The Hindu Business Line : The new City goes to town

HONDA'S entry into India will always be remembered for the astute choice and timing of its product. The City may have been debuted a bit early for a market which was then in the early stages of maturity, but with clever packaging and technological superiority it quickly captured a lot of hearts.

Of all the earlier City variants, the most coveted was the VTEC. With its peppy, powerful engine and exclusive add-ons such as the twin exhausts, the VTEC was an aspirational car even for other sedan owners of that time.

But, unfortunately, Honda decided to drop the VTEC version from its portfolio, when it brought in the new variant of the City. Expectedly, this variant, with the much lower powered i-DSI engine, faced a lot of flak for what was termed a let down in the performance department. Many wondered why Honda could not have retained the old City and introduced the new one under a different name, as anyway the latter did not quite match up to the former's very likeable characteristics.

Honda had retained the City badging simply because of brand recall and reputation that the car had built up over the years.

However, despite what auto enthusiasts had to say to the contrary, the new City turned out to be the most focussed and practical car in the premium mid-size segment. Importantly, it was also the most fuel efficient in the segment, a trait that most sedan buyers appreciated then, and continue to. So, despite the criticism, the new City has grown to be the leader in the premium sedan segment and Honda has had the last laugh.

But somewhere in the back of our minds we were hoping that Honda would re-introduce the VTEC engine in the new City too.

After nearly two years since the launch of the new City and after we had almost given up hope, Honda has rolled out the new City ZX VTEC. Whatever it was — potential product fatigue, customer demand or competitive pressure — that drove Honda to bring back the famed, superior engine technology, the bottomline is VTEC enthusiasts will have a treat on their hands.

Recently, Honda Siel Cars India refreshed and upgraded the City's looks and interiors. The new City ZX (non-VTEC variant) continues to feature the i-DSI engine, but some of the difficult-to-like exterior design lines of the earlier variant have been reset to give the car a more well-proportioned and less cab-forward profile. Along with that change, the car has been launched for the more power hungry and less fuel-efficiency conscious customers.

The car is not the same old package in a new mould. There are a number of differences between the original and the new. The most obvious is the engine's character and performance. While the pre-2003 City VTEC version almost had an impatient, brawny and hungry-for-speed character, the new VTEC has a more measured, capable, and yet mature, disposition.

The new VTEC is more predictable and also less likely to leave the city-based driver frustrated with a hefty fuel bill. Honda has retuned the VTEC's performance characteristics to suit the kind of driving that it is likely to be put to most of the time — that is, in crawling traffic on crowded city roads. But, at the same time, all of the engine's 100 horses will be available to flog on the highway.

Essentially, what Honda has done is to endow the engine with the VTEC technology's performance benefits, but at the same time keep gear ratios, engine mapping and tuning at levels that can further aid the VTEC's inherent fuel-efficient performance. So, yes, the new VTEC may not have the kind of aggression that the older one was known for. But the new one will beat the old in fuel-efficiency; about 10 kmpl (in-city) for a performance-oriented sedan is no small number.

However, tuning the new City ZX VTEC for squeezing mileage out of it has meant that the raw, unbridled peak power of the car cannot be experienced. Floor the throttle in the new VTEC and there is a lull before the engine kicks in. But this mild sluggishness is only evident in the first two gears. Once the engine revs beyond the low band, the surge in power is far more linear and seems to be delivered in double-quick time.

The car surges forward and has enough juice in it even while in the overdrive gear slots. Floor the throttle while cruising at 100 kmph in the fifth gear and the rush forward will delight even the die-hard performance enthusiast.

The City ZX VTEC also has other exclusive features that distinguish it from its i-DSI twin, which include the front and rear fog lights, alloy wheels, chrome exhaust finisher, opti-tron instrument panel, 2-DIN music system, brushed aluminium panels for the centre console and chrome-plated knobs for the air-conditioner vents and glove box.

These features are in addition to the changes that have been made to the City ZX over the previous variant.

Overall, the new VTEC engine and the smooth shifting five-speed, Honda gearbox will still delight users who appreciate power and performance. Despite the mild lowering of performance characteristics, the buyer will find the fuel-efficiency bargain a pay-off in the long run.

We only wish that the car was priced more attractively. At Rs 8.16 lakh, the City ZX VTEC is Rs 1.25 lakh more than its i-DSI counterpart.

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