HONDA CITY i-VTEC S MANUAL. Review on Honda City 1.5L i-VTEC

UPDATE on 21st April 09

I am giving a small update after 1.5 months of ownership and 2000 km on the odometer. The mileage varies from 15 km/l(AC on) in moderate traffic with some long stretches without traffic lights and careful driving to not accelerate unnecessarily. I also tried with a more aggressive driving style keeping in mind Delhi´s chaotic traffic and I got over 13.0 km/l - and this is with a relatively new engine. Over 2000 km I have got an average of 13.8 km/l. So it is obvious that most people who complain about mileage are doing drag strip type driving and you cannot expect good mileage.

Driving in traffic is nowhere as good as the previous model which has super torque at 1600-2000 rpm even in 4th and 5th gear. You have to change gears a lot more and raise the rpm to 3000 rpm to get a real push in the back. However, the overall driving pleasure is certainly better with the new model. It is much smoother, the steering really has better feel, you know you have power to overtake even with the AC on and the sound system is really very good considering the speakers are in the front and rear doors. I am using a 4 GB usb drive and have also used an Apple Nano. Both work very well. Only problem is the number of letters displayed sometimes makes it difficult to make out the name of the song/track. Otherwise am a satisfied customer.

REVIEW

I have owned a Honda City, Honda City iDSI, and Baleno, amongst the mid size cars. This time around when I needed a new car I thought of Honda as the cars I have owned have been super reliable and quite frugal in fuel consumption. The car was delivered 8 days ago. It is the ´S´ version in Manual Drive. The colour is Alabaster Silver. The price in Delhi was Rs 8.70 lacs. Dealer was Prime Honda and I got finance from HDFC. Everything was painless and the car was delivered at home with about 10 litres of gas. The delivery driver had done 25 km and the fuel efficiency was shown as 12.7 km/l.

The first thing I did was strip off the plastic covers as I just detest them. Took it out for a quick test drive of 2-3 km. The driver seating position is really excellent with sufficient adjustment for steering rake. The music controls on the steering wheel, which is very nice to hold, work well and save getting distracted when driving and changing channels, mode etc. I connected a Flash Drive with 60 tracks. It was a delight to be able to have ones own music instead of just the radio. I for one do not miss a CD Player. In India CD Players give trouble owing to much dust which gets on the lens.

The visibility is much better than the iDSI which had the horrible quarter glass and a thicker pillar. The window winders seem to be more robust than in the earlier model and the doors shut with a satisfying thunk. I like the rear view mirror adjustments on the driver door along with window switches etc. The additional small spaces to hold things are very convenient. In general this car feels like a class above the earlier Honda.

The fuel efficiency read out is very useful and in normal city driving - right now going easy on the revs for 1000 km so that I get good running in - I am getting upto 16.6-16.7 km/l. A car can be very fuel efficient but a very heavy foot on the accelerator can really screw up efficiency. The driver who brought the car only got 12.7 km/l and very quickly I am at 16.7 km/l. The total tank mileage is around 700 km on a tank of 42 litres. The engine is very smooth, noiseless upto at least 2500 rpm at which it would go at around 70 km in 5th gear. I didn´t find the engine noise obstrusive so far but I haven´t really pushed the engine at all. The suspension is very good and is able to absorb most bumps fairly. Of course all Hondas are a little low slung so one has to careful about ground clearance.

The air conditioner is excellent so far and having used Honda earlier I am sure it will keep me cool in the hottest Delhi day. The noise level of the fan is quite low even at fan speed 2. Everything in the car looks good and feels good. Though there have been complaints about the seat fabric not being up market I disagree. I think the current seat fabric and colour are more suited to the dusty and dirty Indian driving conditions. The boot is really spacious though the gate is a little narrow so can be a problem for wider luggage. However, most large luggage should not be a problem. I picked up my brother-in-law from the airport and we could get all the stuff in easily.

Unlike the earlier City I owned with only 77 bhp, I do not even feel when the AC is switched on. The extra power certainly makes running with AC on painless. The car has reasonably good torque even at lower rpm so driving in the city is not much of a problem. However, it is not as good as the iDSI which had almost diesel engine like torque characteristics and allowed me to tool around in 3rd gear from almost 15 kph and in 5th gear from 40 kph. In this car there is a need to change gears more often but then the engine immediately responds very eagerly.

I am not one who misses leather seats or some other fancy equipment but do feel that Honda should have given alloy wheels with an option of wider tyres.

All in all one very satisfied customer who will give you an update after the 3rd free servicing when I really buzz the engine and see how the car blasts away.