I had driven a 2002 Honda city 1.3 for the last five years and must say was thoroughly spoiled by its finesse, fuel efficiency and reliability. However I had disliked the shape of the new city Zx or no Zx and I could not mentally settle down to myself from 90 b hp to 77 b hp. Moreover I always felt that the Honda city is high priced one when it came to replacement of spares. The attitude of the Honda service centers at the time of deluge was also a sour issue in my mind.
Therefore I decided to look for an alternative. Few Years back I would have never looked at Chevy cars and I must now say that I was wrong. I ended up purchasing a 1.6 Optra.he car is a stunning beauty and beats Honda in that dept. hands down or for that matter even a Corolla. The space inside is ominous and can easily take three adults without having to jostled for a shoulder space. The road grip is exceptionally good and so is the pick up and maneuverability in Mumbai.
According me the downside is --the horn is placed in dead center and you need to make special efforts to honk, the wipers and indicators are reverse and that is a nuisance when you need it in emergency., a car of this size and class MUST have a rear seat hand rest which is absent in the base version. , base version comes with an ordinary cassette player and not a single disc CD player.
And above all the car barely manages to give approx. 10-11 km/lit. But I think I will have to change my mindset and accept that this is a D segment car with 1.6 lts engine so I should not expect more. Rest ... it is very pleasing and comfortable and fun to drive.
Dr. Sanjay Oak.