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dcargod 22nd June 2009, 5:28 pmI've always thought that Honda vehicles have always been overpriced and features provided are less in comparison to other rivals. But then, why do people go so crazy about any Honda product. What is there in this product that others donot have? I decided to find out.
Honda recently launched its Jazz hatchback, which was to be my topic for study. So one, evening, seeing that the weather is a bit cool, I headed for the Honda showroom nearest to my house.
I went in and started checking the Jazz out. After the initial viewing, the salesperson told me that a demo vehicle wasn't available. A red Honda City was standing next to the Jazz, which caught my attention. I started checking that car out and the salesperson started singing praises of it. He also offered me a test drive of that car, to which I gladly obliged. In no time, out we were on the road with a Honda City test vehicle.
DESIGN AND INTERIORS
The moment I saw the new City, I just fell in love with it. Its arrow-shot form must be viewed in close quarters to truly appreciate it. From the bonnet to the boot, the car flowed along in a single, smooth line. Even the sides have been engineered in such a way to reduce drag. Its also quite a looker. The aggressive, three-part front grill looks refreshing from the mainstream single-part chrome filled ones, and the headlights are an extension to the design of the grill and look a part of it. Its almost as if, Honda City is giving me a wide smile up-front, calling me to experience its beauty.
The side profile looks very sporty and attractive, mainly because of that smooth, up-moving waistline. The doors open wide too and the built of the doors feel good too. The rear is more or less in sync with today's common design philosophies, barring the tail lamps, which look unique and quirky.
Another thing that caught my eye were the mirrors. They are uniquely designed and look great with the overall looks of the car, though they are a bit small for practical use.
Then I stepped inside. Just as I opened the door, I was greeted with an assortment of buzzers indicating 'key inside reminder', which sounded like an alarm clock and 'lights on reminder' which was the normal beep beep. Then I sat inside. I realised how comfortable the front seats were. There was nothing lacking in it, and legroom was good too. Plus the car's low stance made the height of the inside mirror come down to the line of my eyes, which I loved a lot. The door pads, switches were of very good quality and so was the dash, steering wheel, etc. Though quality wasn't quite like the older City, and slider control for air-flow of the AC disappointed me. There was generous doze of chrome inside, starting from the steering, which also had audio controls in them, to the dash board. Then there were the orange inside lights on the audio system, instrument panel, etc to complement all of them. The interiors felt stylized, yet sporty.
The rear seats were pretty darn comfortable, but for tall people, headroom will be a problem. Plus you also sit lower as compared to the older City, but still, whose complaining?
Then I switched on the audio system, which, by the way, plays only FM and iPods. Theres no CD player available. To get it, you have to pay Rs, 15000 extra. The sound quality was pretty good, but it could have been better and would have done well to have 6 speakers.
Then I switched on the AC, and I must admit, its one of the best I've ever encountered. This unit is one hell of a chiller. When I came out of the car, my glasses fogged up, something which hasn't happened to me in AC for a very long time.
Some of the features in this car really stand out. Say for example, the electro-luminisent dials, the real-time mileage indicator, Bosch wipers, engine crash protection system, etc. But some are also missed, like alloy wheels, wider tires, automatic climate control, CD player, etc.
ENGINE, SUSPENSION AND ECONOMY
I was pretty excited about driving the Honda, as I had heard so much about their engines. The time had finally come. I sat on the driver's seat, all ready to fire her up. Just as I was about to touch the key, the driver told me that the engine was on. I glanced at the tacho and was stunned. There was just NO sound or vibration. I released the hand brake, slotted the perfectly smooth and sporty gearshift into first and eased off. The car moved ahead smartly, showing good responsiveness at part-throttle.
But then, driving towards empty roads through a congested one, I realised that it had nothing called midrange grunt and I just couldn't move around in higher gears. I down shifted regularly, though enjoyably. With that gearbox, it was impossible to miss a gear. I also enjoyed the engine refinement, to be cut down by tire noise though.
Then I hit an empty section and got a chance to mash the throttle. From third gear at 40kmph, I shifted to second and mashed the throttle. After a slight bit of hesitation, the car just shot ahead. I just loved the upper part of the powerband, as horse power and torque kicked in pretty close to each other. The way the City's engine pulled ahead is undiscribable. It has to be felt to be believed. The engine's sporty, yet refined note was like music to my ears. It revved cleanly upto 6000rpm and I had the time of my life mashing the throttle.
But with good power, should come good brakes, and it was about time I tested them as well. They didn't disappoint me. Instead, they told me to push the car even harder without any worries. It also happened that a kid suddenly came in between when I was doing nearly 80kmph in second gear. I mashed the brakes and the car stopped even sooner than I expected it to. I was very happy with the brakes.
Then comes the handling. The notable improvement here is with the steering. Gone is the video game-like feel and the steering feels direct and responsive. Plus, it is light at low speeds and weighs up at high speeds. They did inspire confidence in me. But still it ain't the best to aid handling.
When the Honda engineers were engineering the car for India, they had to make the ride as well as handling good, which are two conflicting things, and I'd say they did a pretty good job. The suspension is pretty supple and bumps are soaked up very well at low speeds, which improves further as speeds increase. It is only the very sharp bumps that put the City offline. But then, it is comfortable at the most part. After this, I expected the handling to be bad, but I was surprised.
The car took my hard cornering with ease, with a little bit of body roll, especially because of softer rear suspension. I suspect that if the rear hits a bump during handling, it'll upset the car's composure and it might even go tail-happy. The grip from the tires is adequate, with more grip required. An upsize to 195/60 R15 would be nice.
Another thing that perturbed me was the low ground clearance. It is better than the Civic, but still isn't good enough to handle sharp, deep, or high bumps, especially with full load. One has to be careful driving this car on bad roads.
The fuel economy is pretty good and my driving including crowded roads and hard driving on open roads with 100% AC on, gave me around 13km/l, which is darn good for such a heavy and powerful car.
OVERALL
When I ended my drive, I realized why Honda is Honda. The things I appreciated about this car is its revolutionary design, innovative technologies, and a killer of an engine, which can see off other powerful rivals to the door, with creamy smoothness. One thing that shoots up the cost of a Honda is the technology and materials used in it. To reduce the weight of the engine, Honda has used exotic plastic materials which are difficult and expensive to obtain. The result of so much hard work is the togetherness of performance and economy. Honda also paid attention to safety and the tech it has used to ensure it is noteworthy yet again.
All this makes up for the loss of some creature features and makes the Honda City a tempting buy, despite the high price. Plus the status factor is always there. As a bonus, you also get the hassle-free ownership experience, which is so typical of Honda.
Overall, I would rate the Honda City an 8/10.
Honda recently launched its Jazz hatchback, which was to be my topic for study. So one, evening, seeing that the weather is a bit cool, I headed for the Honda showroom nearest to my house.
I went in and started checking the Jazz out. After the initial viewing, the salesperson told me that a demo vehicle wasn't available. A red Honda City was standing next to the Jazz, which caught my attention. I started checking that car out and the salesperson started singing praises of it. He also offered me a test drive of that car, to which I gladly obliged. In no time, out we were on the road with a Honda City test vehicle.
DESIGN AND INTERIORS
The moment I saw the new City, I just fell in love with it. Its arrow-shot form must be viewed in close quarters to truly appreciate it. From the bonnet to the boot, the car flowed along in a single, smooth line. Even the sides have been engineered in such a way to reduce drag. Its also quite a looker. The aggressive, three-part front grill looks refreshing from the mainstream single-part chrome filled ones, and the headlights are an extension to the design of the grill and look a part of it. Its almost as if, Honda City is giving me a wide smile up-front, calling me to experience its beauty.
The side profile looks very sporty and attractive, mainly because of that smooth, up-moving waistline. The doors open wide too and the built of the doors feel good too. The rear is more or less in sync with today's common design philosophies, barring the tail lamps, which look unique and quirky.
Another thing that caught my eye were the mirrors. They are uniquely designed and look great with the overall looks of the car, though they are a bit small for practical use.
Then I stepped inside. Just as I opened the door, I was greeted with an assortment of buzzers indicating 'key inside reminder', which sounded like an alarm clock and 'lights on reminder' which was the normal beep beep. Then I sat inside. I realised how comfortable the front seats were. There was nothing lacking in it, and legroom was good too. Plus the car's low stance made the height of the inside mirror come down to the line of my eyes, which I loved a lot. The door pads, switches were of very good quality and so was the dash, steering wheel, etc. Though quality wasn't quite like the older City, and slider control for air-flow of the AC disappointed me. There was generous doze of chrome inside, starting from the steering, which also had audio controls in them, to the dash board. Then there were the orange inside lights on the audio system, instrument panel, etc to complement all of them. The interiors felt stylized, yet sporty.
The rear seats were pretty darn comfortable, but for tall people, headroom will be a problem. Plus you also sit lower as compared to the older City, but still, whose complaining?
Then I switched on the audio system, which, by the way, plays only FM and iPods. Theres no CD player available. To get it, you have to pay Rs, 15000 extra. The sound quality was pretty good, but it could have been better and would have done well to have 6 speakers.
Then I switched on the AC, and I must admit, its one of the best I've ever encountered. This unit is one hell of a chiller. When I came out of the car, my glasses fogged up, something which hasn't happened to me in AC for a very long time.
Some of the features in this car really stand out. Say for example, the electro-luminisent dials, the real-time mileage indicator, Bosch wipers, engine crash protection system, etc. But some are also missed, like alloy wheels, wider tires, automatic climate control, CD player, etc.
ENGINE, SUSPENSION AND ECONOMY
I was pretty excited about driving the Honda, as I had heard so much about their engines. The time had finally come. I sat on the driver's seat, all ready to fire her up. Just as I was about to touch the key, the driver told me that the engine was on. I glanced at the tacho and was stunned. There was just NO sound or vibration. I released the hand brake, slotted the perfectly smooth and sporty gearshift into first and eased off. The car moved ahead smartly, showing good responsiveness at part-throttle.
But then, driving towards empty roads through a congested one, I realised that it had nothing called midrange grunt and I just couldn't move around in higher gears. I down shifted regularly, though enjoyably. With that gearbox, it was impossible to miss a gear. I also enjoyed the engine refinement, to be cut down by tire noise though.
Then I hit an empty section and got a chance to mash the throttle. From third gear at 40kmph, I shifted to second and mashed the throttle. After a slight bit of hesitation, the car just shot ahead. I just loved the upper part of the powerband, as horse power and torque kicked in pretty close to each other. The way the City's engine pulled ahead is undiscribable. It has to be felt to be believed. The engine's sporty, yet refined note was like music to my ears. It revved cleanly upto 6000rpm and I had the time of my life mashing the throttle.
But with good power, should come good brakes, and it was about time I tested them as well. They didn't disappoint me. Instead, they told me to push the car even harder without any worries. It also happened that a kid suddenly came in between when I was doing nearly 80kmph in second gear. I mashed the brakes and the car stopped even sooner than I expected it to. I was very happy with the brakes.
Then comes the handling. The notable improvement here is with the steering. Gone is the video game-like feel and the steering feels direct and responsive. Plus, it is light at low speeds and weighs up at high speeds. They did inspire confidence in me. But still it ain't the best to aid handling.
When the Honda engineers were engineering the car for India, they had to make the ride as well as handling good, which are two conflicting things, and I'd say they did a pretty good job. The suspension is pretty supple and bumps are soaked up very well at low speeds, which improves further as speeds increase. It is only the very sharp bumps that put the City offline. But then, it is comfortable at the most part. After this, I expected the handling to be bad, but I was surprised.
The car took my hard cornering with ease, with a little bit of body roll, especially because of softer rear suspension. I suspect that if the rear hits a bump during handling, it'll upset the car's composure and it might even go tail-happy. The grip from the tires is adequate, with more grip required. An upsize to 195/60 R15 would be nice.
Another thing that perturbed me was the low ground clearance. It is better than the Civic, but still isn't good enough to handle sharp, deep, or high bumps, especially with full load. One has to be careful driving this car on bad roads.
The fuel economy is pretty good and my driving including crowded roads and hard driving on open roads with 100% AC on, gave me around 13km/l, which is darn good for such a heavy and powerful car.
OVERALL
When I ended my drive, I realized why Honda is Honda. The things I appreciated about this car is its revolutionary design, innovative technologies, and a killer of an engine, which can see off other powerful rivals to the door, with creamy smoothness. One thing that shoots up the cost of a Honda is the technology and materials used in it. To reduce the weight of the engine, Honda has used exotic plastic materials which are difficult and expensive to obtain. The result of so much hard work is the togetherness of performance and economy. Honda also paid attention to safety and the tech it has used to ensure it is noteworthy yet again.
All this makes up for the loss of some creature features and makes the Honda City a tempting buy, despite the high price. Plus the status factor is always there. As a bonus, you also get the hassle-free ownership experience, which is so typical of Honda.
Overall, I would rate the Honda City an 8/10.
