My new Honda City SV Petrol- Continued. Review on Honda City 1.5L i-VTEC

So it's been 6 months(8500 km done, 3 free services done: nothing comes in free though;), since I started living with the first Honda in my life.

Honda City was always a dream car for me as I have driven my cousins's dolphin model Honda City in Bangalore. It was a nice car to drive, so quiet and yet agile. Honda always remained a premium brand in India backed by the stories supporting the "metaphor of reliability".

Reliability has always taken a major place in the discussions on Honda products. We could see the same if the second market is analysed.

Coming to the point, I am here to let the people who read this post know my experiences which I have come across after living with the car for last 6 months.

It's like an arranged marriage, I see the girl, like the girl, enquire with others about the girl, hearing praises from all the relatives and acquaintances about her, deciding to marry her, then marrying her and later coming to know that although she is a very good girl from a very well known family, she is not even coming any close to the praises that I have heard from her relatives.

Yes Honda City the most common praise "It's a Honda man! You can buy a Honda eyes closed". I bought it eyes partially opened, heart fully opened but brain completely closed!

I had fell in love with the new Honda City when it was launched on Jan. I had been a frequent visitor in the car review websites to find the reviews for Honda City.

And I  bought one, "Wrong decision!?". I am now a changed soul who has eyes opened, heart opened, and a brain fully functional who is broad minded even to accept the statement "Your choice was wrong" from anyone who feel the same while reading through the below mentioned points.

1. A major dip in quality: Honda have been a "metaphor of quality" since their introduction in India. We even have a phrase "Don't think much. It's Honda man! Just go and buy one.

A Honda never goes wrong". Even I also got the same reply from my friends and relatives who is currently owning the previous gen City or the previous to previous gen City. But after living with the car for more than six months I found out that the Honda is also going after the Indian philosophy of "less money, more car" or to be more accurate "less money, more bells and whistles in car".

The "in love with scratches" low quality plastics, "in love with rock music" dashboard(A six month old Honda dashboard rattles!) make my life in Honda City a worse experience.

Terribly inconsistent panel gaps make the ownership experience more of a tragic comedy which was initially supposed to be a mega hit. Honda will never remain the metaphor of quality any more.

1. My journeys are accompanied with birds singing in their cute voices(I am not smoking anything), the rattling noise from the rear makes you feel "Entertainment on the go!?". Does mobile companies have made any contribution in the design of new Honda City.

Edit: Issue is fixed by the dealer. It was due to a R.H.S  brake caliper bush misalignment.

1. A happy news for 2014 Honda City customers: Surprise surprise! "Made by Apple" bumpers and body panels are available in the 2014 Honda City. Oh yes! it bends:).  Bend it like Beckham, or Roberto Carlos:). Sarcasm intended.

Edit: I came to know that the bumpers have been made in such a way to dissipate the energy during impacts away from the compartment and for pedestrian safety. Confused!? Try hitting a wall and a pillow and find the difference.

The more the energy dissipated the less affected the compartment.

1. A grinding noise while changing gears in an almost sudden braking scenario(Clutch is completely pressed).

Edit: Not able to identify the same at the dealer's end. I need to find out the exact scenario at which the same is happening.

1. Due to the dip in quality I would expect a good number of 2014 Honda City entering the second market very soon.

Edit: "Are you sure about that?". No, I am not.

1. Never compare the 2014 City with Volkswagen Vento, for there is a chance for you to commit suicide when you come to know that you have paid more money to buy your City and you have got a car which fails in the consistent panel gaps department even with a nano.

Edit: I noticed a significant increase in the panel gap consistency in the recent batches of Honda City. They might have taken care of the user feedbacks. I have gone through the niggles thread in team-bhp.com on VW and Skoda. I feel relaxed now, at least I got a reliable engine and gear box.

Edit: Yes, Honda is taking care of the same. I registered a complaint at the dealer and I got a call from Honda and they agreed all the panel gap issues I addressed will be analyzed and(I hope) be rectified at the dealer.(Need to leave the car at dealer for some days.)

1. Expectations always hurts, but I never knew the minimum expectations could also hurt. The basic expectation from a Honda ie. quality and reliability has taken a major hit with the 4th gen Honda City.

   
   




2. White dots are being formed at different places on the body panels. Honda remained a Honda till the 3rd gen Honda City. Now Honda motto has changed "f*ck the quality, go for useless bells and whistles and make more money" just like other manufactures. Even we could see recalls happening in other parts of the World but not for the same vehicle here in India stating the "fact" that "Our car in India meets the safety and quality standards required in India", which we all know is non-existent.

   
   

Edit: I was totally wrong on the white patches issue I mentioned above. It was nothing but the "waxing not done properly" at dealer end. They did some touches and I found that they are gone and those places are much more shining. Need to do it thoroughly when the car would be given to fix those panel gap issues.

There are things which make me still feel that I am driving a Honda. The petrol engine is such a gem that you will love to keep this motor running. The engine is so refined, no vibes, you could red line it if you want. A very respectable fuel efficiency of 15 km/l with mixed city and highway driving.

I live in Kerala. Highway denotes a road with comparatively good tarmac, mostly single lane, and lots of twists and turns. I know you may be wondering "That's a panchayat road here!" No man, we are forced to call them highways because they are named as Highways(NH 220, NH 330).

Thanks to the politicians who play with 35 meters, 25 meters theory for Highways. I like to drive in a empty open stretch of roads, so I would prefer driving late night or early morning if I need to go a relatively long journey(say 150 kms). So the cruise control has become a blessing in such situations, it works just like the way a Honda should work.

So the basic question arises "Was my choice of buying the new Honda City a wise decision?". It was a wise decision based on the inputs from the previous Honda City owners, but it became a not so wise (should I call it stupid?!)decision after living with the car for last 6 months, considering the above mentioned points. I wish if it had the Honda quality for the parts used.

Not even a single design change required, just the use of quality plastics and body panels will make it the perfect car.

Then the next basic question from someone who want to own the new Honda City "So I should be looking for some other cars if I want to have a peace of mind?!". My answer will be **"Do you have such a choice currently in this price bracket?

Have a test drive of the new Honda City and closely examine the'ready to be delivered' Honda City's in the showroom to know if these issues mentioned have been sorted out. I think Honda should have got these feedback by now and they should be taking the right measures to solve these issues, as we all know Honda invest their good amount of profit in R&D".*

So the wise step will be take test drives of all the cars that you have listed(Important: Never go with a pre-set mind. Be open minded, which I lacked while buying the car.).

List the positives and negatives of each car and find the car which ticks "all your requirements"(all requirements! Impossible. Say 80% or 70% or the one which ticks more requirements).

Correction

I always wanted to correct myself if I am wrong in my understandings. So here I am, correcting myself. Honda City 2014 has got its own share of niggles, but if you see the big picture they are not major issues. Few rattles(fixed for me), white patches on body panels (polishing done and is fixed), panel gaps and slightly misaligned boot and bonnet(should be fixed at the dealer end).

Every product will have some issues, get the user feedback, analyze them, find a solution and fix it. That's the way to go. At least Honda is accepting their fault and trying to rectify the same.

For all those you are planning to buy Honda City but hearing a lot of issues about the car, you could just go through the niggles threads of all the same segment cars you could find yourself valuating Honda City better than any other car in the segment.

But it is not an excuse for the current issues, but I have faith in Honda that they would help me rectifying those issues.

For those who think, Honda might have given me a good amount of money to praise them, No they have not. But they have shown me their good heart in accepting their faults and grating me a helping hand.

With all the respect to all who have gone through my review, I am changing the product recommendation to YES based on the below points.

1. The petrol engine and the transmission are still a Honda at heart.

   
   




2. The rattles have been fixed which were simple issues.

   
   




3. Body panel misalignment: I hope would be fixed at the dealer end.

   
   




4. I have analyzed the new batch City's in the showroom and I was able to see a significant increase in the panel gap department. Improvement is always a welcome.

   
   

Cheers.