Confused between the 4th-gen and 5th-gen Honda City

Don't need the car right away, and I am prepared to wait for one more year.

BHPian 07CR recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi everyone, I wish to buy a car in the budget between 8-13L. Don't need the car right away, and I am prepared to wait for one more year.

I have decided to go with the preowned route. As the current situation stands, I have fixated on the City, but not able to decide if I should wait for a few good deals on used 5th Gen City or go ahead with the used 4th gen City? I am only interested in the ZX CVT variant of both cars.

My criteria for used car buying:

• Should be 2018 or newer variant.
• Should be run less than 40K kms.
• Should be a first owner car.

I am seeing a couple of examples of used 4th Gen City ZX retailing at around 10L in the above criteria. If I wait (for a year or so), I should be able to get the 5th gen City ZX at about 13L, (considering currently 2020 models are available at around 15L on used car sites).

With this in mind, can someone help me in determining if the 3+L premium for a 5th Gen City would be worth it, or should I go with the 4th Gen City ZX CVT rightaway? How good is the 5th gen WRT to 4th gen in following criteria:

• Space
• Ride quality
• Handling
• Refinement
• Performance of CVT
• Mileage
• Interior quality of materials
• Build quality and safety
• Ground clearance and possibility of bottoming out.

Any inputs would be appreciated.

Here's what BHPian abhishek46 had to say on the matter:

I took Test Drives of both of these vehicles some time back.

Below are my observations:

• Space - 5th Gen is marginally better.
• Ride - 5th Gen is slightly better, at low speeds. At higher speeds, both gens are 'busy'.
• Refinement - Both 5th & 4th gen are fairly & almost equally refined in day to day usage conditions. However, things do get loud at/above 3000rpm.
• Mileage - The 5th Gen is slightly better at fuel efficiency.
• Interior - The 5th Gen is miles ahead, in interior appearance and feel.
• Build & Safety - The 5th Gen feels better built. It has 4 airbags in even the base variant. But, we can't be sure unless it is tested by some competent authority.
• Ground Clearance - The 5th Gen is noticeably worse than the 4th gen in Clearance. It has a ridiculously low placed cover below the engine compartment, and that is the point where it scrapes over large potholes and tall speed-breakers. The front overhang on the 5th Gen is also worse than the 4th Gen, and I managed to nick the front bumper as well, while negotiating a speed breaker.

Here's what BHPian Latheesh had to say on the matter:

If you are going for used ZX CVT next year, go with 2020 5th generation city. As you said you should be able to get it for ~13L. Following are few advantages:

• 2 years newer and latest generation car
• Superior leather seats vs 4th gen
• Better ACC controls
• Minor engine improvement (DOHC)
• Superb LED head lamps and fog lamps
• Rear 3 point seat belt
• Rear sun shade
• Ambient lighting
• TPMS
• Better instrument cluster
• Alexa remote functions
• Remote start
• Bigger touch screen
• Lane watch camera
• Hill hold control
• Traction control

Overall interior in 2020 City is much better than last generation. Driving experience is more or less the same.

Here's what BHPian Shreyans_Jain had to say on the matter:

A Gen 4 owner here. The summation of my 7-year ownership is that the City does not age well. The car works like a charm for the first 30-50k km, after which all kinds of small problems keep on cropping up. Endlessly. As such, I will strongly suggest that if your heart is sent on the City, buy it new. Else, only if you find a pre owned car under 10,000 km. There is no point going for a 30-40k km run City as the best years of the car would have already been past it.

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