Honda City: Poor man's BMW!
Vtec kicked in yo!
What is BMW most prominently known for (or was)?
Luxury, comfort, sports car Esque driving dynamics and affordable supercar matching performance. Well, this was true a decade ago. My point here is people who bought BMW's 'M' cars or any BMW for that matter were just looking for an affordable way to get into sports car performance with added comfort and usability.No, Honda city isn't a sports car and nothing could be further apart from sports cars than a Honda city.
What exactly I am trying to say here, comparing a BMW with an entry-level sedan?
I guess what I am trying to say is, just like other countries where BMW is the easiest way to have fun in a car which is practical as well. In India, we have the Honda city.
Not exactly a poster boy for performance and luxury but in a country like India where owning a simple hatchback is a remarkable feat. And considering the type of cars, we get at that price point, any car that performs slightly better and handles better than other cars is a big deal for us and for almost two decades city has been considered to be the cheapest way to have fun on four wheels in India.
Let's get obvious out of the way
Honda city is a four-door sedan, with four wheels, interior space enough for five to sit comfortably and a decent amount of features on offer.
Now, that's gotten out of the way. Let me tell you performance and handling
Honda city is powered by a 1.5 litre 4 cyl VTEC engine that produces 120hp and 145 Nm of torque. This engine is one of the best out there in the price range. Yes, on paper it's not as impressive I mean common it's barely over 100hp and the torque that is as much as what Toyota corolla hatchback's power figure.
But it's not how much this engine produces but how it delivers that power, the driveability, effortless power delivery and the VTEC. It's fun to thrash the motor to its redline that is 8,000 rpm. And with 0-100 km/h time of 9.5 seconds its not the slowest car in the nation.
“With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility"
Okay, I exaggerated the power part but it doesn't matter if the car powerful or completely opposite of powerful, it must handle like a Formula one car (exaggeration again!) but it should be predictable and for enthusiasts like me it should put a smile on my face whenever I tuck it into a corner and exit the corner with me being alive and the car in one piece. Honda city does that really well, driving dynamics are sorted, quick and reactive steering rack with feedback for days. All this makes the city one of the best handling family sedans among its competitors.
Buts it, not all good in the handling department I found city to be heavily under tyred and not just me even on the paper, city has skinny tires compared to other cars. When taken the corner with a bit too much speed it understeers badly and effects it braking ability as well, if not for the small-sized tires, the braking system is well sorted with decent feedback, it only lets you down when stopping from speeds excess of 130 to complete halt, otherwise its a well-sorted, car especially on the highway it's surprisingly stable for a car that's under Rs 20 lakh.
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article on Suzuki Ritz diesel hatchback and why we Indians love affordable, small, adequately powered and decent handling cars. And to understand why Honda city has ruled the hearts of Indian enthusiast like me, one has to understand how hard it is to attain a performance car India.
Pardon me for using substandard pictures as this car is owned by my friend and my drive in this car was impromptu and my friend tried to source me decent photos from his gallery as much as possible. And to be fair to him he never took these photos expecting I would one day write an article on his car.
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Comments (2)
I thought of this as India's version of the honda accord lol
Could say that if we never got the Accord but we did 😅