Brought home a 2023 Honda City CVT: Impressions post the first 850 kms

We also had the New Verna for competition. The Virtus and Slavia were out of the race as they didn't fit the bill during the first run itself.

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After taking this decision around April'22, we booked the eHev online on the Honda portal. We did not get any exact delivery date as we wanted only the Red colour. After some follow ups every 15 days with the SA, the wait turned out longer than we expected.

My SA had only one update "Sir, Red car is not available, and we dont know when it will be. I have a brown off the shelf if you want."

In the meanwhile, we had another priority which needed to be taken care off. So we decided to put the car plan on the back burner.

Come 2023 and there were rumours of the Honda City facelift launch. It was March'23 when the car was finally showcased and launched. Looks good! we thought. Those changes to the bumpers on the front and back do add to the look of the car. Also, the ADAS features were also added to the car.

Then we also had the New Verna for competition. Virtus and Slavia were out of the race as they didn't fit the bill during the first run itself. We wanted to wait till we saw the Verna in flesh and test drove it.

We got the test drive of the Verna 1.5DCT. I was wowed by the interiors as well as the power. Wife was just about OK with the backseat. We didn't want to go for the DCT anyways as there wouldn't be a complete peace of mind after reading through some Kia and Creta DCT stories. We then test drove the IVT. It did tick the boxes which City ticked, except the backseat comfort.

We drove the City again (may be 5th time) and then the Verna back to back. This time we were full house in the car. My parents, wife and kid. Mom and Wife straight off disliked the Verna backseat.
And that is how we finally booked the facelift City in May'23.

So what happened to the eHev plan? The cost was nearly 4.5 lakhs above the top end petrol and we dropped it!

Now, coming to the one month, approx 850kms impressions.

I drove the car nearly every night for the first week. We went towards Govandi on the Eastern Freeway and then towards Vikhroli on the EEH. The ride has been super smooth.

We also did an outstation trip to Nashik. In this trip we were fully loaded (4 adults and 2 kids) and the boot space 90% occupied. The car did well and did not scrape on tall speed breakers or bad roads. The kids and their mothers were very comfortable in the back seat.

I tested the Cruise Control and the lane assist feature a lot. I am just amazed at the technology. Both the features are amazing. The camera detects the white lines well on the road (even if dimly lit) and keeps the car perfectly aligned when we are above about 70kmph. The adaptive cruise control is also good. I found the braking a bit harsh when I keep the distance to the front car at a minimum setting. Increasing the distance means, there will be atleast 2 car lengths between the front car and my car. And this is not possible to be followed on the highways.

But the comfort it provides is lovely. Set the speed to 75-80kmph and the lane assist ON and you wouldn't even need to keep the hands on the steering (though it doesn't allow you to do that). The car even takes the curves very smoothly.

What I have liked so far:

• Driving comfort (coming from WagonR and Celerio AMT)
• Backseat comfort for family.
• Cruise control and Lane assist.
• AC cools so much better than the Maruti.

What I dislike or miss:

• Ventilated seats
• A bit more power
• Need to switch off the Collision mitigation everytime the car is turned on.
• Digipad is outdated.
• Camera could have been better.
• Left lane assist camera is just junk in the night. It flares up and you cannot see anything.
• Mileage till now has been approx 11.5kmpl (never driven above 90kmph, not even on the highway, and used eco mode in the city)
• Drive door beep as soon as the door is opened. And it is loud !

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