I am writing any product review on this site for the first time hence might not cover all the parameters here, but the review is based on my own experience of the New Honda City GXi since past 18 months. I bought this car in March 2004 and have driven it for nearly 40000 kms.
The handling and manuverability of this car is great , much better then any other car in this range and is extremely comfortable whether driving on highways or small bumpy streets. Though the ground clearence is always a problem but can be handled if one is careful. I have tried turning the car at high speeds and found the car stable enough without making you and the occupants feel scary about a sharp turn at 60+ speeds.
The Honda City looks has been something that I have admired from day one , something that resembled a Volswagen Passat in US ..the shape gives a strong appeal to the car.The GXI interiros look really complete and better then any other car in this price segement, the Alpine system it comes with has excellent clarity. I suggest for anybody buying to upgrade the system to a CD player or changer as the speakers installed are real treat to the ears.
The driver seat could have been a little more comfortable especially for people of good heights (I am 6’1 and feel things could have been a little better) , the GXI model comes with powered height adjustment of drivers seat along with the incline which can be helpful to most.I still wish that if it was possible for me to get the seta a little more down. The Steering can also be adjusted for its position which is a big plus and missing in most of the other cars. The car has excellent place for luggage and fits big sized luggages with ease.
The car has an excellent pick up , though it might not be the best car when it comes to speeding. The max speed I have gone on this car is 130km/h on NH1 , as did not find roads clear enough to driver faster then this. (the car can definately go much higher .. I have not tested this beyond yet)This speed was easily achieved with A/C on along with 4 passengers and luggage in the car.With AC on and such high speeds, I was still able to get a mileage of somewhere near 16 km/l. The Honda team makes higher claims but these are really good for a big car. I have schieved a little better mileages on hihgway when car was not so fully loaded. Though the car needs better braking consdiering the high speeds it can get too .. may be ABS might be helpful here ..
The car’s AC is very effective and just right for Indian weather. During evenings even in May-June Delhi summers the AC had to be switched because of the resulting chill.The AC has little impact on the car’s performance if handled properly with gear changes at the right torque.
Overall the car costed me something around 6.93, I had test driven every other car in this range ... Accent, Baleno, Optra and Lancer but decided with Honda as was the best buy when it came to performance, fuel economy and looks..Initially I had my budget around 6-6.5 but felt it made all the more sense to stretch myself just a little more. I recommend this car strongly.
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I am adding to my review here , since this review resulted in some good discussions in the comments and feel that I should bring some good points discussed in the review. That’s one reason I like writing here is I get to meet and discuss different views which is usually missing.
Great handling offered by Ikon and Optra is really impressive and may be a little better than Honda but they lack when it comes to fuel efficiecy offered by Honda,
I am not sure when about comments that Honda’s tall look makes a higher C.G and hence diffuclt to handle infact to me the lower floor area makes the Centre of Gravity further lower and results in lower ground clearence, though I must say its really the car suspension which defines the car handling. Honda comes with 2 suspensions:
Front Strut suspension: Provides great responsiveness to terrain and achieves a minimum turning radius of 4.7 m which is compleetly missed even cars much smaller then Honda.
Rear H Shaped Torsion based Suspension: Though it primarily helps in creating more inner space in the cabin but its oblique angled trainling arm optimizes side force steer for superb handling and stability.
Driving on a busy highway I rarely had to shift gears lower then the third unless I really get to 20’s. The first gear is only required when moving the car from a standstill.
I must mention about some other advanced features of Honda which can not be ignored.
With Honda comes unmatched Safety Features in its segement:
It has the highest standard in crash safety, as quipped with so called G-CON Technology which allows to with stand full frontal barrrier collison of 55 km/hr. One can find more such details on Honda’s test dones by experts in Thailand.
Extra padding in interiors to prevent head injuries to the passengers and driver.
Honda’s 1.5 L i-DSI Engine provides complete rapid combustion hence better fuel efficiency and low emissions, without compromising on the power needs.
Though on paper I have read that baleno has great throttle response and a cool AC , which for once added Baelno to my wish list but my test drives thrice of the car has not been impressive when it came to pickup and handling at high speeds. The suspensions from Baleno are preimarily meant to reduce the vibrations because of the heavy weight of the car. The truning radius is much huge. Looking at Baleno popularity it does seem that if the aim is just being faster on the roads Baleno might be a winner (though can not confirm this by my own experience).