best-selling cake. They don't appear to care that people are coming to the showrooms. Due to their lack of interest, we crossed both Hyundai vehicles off of our list (will share a details experience soon).
Honda City 5th Gen: From the first test drive, I fell in love with the vehicle. The sales team was outstanding. The features appealed to me. In spite of all these considerations, one of my friends who works for Honda Cars India convinced us that the company has improved with this new model by placing a greater emphasis on build quality and safety.I was more than pleased to bring the beast home as a result.

Side Note: I'm not sure if I should share this, but the same friend of mine told me that Honda maintains the highest standards and quality in Jazz, WR-V, City, and Civic models. Amaze, however, is not a member of this pack. This car wasn't made to adhere to the genuine ideals of Honda, and I mean no offense to anyone. It was released expressly to outperform the competition. (Again, not my words)

The car won't start:

Had an interesting experience during the first week of the car ownership (~100km mark) when the car refused to start. I have documented more details ihere.

Likes:

Silent.
Smooth ride.
Space.
Spare tire and additional space - Good thing is that Honda has given a full-size spare (alloy and not the ugly steel) wheel in the car. I've heard that now they have resorted back to the smaller steel wheel. What a shame. I also like the fact that there is some additional boot space once you uncover the spare wheel. Very useful and handy.

Side view cam: I love this one. Very helpful in navigating the bumper-to-bumper traffic and specifically in spotting the two-wheelers who are somehow always present in the blind spot.

Dislikes:

Ground clearance.
Center display quality: Could have used more modern technology. Although not a deal-breaker, it does the job and supports Android Auto/Carplay. However, to make the experience even smoother, I'm seeking a wireless Android auto dongle. Looking for suggestions for a good reliable and easily available dongle (was thinking of Motorola MA1 but it's never in stock).

Hit or miss:

Fuel efficiency: The car has a fuel efficiency of 11 kmpl in the city. It makes no difference whether I operate the vehicle in Normal or Eco mode. FE stays the same. However, driving is no longer enjoyable in Eco mode because the car feels so under powered. I often steer clear of it. Having said that, a car on the highway achieves an astounding 20 to 22 km/h.

Courtesy Fuelio:

Driver-side storage pocket: There is a little storage compartment on the driver's side. This one blocks the entrance and exit when it is opened. On a few occasions, when I attempted to exit the car without realizing the storage lid was open, I managed to injure my leg and knock the lid off. Although on both occasions I was able to replace the lid with only little hinge damage. Now, I'm being really cautious.

Storage pocket:

Damage on the hinge, although barely visible:

Honda Connect (Poor connectivity): In terms of features, the Honda Connect is fantastic. Honda has offered the subscription for free for 5 years, and nobody is sure what will happen after that (will it continue to be free or will Honda charge something?) Real-time vehicle monitoring, speed alerts, geo-fencing alerts, remote AC start/stop, and other features are provided. The connectivity is hit or miss, which is the sole drawback of the entire system. There is a Vodafone SIM in the car, and Vodafone in Pune is reputed to have poor connectivity, so I've been told (unconfirmed).

Service experience & history:

The customer service has always been outstanding. extremely competent and comprehensive. The breakdown of the service record to date is shown here. Interestingly, Honda modified the New Honda City's annual maintenance schedule from a 6-month period to a 1-year interval.

Service record:

Got a scheduled wheel alignment and balancing done at 10k kms:

Accessories:

Although I don't have many car accessories, these are some of the necessities I have included:

Gap Fillers (INR 300):

Fortunately, I found these on Amazon and they exactly match the color of the car upholstery. great for preventing dust and other small objects from rolling off the seats:

Amazon link

Rove dashcam (USD 100):

I stumbled upon this in Bestbuy while visiting the US. Never planned to keep it in my car, but I found a decent offer and brought it. I had considered going to a neighboring car shop to get it fixed, but I first thought of a do-it-yourself strategy. Evidently, it was simple to install, and I had no trouble tidying up the wiring's path through the pillars: