My Honda City Saga

[sidjustis]

Greetings.

Some of you may recollect me posting around the forums here declaring that Im booking the Fludic Verna ( petrol ) in the first week of Dec. My initial choices as I started my car hunt were - Honda City,Verna,Fiesta,Scorpio,SX4 and Vento..all petrol ( except the Scorpio ofcourse ) since my running is minimal.

Long story short - the final shortlists were the city and the Verna. The Pro's and cons as I saw it :

City - Pro's : Amazing Engine, Kinda roomier, I prefer the looks, Best in class Fuel Efficiency and ofcourse the Honda snob value badge
Cons - Too few features, not real value for money for near 10L car.

Verna - Pro's : Packed with features, Decent City ride, Possibly lower cost of maintenence.
Cons - Bad fuel efficiency reports, Not as "fun to zip" as the city, reports of bad handling and wobbly suspension at high speed.

All in all - the Verna was winning the battle and to quote myself in one of my posts here - My chances of booking a Verna was 98% and city - 2%.

What happened next is a twist in the tale, right out of a Jeffery Archer novel or Bond Movie.

I was planning to book the Verna on Dec 3rd. On Dec 1st, out of curiosity, I called a Honda dealer whom I had spoke to just to check for any fresh Dec offers. I dont know what prompted me to do that when I had finalized the Verna.

The lady gave me a very cool offer - A VMT for 9.2 on road + Teflon + Antirust and a few internal knickknacks free. Whoa ! I did the math -

City + Tfelon + AR = 9.2
Verna SX ( my choice ) = 9.71 + 10k for Teflon + AR = 9.81
The car of my dreams was a car with the city's Cons as I listed above + Verna's features...and me gets a supercool idea

Let me go for the City and add a Caska headunit which gives me - Blutooth,Reverse Cam,DVD Player and lots more.What I have now is the hybrid car of my dreams .All that I am missing ( of what I wanted in the Verna ) is the Auto Foldable ORVMs, but thats not a big deal

So for the same price 9.2 + 52 ( Caska ) - I have a brand new City with almost all the feautres ported out of the Verna.

Just before booking the city, I arranged for test drive of both the city and the verna...back to back within 2 hours to really "FEEL" what car I'd enjoy driving more, as I did not want to buy a car just to save a few bucks or for a few flashy accessories. A lot of you might wonder why the hell I bought the 2011 model when the 2012 model has just launched today. Well coz I dont think I would have got the discount I got currently, for the 2012 model. Add to that, I also had my 7 year old car to exchange, and the exchange price would have dropped had it clocked 1 more month into 2012. The new City VMT has just a few cosmetic upgrades which Im not crazy about anyways - so Im not missing anything.

So then - Ladies and Gentlement. I am the proud owner of a New HONDA CITY VMT ( White ) with some cooooool toys packed in.Here is an early pic at the dealers' just before the delivery. More Pics to follow soon

 

[cooldhaya]

Congratulations sidjustis! Can you tell us what were actual discounts you got? Looks like you have done a good math and made a sensible choice. If Petrol , City makes more sense than a Verna. Can you also share the thoughts of the back to back TD of both the cars? And of course waiting for more pictures! Any mods planned apart from the Caska HU?

 

[sidjustis]

Thanks Dhaya

Discounts - Well I got an 85k cash discount + Teflon and AR free ( I had planned to do those no matter what car I buy). So that was a net of 95k discount. The sales rep was frank enough to tell me that with the facelifted CITY launching in 15 days, HONDA was giving these massive discounts as a stock clearance move. Also, they offered me the best excahnge rate for my old car. I had planned my finances in a way that I positivley wanted to exchange my car, rather than sell it to a 3rd party for a few thousands more. Considering it was a 7 year old Wagon R, they gave me about 1.5L for it, which I think was quiet good. The whole deal just fit beautifully into the way I envisioned my budget allocation.

The TD decsion - Please note, I had already done a test drive earlier of both vehicles , based on which I finalized on the Verna initially. I thought the CITY was overpriced and that a 10L car without Bluetooth, Reverse cam etc was a shame. Though somewhere in my heart, it was undeniable that the drive quality of the CITY was better.

Based on the math I did of the benefits I get with the CASKA HU, my inclinations started shifting towards the CITY again. Just to satisfy myself that Im buying the right car, I called for a 2nd round of TDs for both cars - back to back on Dec 1st. This reconfirmed my belief that the CITY was indeed a better car to drive.At the end of the day, features or no features...the soul of a car lies in its engine.The way the CITY engine responds to even a feeble bit of revving is what car enthusiast fantasies are made of....nothing wrong with the Verna - defn a great car, but in my opinion, CITY is leagues ahead in terms of engine performance. Add to that the cool feautres I could pack in, thanks to the discount settled it for me.

 

[sidjustis]

Any mods planned apart from the Caska HU?

Not at the moment. The Caska HU is a comprehensive unit and gels well with the OEM sound setup of the CITY - which is reasonably good. Im not a "thumper" and mostly fan of classic / hard rock which requires crisp mids and moderate bass and highs - which the alpine setup in the CITY delivers well. I added fake leather seat covers and Vkool film from HONDA - I know Imustave paid atleast 5k more than the price I would paid outside, but then when you are buying a 10L car, theres no point squabbling over a few thousands here and there. What I wanted was flawless workmanship,fitment and a "ready" car when I picked it up...no running around post delivery - I guess I got all of it

What I paid for the accessories :
Caska HU - 52k ( incl Map my India Navigation + reverse camera )
Leather upholstry - 15k
VKool film - 13.5k

 

[Akash]

Hi sidjustis, Welcome onboard and, congrats for your City. It is one of the best petrol sedan in the segment and needless to say, after the price revision, the car has become even more tempting. But just a single pic doesn't do justice with this thread, do post some more pictures of your car.

Enjoy your stay!

 

[cooldhaya]

Hmmm i think net overall you have got a great deal! I agree the strong point of Verna is diesel , Petrol is not peppy enough! Now we need more pictures of the car and the pictures of Interiors with the new HU and upholstery.

 

[AppU]

Congrats for your NEW CITY,

City is one the best Petrol Performer.

do add some Interiors & Exteriors pics

 

[Nuvo]

Congrats sidjustis. And now do some justice to your car by posting some pix of her- both exterior & interior.

 

[Surfer]

Congrats sidjustis, you got best is class petrol car.
Have you got any offer on insurance?

 

[sidjustis]

Thank you friends. I have been very busy over the last 3 days, so kinda delayed in responding, but thanks a ton for all the wishes. Here are some basic snaps I managed to click. I'll post snaps with the CASKA functioning a bit later. For now, hope you like these.

PS : The steering wheel cover I have put is hideous, ugly and kills the look of my beauty I think and Im on the look out for a classier one ( any recommendations ? ). I put this in a hurry, coz with the Bombday climate, I tend to sweat a lot and I have seen the damaging effects of sweat and grime on wheels...and Id hate to do that to my baby. But as soon as I get a good classy cover...this ugly one goes...

Everything else, the CASKA, the artificial leather covers and the mats are from the dealer. I do not plan any upgrades for now.

 

[sidjustis]

Congrats sidjustis. And now do some justice to your car by posting some pix of her- both exterior & interior.

No my friend. No particular offer. Overall, I was just happy with the cash discount and the exchange value for my old car, so I dint niggle too much.

 

[sidjustis]

OK...Lets talk first experiences.

I have just clocked about 140 Kms in 3 days coz I was busy with work as I mentioned.

What I love : The engine refinement. Smooth as silk, butter or whatever you figure. And the power it delivers at the tap of the pedal is stuff of dreams. esp, having upgraded from a Wagon R, you can imagine my delight. I have a hard time controlling speeding over 80 coz I intend maintaining that limit for the first 1000Kms atleast. The interiors are amazing...very comfortable, AC powerful, Sound system - quiet good for OEM standards. I would have liked a wee bit more bass but it definitely delivers. I dont think Im gonna add a sub or anything in the near future atleast.

The Fuel Economy is great too - Im currently clocking about 10kmpl in nasty city driving conditions...Im told that this will go above 12 after the first service. Tear of joy ! I have no complaints with the visiblity of the headlights etc, so no HID set upgrade planned. Im a person who adds stuff that is relevant to my use over, what could look cool in a new car.

Now the niggles : There is only one thing that bothers me. Now Im no car expert, hence I shall describe the problem the best I can and seek some assistance from the experts here. Please help :

Im getting quiet a bit of incabin noise and vibrations. The nose is definitely not engine noise. Its the tyre traction noise. The tyres are Goodyear GT3 175/65/15. I did some research on these tyres and looks like they have a reputation for tyre noise. Im also told that they are otherwise good for indian roads as they are quiet hard. Well, it seems to be a catch 22 situation. I dont have the inclination or the budget to replace tyres now, so can I minimize the noise by some other trick ?

The other bit is the back seat rattle. Now again by my amateur knowledge, I think that the back suspension is set a bit hard to overcome the notorius Honda problem of low ground clearance and chassis scrapping over speedbreakers. I have not scrapped on any SBs so far...but the back feels stiff and rattly with vibrations even while going over smooth concrete roads. Its not bad, but you know how it is - when you invest in a car of this caliber, you expect perfection. The rear seat passengers have all complained about the vibration.

My question is - Is my diagnosis right ? I do not have time to run to the service guy right now, and I plan to address this at the fist service in a month since the issue is not really major, but any recommendations from the pros here ? How do I fix these two issues ?

 

[Akash]

Excellent pics buddy. White is my favourite color and City looks damn cool in this color. Some dark(legal) tints would add to the magic.

Try the shops where the custom steering cover are stitched, the current one is indeed looking hideous.

 

[sidjustis]

Excellent pics buddy. White is my favourite color and City looks damn cool in this color. Some dark(legal) tints would add to the magic.

Try the shops where the custom steering cover are stitched, the current one is indeed looking hideous.

Thanks Akash. Yeah the ugly steering cover is embaressing me , I think Im gonna get rid of it even before I buy a new one.

I have added tints. Vkool. I know they dont show up as too dark, but my dealer said they are the safest ( from a legal standpoint ). They offer good heat cutdown though, but dont look very "tinted ".

 

[Roboxx]

Can anyone comment upon the hard/stiff suspension of this car? how to improve the comfort level of this car.