The much awaited New Honda City was launched today in Thailand, after months of scoops, teasers, spy shots, finally we can now officially declare the current Honda City's daily sales rate should be a comfortable zero units.Just look at how the ugly duckling that was fundamentally greatly engineered but flawed by it's outlooks (harsh world eh?) finally transformed into
Following Honda's aggressive recent trend of offering a whole lot more for a little bit less since the Civic, technologically, ergonomically wise, the New City could even rival that of the new Toyota Corolla, discounting interior room of course.Sporting a 5-Speed Automatic gearbox with paddle shifters behind the steering wheel (A quick facelift due soon for the 1.8 Civic could solve their misery for lacking this), giving real tiptronic gear changes (previous is a fake ratio 7-speed CVT) for enthusiastic drivers. We don't have detail information of the gear ratios as of now, however 5-speed gearboxes tend to hover around 1900rpm at speeds of 100km/h whereas 4-speed derivatives are close to 3000rpm at that kind of speeds - You could imagine how much petrol you're saving when your engine revolves 1100rpm less in a minute.
Only one engine option is available this time around, with the class leading 1.5 liter VTEC currently used in the Honda Jazz producing 120hp@6600rpm, this engine easily outperforms that from the Vios which produces 109hp@6000rpm. Torque is also higher at 145nm compared to Vios' 142nm, albeit slightly later at the power band of 4800rpm compared to the latter's 4200rpm.Both we could say, were tuned more towards relaxing city drivings, with the maximum torque 'safely' placed high up at such rpm, and the engine running out of breath another 1000+rpm later, these are no track racers to be brutally honest. (Contrary to many ViosClub, TeamCityRules racerboy's exterior modifications)
Coming on to the interior, it definitely looks younger and sportier, but lost the comfortable, elegant and subtlety of the previous City.The Civic's space age steering wheel made its way to the lesser brother, and also a space age center console design, 1960s Space Odyssey that is, as a silver coated plastic is a silver coated plastic, and forever will be a silver coated plastic, if not, a peeled silver coated plastic.
We could only point out, that the reason Honda finally decides to go with this 'Design-And-Made-In-China' esque center console was solely to entertain Jazz customers to justify the higher purchase price of what, could be essentially an identical car should no product differentiation come into place - A marketing No No.
Thou it looked fine from afar, going up close (You need not be too close, sitting on the driver's seats day in day out with the shimmering sun reflecting off the center console is already enough to draw our imaginations to rate this as the first thing we would remove and get it wrapped in leather should we be purchasing one).
To add, the black surfaces seems to be finished in those shiny dust magnet plastics. The 'sudden' redesign of the center console fascia really reveals the distress Honda product engineers had scratching their head to finalize it. One can clearly see they've only receive instructions such as "Make it different to the Jazz, somewhat uglier but not too ugly" and there they go, finding their very best ways to fit the center console with enormous buttons to fill up the empty spaces.
However, not all are lost as being Honda, they still have a trick or two up their sleeves, the LCD panel displaying information (Speculation) on Aircon level, FM Tuning, CD Information etc; doubles as a lid, that opens to reveal a small pocket, with YES! a USB port for your IPOD or any MP3, Thumb drives.
However, there's something we couldn't seem to get hold of no matter how we looked at the center console fascia, is that we fail to find the slot-in for CDs - Could this be the first step of next generation in-car ICE revolution? Ditching CDs finally? Any eagle eyes here? Going down to the cup holders placed up front of the gear lever, sadly Honda had opted to ditched the innovative miscellany holder cum cup holder from the previous City, which was interchangeable with a simple push, and a separator would glide out ala Lexus style, separating the the space to form two cup holders. In place is a static cup holder like that of Vios.
Mind you, I'm great fan of that single piece of kit that not only is truly practical, but shows the effort and detail-ness being put into the engineering of such budget cars. Heading back to the driver's seat, the speedometer cluster was nicely done, with the speed indicator taking the center dial, rpm on the left and gear indicator, fuel gauge on the right, it would've been great if engine oil and water temperature gauges are also available, but hardly the case with budget cars so we have no qualms here.
However such gauges are very crucial for good maintenance of vehicles, and of course the battery voltage meters as well, for any abnormal showing in these gauges would mean something wrong is 'on-the-way'; perhaps being fame for reliability had rendered such gauges useless in Japanese cars.
Coming to the interior, there's the usual boring beige colored seats and a two tone fascia available for the S and V spec, whereas the top of the range SV spec gets the all-black interior as well as 16" rims. Interior room, promised by Honda again to be the class leader, (Yes, Accord and Civic were both larger than Camry and Altis) we're wondering how much can Honda stretch the Jazz's platform of 2500mm wheelbase to rival that of Vios' 2550mm wheelbase, however, another pathetic 1mm length, is still another pathetic win on the brochure specs.Should the new City meet the wheelbase of the current Vios, it will be a 'crazy' 100mm increment in length from the previous City's 2450mm. Enough with numbers, let's look at where Honda always triumphs Toyota's effort, the interior or rather the clever interiors. Again, the mountain bike swallowing trick of the Ultra Seats will still be retained, apart from that, the rear seat arm rests now sports cup holders, we do hope the clever water repelant seat fabrics will still find it's way to the new City.
The rear seats are still 60:40 split fold as we can clearly see from the wrapping of the rear seats from the massive boot, allowing massive 'cargo hauling' possibilities should the need arise. The boot lid, was still the 'intruding' metal bar type that slams shut instead of hydraulics that saves space and provides a better feel of touch when shutting the boot with a reassuring thump.
There's a reason I decide to cover how it looks at the very last bit of the preview, this is due the City's benchmark set from the previous generation City, lies in all because of its interior, the comfortable, well designed, well made, well assembled and most important of all, well thought of interior that sets it apart from its competitors, however those ghastly proportions still haunts our memories eerily.
Now, going past the Optimus Prime grills, are what matters most. Is the new Honda City a good looking car? From what we see, it is a definitive yes, with a strong profile that accentuates that of the FCX Clarity, Honda's current gemstone the City was designed with a headlamps that flows in with the grill forming a very aggressive look, the rear lamp designs even showed the delicacy in design with body lines flowing uninterrupted across angled surfaces of the rear lamp.As oppose to the previous generation and current Vios' bulbous, bubbly styling, the new City took the edge and created a modern, cutting edge, no nonsense, F-117A Night Hawk approach to the design of the new City, earning a thumbs up from us.
Now if you're already drooling all over the place upon reading here, hold on, as during the launch, something more spectacular was spotted than the Optimus Prime grilled City. Yes! The Decepticon grilled City Modulo was also present!With a distinctive front split grill with the indicator signal moved to the very side edge of the front head lamp cluster (The City had the indicator on the inner, lower corner) the headlamp design sports a chrome lining that extends onto the grill.
The front bumper was also distinctively different with a large air intake side grill sporting an opening for the fog lamps, side skirts was also part of the Modulo kit, garnished with a parralel door lining that adds to the sporty appeal by giving the side profile a more contoured touch, giving a sleek appearance, hiding the height of the car very well, and of course, those Modulo 7 spoke rims are also unique to the standard Y-Split 5 spoke rims.
The interior of the Modulo City had a large LCD in place that renders the center console looking decidedly better, without those eye sore huge buttons and that ugly combination of silver coated and black, gloss, finger print prone plastics, interestingly the Modulo City doesn't have the volume control buttons on the steering wheel.
We are somewhat 99% sure that the Modulo City are just aesthetic upgrades and there should be no modifications on the performance part, not even suspension settings as the wheel wells are still 'at large' with those puny 16" wheels.
During the Thai launch of the City, there's also something of (what we believe) to be a limited edition gift (For those who pay their deposits on the spot?) in the form of a City branded Bluetooth headset. Not much information are available (Any readers to fill us in?) as of now.To sum it up, Honda had did a very impressive job on the new City, with striking looks and innovative use of interior (Albeit the China dashboard) space, small amenities that adds to the appeal of everyday use, we're very sure Honda will be on a home run this time around. Oh! almost forgot to mention, the new City now comes with a 5-speed manual and we're pretty sure that Honda fans would be very keen to see it making way into our shores given that Toyota had already launched the 1.5 manual Vios J Spec at sub RM70k prices, Honda must bring the manual City in as well, matching the price of the J-Spec Toyota.
Till then, we'll wait eagerly for the battle of the giants again, of which Honda bruised badly since year 2003's epic battle between the two's forefathers. Which would you place your bet on? Oh, and we welcome Vios and City fans for a preliminary round of debate here at the comments section. (We don't moderate comments section). Below are additional photos of the new Honda City.
Photo Source: Pantip.com
15 comments:
Wow this is a very good preview of what we will get in Malaysia in December. There are talks, however, that this new City is a major reskin with a new powertrain, and that the platform is more or less the old City brought forward. Malaysian and apparently Thai journalists don't seem to ask the common question often asked overseas, "How many parts are carried over from the previous generation City?".
Rest assured Biker, this is an entirely new model from the ground up. Of course the engine was brought over from the MK2 City, course revised to pump out 10hp more.
Using 'usable' parts from previous generations is actually something I, or we at Wheels Weekly would love to see. Although plenty of journalist were always crying like a baby when they saw an Audi switchgear in Lamborghinis, we don't see what the fuss is all about, if the parts are fine and fully functional, and fits into the design layout of the inherent car, why should the manufacturer waste unnecessary resources to design and manufacture an entirely new one, if they could hide it from the consumers?
With a much shorter length, the new Jazz had already a 50mm longer wheelbase than the previous City, the new one, which Honda claims class leading, should match of exceed Vios' 2550mm.
Major reskin, would be that of the Audi B6 to B7, and VW MK5 to MK6. Or Celica GT Four to Caldina GT Four, Civic to Stream, Corolla to Wish and Accord to Odyssey. All fine, fine cars. cheers!
Hmm..Am I the only one who felt this way? I still think the overall exterior design of City, new or old, abit weird or simply not-good-looking at all, and it doesn't even give me a 'Honda' feeling..
But, the New Jazz I must say is a much more 'genuine' Honda's design and much much more stylish good looking.
Nevertheless, sad for Malaysian market, with govt policy on foreign car, this is the most budget way to get the new Honda's performance+handling+fuel economy.
Ya, I seriously think the new City is somewhat 'ugly'. Still.
Ingol, are you ABSOLUTELY sure? The statement about carrying over the platform was made by a very senior American engineer who has good connections in Japan and actually worked there for several years. So far people at Honda have remained silent when asked about this so either they don't know or have been instructed not to comment. Of course for them in marketing sense they must say FMC - FULL MODEL CHANGE. Perhaps they don't know about how many parts are actually carried over from the previous generation.
the 1.5 liter motor has alot of revisions in it, more than to justify it being called "brought over and tuned to produce 10hp more"
There's always two sides to all the products we see, touch and buy.
The industry end, the manufacturing side, and the perceived end, the end product.
As long as consumers feel it's different enough, there's no point at times to delve our heads deep into counting how many was taken over from previous generations.
It's never 'cheating' to do so, as long as the car's better than the previous generation (perceived by consumers) I see no harm.
Likewise Audi's new modular platform, one platform designed to be flexible enough to cater for various models, saving development costs, cutting price. It's always good to see something like this, where manufacturers were mature enough to not need haggle around the word 'All New' in hopes to capture sales, especially in times like these. Seeing how the American manufacturers were all struggling, they really need to open up their brains and see what the Japs and Germans are doing.
No doubt the new City is looking great physically. Nevertheless, Vios has a more pleasant and "standard" dashboard design.
In addition, City is more appearing on male buyer. Vios, on the other hand is more feminine towards female buyers.
The main crucial consideration is the pricing of these 2 cars. Under this budget car range, I would say a rational buyer would consider the pricing on top of its built quality.
Thus, Vios won't lose out the majority portion of potential youngsters. It's just a matter of different cup of tea for different buyer. Keke....
To me, instead of paying twice for Japanese CKD car, I would rather go for the national car, i.e. 2008Proton Saga. Size wise, it's slighly shorter (roughly the length of short ruler) and with some quality issue and technology lacking behind, it's a worth buy for Malaysian. Unless I have plenty of money to spend,.... it's otherwise. hahaha!
Hi Adrian, you hit the nail on this one. However, we shouldn't judge Vios or City's build quality base on the price parity. Thou it's true that have a gap of around 50k compared to the Saga, however, the true margin of difference should be around RM15k difference. Remaining are taxes.
However given the unavoidable scenario in Malaysia, the Saga is really attractive. I would actually rate the Saga the best car Proton had actually made.
Oh ya to add, the current Vios is actually the Belta from Japan which was launched in 2005 with a base engine of just 1.3 liter, and it is designed targeting women in mind.
yea i agree that the city is still ugly. in fact all modern compact sedans are ugly. just look at the vios and city's proportions. long, narrow body coupled with a tallish ride. i'm surprised that malaysian's ware willing to buy almost any cars released - just because the cars are foreign, doesn't mean they're any better. one of the best cars in the compact segment is the vw polo. its in a total class of its own in terms of ride, design, build quality, and of course pricing. malaysians should stop getting suckered by foreign car makers who charge too much for an inferior product. even the civic is overpriced imo. demand lower car prices just like u demand lower petrol prices. let the government (and car manufacturers) know that the malaysian market has matured and now demand more respect!!!
Well anonymous, you might want to understand that in Japan, tax rates on cars are also calculated on their sizes and weight as well, there's a limit on width for certain cars falling under certain displacement and within a bracket of tax rates. To go beyond that would hurt customer's pockets, and of course competitiveness.
Remember the previous Estima? There's a narower Lucida? That's exactly an Estima, only narrower, smaller inside and alot cheaper.
When it comes to Malaysian prejudism, yes I agree in a sense that many only thinks that imported stuffs are good, still that has its origins and reasons. What I cant stand with Malaysian's bad habit is the habit of not researching, reading, understand, learn more and instead just follows whatever the next person tells them. Its really a sad phenomena. I remembered someone in Zerotohundred forums opening a thread and asking a question of "How much is the Toyota Vios?" It's such a sad thing to misuse and taking technologies for granted. Such forummer in europe or american forums would've been banned for not doing their own simple research and asking questions that doesn't benefit the forum at all. Sad sad.
Regarding the Polo, I must agree with the build quality, but i can't agree much on desirability. Because the Jazz is a much more desirable car. But one thing for thoughts, the Polo was taxed 300% to reached its price tag of RM100k, but the Jazz wasn't taxed at all since AFTA came in, but why would you reduce prices of your cars when you can still sell your Hondas and Toyotas made in Thailand and Indonesia for RM80 - RM100? Moreover the government wouldn't welcome price cuts from the Japanese that's now no longer taxed because of protecting Proton and Perodua. So now, its practically a situation of our Government in a dilemma of letting Japanese reap ridiculous profits on us consumers because they wanted to protect Perodua and Proton. How would you all feel?
Honda City.
Where is the grabholder on the drivers side?
In Malaysia do you have a grabholder for the driver?
In Thailand the Civic, the CRV and the Accord have it - but not the City?
Let's have the grabholder in the Honda City, too.
You agree, lah
John K Lindgren
www.carsanook.com
Bangkok
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