We have been constantly reporting about the all-new 2014 Honda City, ever since the first news broke-out. Yesterday, Honda India has officially launched the much awaited fourth-generation Honda City sedan with a price ranging from Rs 8.62 lakh to Rs 11.1 lakh for the diesel variant, while petrol versions are priced between Rs 7.42 lakh and Rs 10.98 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The all-new City is expected to regain its position at the top of the segment soon, which it lost to the Hyundai Verna and the company has already discontinued the third-generation model of the City sedan in November-2013.
Honda India had launched the first-generation Honda City in India in 1998 and has so far sold 4.3 lakh units of the car. The 2nd and 3rd generation were launched in November-2003 and September-2008 respectively, but City was losing its initial charm due to an increasing competition from other brands, hiking of petrol prices which marked an extraordinary need for a diesel variant which was missing in City and growing old features of this sedan as compared to the other new machines. Thus, it is a great move by Honda to retain their dominion over a segment that they hold so preciously for a decade.
Coming back to the fourth-generation City, it is based on the same platform as 2014 Jazz hatch and Vezel SUV and follows Honda’s H Design Concept (Human Centric Design Element). It has got the sleek cross-motion exterior styling which includes a familiar arrow-head shape of the front sill, chrome accentuated prominent front grille, chromed outside door handles, a low front face, stylish front bonnet, a sharply extended body colored front bumper with an aggressive air scoop surrounded by sporty trapezoidal housings for round fog lamps, sharp twin-barrel headlamps and a solid wing face.
Other noticeable exterior changes include a new 15-inch alloy wheels with tubeless radial tires, body colored ORVMs with integrated turn signals, shark fin antenna at rear, a stylish sunroof, both sides having the strong character lines, rear tail lamps extending into the boot lid and dynamic rear fenders showing a much wider stance. The new Honda City shares virtually the same overall exterior dimensions as its predecessor, however, it has a wheelbase longer by 50 mm stands 10 mm taller. Inside, the car has gained 40 mm, 60 mm and 70 mm of shoulder room, leg room and knee room, respectively.
Packaging is the big attractiveness of the new City. The interior of 2014 City follows Honda’s man maximum machine minimum concept which aims to maximize the space available for passengers while minimizing the space available for machine parts. It has also included a lot of praiseworthy features to turn the driving experience into a dream come true. The new City offers one class above rear legroom, superior head clearance & knee room inside cabin and offers a class leading boot space of 510 litres. Honda has also given the new car a higher quality cabin, with a lot of premium design features too.
This includes a high-quality usage of plastics, flat floor, Piano Black finished instrument panel, dashboard with sturdy air vents, a large and high-tech multifunctional 5.0-inch LCD touchscreen with in-built hands-free telephony and air-con controls, one push smart entry system, Honda smart key with proximity sensing, a chunky steering wheel with audio and Bluetooth controls and mesh finishing on one of the spokes, a leather-clad gear lever and a high dashboard cowl. They’ve also packed the car with many features including air quality control, steering mounted controls, parking sensors, engine start/stop function and many more features. All in all, the City is a good overall package.
New 2014 Honda City comes equipped with first-in-segment auto AC with touchscreen control panel, advanced integrated audio with 8 speakers and 5” screen, one push engine Start/Stop button with Honda Smart Key System, steering wheel with buttons for cruise control, audio and hands-free control, rear A/C vents, rear parking camera with multiple views, a 3-pod instrument panel with digital analogue combination meter having tachometer with gear shift indicator at left, an analogue speedometer at center and a multi-information display featuring a clock, fuel gauge, temperature and cruising range.
As far as safety is concerned, the new Honda City gets disk brakes at front while drum brakes at rear wheels. The suspension system consists of a new MacPherson strut at front and new H-shaped twist beam at rear. The 2014 City features host of features Honda’s active and passive safety technologies including Pedestrian injury mitigation technology, dual SRS airbags, rear parking sensors with camera, keyless entry system, fog lights at front, ABS with EBD, and seat belts for every passenger. The ABS with EBD is being offered as standard across all Diesel and Petrol CVT variants.
Click here to read about the technical specifications.
(Special thanks to Mr. S. Jacob, Peninsular Honda authorised dealer for Honda Cars India, Kottara, Mangalore.)
Also see – New Honda City Price Announced
See more pictures of New 2014 Honda City –
