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Why I sold my 2021 MG ZS EV & bought the 2023 Honda City Hybrid

14th July 2023, 18:14 by Rahul Nagaraj

I wasn’t keen on the Grand Vitara or Hyryder. I loved the Innova Hycross but the dealers quoted a 1.5 to 2-year waiting period.

BHPian Kevinrevvz recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I’m delighted to announce that I just took delivery of my brand new 2023 Honda City ZX e:HEV in Obsidian Blue Pearl!

To begin with, I must mention how I got here. In 2021 I replaced my ageing F10 BMW 530d with 1.3L Kms with a more sensible, modern car, an MG ZS EV. I was so excited to get into electrification and this seemed like a great way to do so.

I absolutely enjoyed the instant torque and easy drivability within the city. The convenience of charging overnight for peanuts and not scraping over any of the massive speed bumps in Coimbatore was a godsend.

The charging infrastructure in south India is extremely good thanks to Zeon Chargers which are very reliable and conveniently placed across most highways. This made highway trips a breeze in theory. In reality, however, we have way too many EVs in comparison to the number of chargers at each location making every 30-minute charging stop a 1 to 2-hour one waiting for the people before me to finish. This made long trips a time-consuming affair.

As I wanted to start exploring the country more and wishing to do a lot of long road trips, I started looking for a replacement. Hybrids seemed the logical choice as I didn’t want to miss out on my EV’s ease of use in the city with minimal NVH and instant torque. I also wanted to keep the running costs relatively minimal.

I checked out the Grand Vitara/Hyryder and City e:HEV and fixated upon the latter for the much more premium feel, better refinement and better performance on offer. I had also been a sedan enthusiast all my life and a small part of me was always longing for a sedan again. I went ahead and booked the City e:HEV in December 2022. Honda however had no clue about the car’s delivery date and the dealers themselves were forcing us to purchase the Petrol CVT instead. This made me cancel my booking after a couple of months and continue the search.

Fast forward to June 2023, I had gotten a great offer for my ZS EV from a gentleman in Kerala. The car was exactly 2 years old and had completed 40K joyful kilometres. Since I got a really good resale value on my EV contrary to popular belief, I sold it for 20L (original OTR price being 26L). This meant we needed a replacement immediately.

I wasn’t keen on the Grand Vitara or Hyryder. I loved the Innova Hycross but the dealers quoted a 1.5 to 2-year waiting period for the top-spec version. Meanwhile, Honda had updated the City e:HEV with revised styling updated the infotainment system with better resolution and wireless CarPlay, wireless charger as well as updated ADAS with stop and go function for the adaptive cruise. To my surprise, the dealer had one unit of each of the V and ZX variants in stock. I was prompted to book the top-spec version and they registered and delivered the car the very next day after the payment was done. I was very satisfied with the buying experience this time around at Sundaram Honda, Coimbatore. The OTR cost was 25L just before the proposed 5% tax hike was rumoured to kick in.

This car was love at first sight. I loved the sleek and timeless design with the plush Ivory-White leather interiors. Quality felt a notch above the ZS EV. It still had the silent low-speed experience and instant torque of my EV. I was thrilled to finally be back in a sedan and brought back memories of the several Accords we had back in the day.