New honda city facelift 2017 review

Honda City
The 2017 Facelift:

Advantage:

1. Practical diesel, fast petrol and convenient CVT. Take your pick
2. Big 510 liter boot will swallow your airport & holiday luggage
3. Light controls, slick gearshift and easy maneuverability for the city. Effortless to drive
  Extremely spacious cabin. Loads of sensible touches make it easy to live with
4. Diesel & Petrol, both, have segment-topping ARAI fuel efficiency ratings
5. Loaded with equipment (sunroof, feather-touch climate control, keyless entry & go, rear air-con, reversing camera)

Disadvantage:

1. Light build quality. Lacks the sheer solidity of its European rivals
2. Electric steering remains light & sensitive at high speed. No feedback either 
3. Front looks like a mere facelift. Boring alloy wheel design & skinny 175 mm tyres too
4. Same diesel as the Amaze. Outright performance & refinement levels are lower than the Verna, Vento & Rapid 
5. 6 footers will find rear headroom to be in short supply
6. Some features missing (proper dead pedal, folding rear seat, height-adjustable seatbelts, boot lid cladding)

Review:

 In total, Honda has sold about 4.3 lakh Citys in India. The car has been at the top of the segment charts for most of the 15 year run. That's quite an achievement, considering it's petrol-only engine range. In the last 2 years though, steady petrol price hikes and the competent new Hyundai Verna resulted in Honda losing the no.1 position of the C2 segment. Petrol motors are no longer going to single-handedly make the cut, and the competition (especially Hyundai) has raised the bar in terms of styling & equipment. 

From the current crop of C2 petrol sedans, the outgoing City is still a competent product. Rumour has it that Honda ran out of stocks (of the old City) earlier than anticipated. Hence, it had to pull the 4th-gen's unveiling date closer. Plus, there is no other big launch happening right now. This was probably a better time to bring the City in, than the '14 Auto Expo where it would have to fight for eyeballs with innumerable other unveilings. 

Not only was this 4th generation City unveiled first in India, but we will also get deliveries before anyone else. No surprise because India surpassed Thailand as the City's biggest market. The new City's face might look similar to the car it replaces; make no mistakes though, it's an all new generation. The 2014 City shares its platform with the new Jazz (due for an India launch in 2014). Unlike the Jazz however, the City is specific to developing countries (primarily south-east Asia) and isn't sold in markets such as USA, Japan, UK etc. 

Compared to the 3rd-gen, the new car runs the same length & width, is 10 mm taller and gets a wheelbase increment of 50 mm. Where the last 3 generations were completely different from the model they were replacing, the new City is merely an evolution. This conservative approach is similar to how Maruti handled the new Swift, and Toyota the Corolla Altis. The City nameplate enjoys tremendous brand equity in India. With the risky conditions of today, why fix something that isn't broken? Honda has definitely become risk averse in recent times