Ta ta Manza... Hello City...

[Highway Ranger]

Some relatives had come for a visit last week and we took them to Mysore for a visit to the Zoo, Palace and the garden.

We were 4 adults and 2 children. The car bottomed out at all possible speed-breakers - quite alarmingly on quite a few of them. The metal sound that we heard and the impact that was felt inside the car got me really worried. More so as we were going on another long trip.

So I took the car to the honda service station and got it up on the ramp to check the damage. I was surprised to see that there were no damages/dents to the chassis/underbody/parts. Only a few scratches on the sub chassis.

I am planning to install Coil Spring Adjuster for both front and back after I come back.


Yesterday we left for our trip to Kerala and have stopped at our relative's house for a day @ Viruthunagar. We will leave for kerala tomorrow morning.

On the drive up to Karur (304 kms), while maintaining a speed of around 100 kmph, got a FE of 20.4. kmpl. On reaching Virudhunagar the Fe had dropped to 19.1 kmpl. (442 kms). I am pretty happy with the FE that this car is returning

 

[msjawahar]

are you traveling through Tirunelveli - Nagercoil - Trivandrum ?

 

[Highway Ranger]

are you traveling through Tirunelveli - Nagercoil - Trivandrum ?

We will not be touching Nagercoil or Trivandrum. We are taking the Rajapalayam, Shenkotta, Thenmalai, Punalur, Kottarakkara route.

We will touch Tirunelveli on our return journey.

 

[Tornado]

How much you paid for servicing, break up please.

City had only one problem,& that's GC, but this problem is now sorted out in the latest model.

 

[Highway Ranger]

From our recent trip...

 

[Highway Ranger]

City is a great car, but for the suspension which never fails to let the car taste a bit of tar at every opportunity. This was felt when we went to Mysore with the car packed with 4 adults and 2 kids. The car practically sat on some of those speed breakers.

After a lot of search, found that the 'Coil Spring Adjusters', helps in reducing the problem. So ordered a set of four for all the coils from Autorunner for 4300 rs. (Cheaper versions are available online @ amazon.com.)

Got them delivered yesterday. This morning around 7 am, got the car out, equipped with a mug of water and rag to clean the spring, a mug of soap solution to ensure free installation, my hydraulic jack and a short stool started the installation of the adjusters.

The front ones were straightforward. Jacked up the car, cleaned the coil with water and the rag, applied soap solution on the adjuster and the coil and slide the adjuster in place.

For the rear I initially struggled to fix it with the wheels on. As the coil spring was behind the wheel, I gave up. Then I removed the wheels and fixed them. it was a bit harder than the front ones, but doable. For all the four spring I fixed the Coil Spring Adjusters in the middle of the springs. Took me around one hour. Could be done faster, but I took my time and worked slowly.

Then called my wife and we went for a very short test drive involving 3 speed breakers at the entrance of our colony, (one of which always scrapes the chassis), and a bad stretch nearby. The idea was to test the suspension rebound -(which makes the chassis hit the speed breakers) and the ride quality.

The car passed over the speed breakers without any contact and on our return, I tried them at a even faster speed and still no contact. So the first test passed. On the bad stretch, I felt that bumps were better damped than before. But I cannot be sure. Anyway it was not bumpier.

So I am happy with the Coil Spring Adjusters. I know it is too early to tell. Need to test the high speed handling/cornering ability. I will wait and watch. But I have a feeling this is the best mod, I have done to any car - the most needed and the most practical.

More details of Coil Spring Adjusters can be found here.

 

[Highway Ranger]

I tested the car with the Coil Spring adjuster installed at speeds of around 100kms doing some sharp lane changes and the car handled normally. But the best part was it never touched any of the Bangalore speed breakers. Happy with the decision. Still need to test it on proper highway drive.

 

[mgobinathbe]

Tough luck...

I, a six footer, can sit comfortably in the rear seat even with the front seat pushed fully back.

I guess AppU meant that since the fuel tank is below the front seats, the guy sitting in the rear may not be able to stretch his legs by pushing the feet below the front seats.

.......

Here is the Modification done in my City which adds a CD player in the place where you have USB cable and the USB cable is moved below with a cover. It was done by the previous owner in Magnum Honda itself.

 

[mgobinathbe]

I tested the car with the Coil Spring adjuster installed at speeds of around 100kms doing some sharp lane changes and the car handled normally. But the best part was it never touched any of the Bangalore speed breakers. Happy with the decision. Still need to test it on proper highway drive.

NICE DIY Job HR .

During my last drive to Belur it was horrible with full board my city tasted almost all the bumps on her way.

By the way do you have Pic of this DIY, which will help peoples with Honda city to protect their ride from Bangalore Bumpers.

 

[Highway Ranger]

NICE DIY Job HR .

During my last drive to Belur it was horrible with full board my city tasted almost all the bumps on her way.

By the way do you have Pic of this DIY, which will help peoples with Honda city to protect their ride from Bangalore Bumpers.

It is such a straight forward job that I don't think it needs any photos. And if you google for coil spring adjuster, you can find a lot of them there.

Let alone full load, even with me driving alone, the car used to scrape some of the speedbreakers in Bangalore. Now after installing the coil spring adjusters, I have no worry about speed breakers.

 

[Highway Ranger]

Just finished the 40k service @ Dakshin Honda, Hosur road, yesterday. Cost me Rs10000 odd. This included the Rs2000 odd for interior/upholstery cleaning, which I wanted done to clean up some water marks and some dirt from our Munnar trip.

Major works done for this service was the Trottle cleaning, Injector cleaning, Oil change (synthetic oil - adds up to the bill), Oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, AC cleaning and other normal stuff.

For City, every 20k service is a major service costing around 8k and other services cost around 4k.

Now, Honda has told me that the battery is not very healthy and have advised me to change it. 40K and it is still on the original battery. Previous experience with my Zen tells me to heed to the advice and change it. But I am pushing it off for a couple of months as there are no visual signs of a weak battery. Something tells me that I am making a wrong decision. One day soon I may have to push-start the car and drive straight for a battery change.

The car has been running without any problem for the last 15000 odd kilometers/one year. (that is what is expected of it anyway)

I also got 2 new tyres fixed as one of my tyres got a sidewall tear and had to be disposed. So instead of just replacing one tyre, I got 2 XM2 for the front. Need to check the noise and comfort factor during a long drive.

I also got the under-chassis coating done @ 3M today. 3.8k with 5 yrs warranty. Now I feel that I should have done the interior/upholstery cleaning also from them.

I will be having another long drive to attend a wedding in a couple of weeks time. Keeps the odometer spinning... Time flies... so does the kilometers...

This thread, most probably, will sleep for another 10K...

 

[Tornado]

Do you have battery jump cables then?

 

[Highway Ranger]

Do you have battery jump cables then?

Ha ha! No. But I plan to change the battery next month. Earlier, If have to push start.

 

[Mathew]

I also got the under-chassis coating done @ 3M today. 3.8k with 5 yrs warranty. Now I feel that I should have done the interior/upholstery cleaning also from them.

Coating by Spray Painting or Hand Brushing? How far it reached, only to exposed areas of wheel well or all throughout under body?

Warranty include any free scheduled inspections?

 

[Highway Ranger]

Coating by Spray Painting or Hand Brushing? How far it reached, only to exposed areas of wheel well or all throughout under body?

Warranty include any free scheduled inspections?

The coating was done by using a spray gun. The reach was pretty good. Covered the entire under body including the wheel well area.

Before the coating, they thoroughly cleaned the under body, inspected it and then after drying they sprayed the coating.

The warranty covers six or so free inspections.

I feel the road noise has reduced. I will be going on a long drive in a couple of weeks and will be able to test the road noise for sure then.