Top 5 Things We Like About The New Honda City

The fifth-gen Honda City has been on sale in India for nearly six years now, and it has just received its second facelift. We finally got behind the wheel of the updated midsize sedan, and it seems to have built upon the already fantastic base it had. Here’s a closer look at what it’s like, and the top 5 things we liked about it: 

Sporty and Sophisticated

One of the major changes in the second facelift of the Honda City has been the fascia. It gets a completely new grille, bumper and headlamp design that makes it feel modern and sporty. The previous iterations of the current-gen City have always looked sophisticated, and so does this, if you look at it from the A-pillar onwards, it still has the elegant and sophisticated look.

Hybrid Still Great

The new Honda City still remains the only sedan in its segment to offer a proper strong hybrid powertrain, and therefore, continues to come with all the things that made it great. The City e:HEV offers instant acceleration from standstill, a trait that we’ve loved for a long time. Just like any other hybrid, the City e:HEV also shifts into EV mode, but more interestingly, it shifts into that even on highways, which offers excellent fuel economy. 

But, just like the standard petrol City, the hybrid also becomes quite audible in the cabin when the engine is under load. Furthermore, the CVT is still a little slow to react and requires time and patience for it to catch up. 

Zen Cabin Experience

If there’s one thing that Honda, and by extension, the City, excels at is making your experience in the cabin feel top class. Everything feels well built, like how you’d expect in a Japanese car. There are loads of soft-touch materials in the cabin, elevating (pun intended) your experience. Generally, in a car of this price point, the plastics in the cabin can be a bit of a let down, but not in the new City. Most of the plastics feel very smooth to the touch. 

A bonus point about the cabin is the presence of physical buttons and knobs everywhere you look, making it a very easy and ergonomic cabin. 

Typical Honda Ride

The City facelift continues to provide the trademark Honda ride quality that has been loved by everyone forever. Its ability to absorb potholes and speedbreakers with utmost ease should now not come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever experienced any Honda. 

At highway speeds, the City remains planted and offers great steering feedback. This feedback also allows you to take corners with confidence, that it can match up to the handling characteristics of some of its rivals. 

But, the ground clearance of the new City still remains a pain point of the new City, meaning you’d still have to be careful over large speedbreakers and ramps. 

Almost Everything

Yes, the new City may still not be as feature-loaded as its rivals but it does have everything you’d ever need for you daily commute. A large 10.1-inch touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, ventilated front seats, blind spot monitor, automatic control and a 360-degree camera.

However, not all is well with all the things that are offered. The touchscreen’s placement seems like an afterthought, and the 360-degree camera seems like an aftermarket accessory because of the quality of the feed. If these were better, the overall experience of the cabin would have been much better too. 

ZigSays…

A lot is riding on the shoulders of the new City. Where it once was a dominator by a large margin in the segment (even the industry at a point in time), its sales numbers now leave a lot to be desired for Honda. A fresh face and some new features do make the City feel more modern, but there are newly and soon-to-be-refreshed rivals which do offer a lot more. While Honda has the novelty of being the only one to offer a strong hybrid powertrain, enthusiasts and ardent Honda followers are aching for a turbo-petrol engine in the City. Hopefully Honda will listen and plonk it in the sixth gen?