Thanks to you and city buyers, India has become one of the largest market for city. Within fortnight of City international debut in Thailand, Honda has brought the new city (third generation) to India. This entry level C-segment car is slowly becoming global and Honda plans to introduce this new city in european market too. The front end of the new city looks bold with a protruding three deck grille. Complementing the grille are the sharply styled headlamps and the muscular front bumper. The side blinkers are nicely placed near the headlamp cluster to give an integrated look. The sharp cuts and creases on the bonnet give it both a sporty and solid theme. The new city rides on 15-inch wheels but the narrow tyres does not blend with the overall appearance. Come to the rear, you would mistake the cars as BMW 3-series. It seem that Munich maker is not able to find enough lawyers. Anyway, the boot spoiler and stylish tail lamp cluster gives the new city upmarket look. Absence of any stronger shoulder line makes the new city to look shorter than actually it is Overall styling is more Asian than Japanese or European.
Honda knows that the competitor for the new city is not just SX4 but also soon to be launched Fiat linea and Toyota Yaris. Under the hood of the new city is the new 1.5L i-VTEC engine churning out 118PS of peak power at 6600rpm making it most powerful in its class. Honda claims that the new engine would deliver class leading performance without any sacrifice in mileage.
The underpinning of the new city are independent Mcpherson strut at the front and Non Independent torison beam at the rear. All the wheels gets disc brakes and the kerb weight of new city is 1085kg. Boot space stood at voluminous 506 litres even greater than the higher segment corolla altis. The new electric power steering is expected to alleviate the dullness of hydraulic steering of the previous gen city. The new city borrows interior styling cues from bigger sibling civic. The three spoke steering wheel now features audio controls and automatic variant feature paddle shift behind it. An advanced Audio system (but no CD player the choice is yours) which has iPod compatibility, MP3 usability, USB memory and also cell phone compatibility.
Interestingly Honda has packed the new city with a host of safety features – ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System) with Brake Assist (BA), Dual SRS airbags, pre-tensioner seat belts and G-CON (G-Force Control Technology) body with a crush-proof survival zone.
The new city comes in three variants and comes in the price band of Rs 7.7 lakh and Rs 8.9 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Seems like Honda has a winner in its hands but you have to wait till November first week to drive this beauty.
For pictures of new Honda city visit