Luhit – Blog Archive : Honda City – Didn’t bother for a test drive

I did flirt with the idea of buying City for two reasons 1. It is a Honda Car 2. The great milage everyone talks of. As I looked at the specs, it just had 77 bhp. On a highway I would have struggled more then I did with my current Santro. There is nothing much to say about the City?s looks.

About a year back, the Honda City did not have much appeal for me. Agreed, this car gave a great millage, but what about the pleasure of driving ( whatever it means on a Bangalore street 🙂 ).I think Honda India has received a lot of feedback from people like me. Some six months back they launched a new variant of the City – the Honda city ZX. It has a VTEC engine that pumps 100 bhp. The extra 23 bhp gives the car the much needed pep feel. Honda still continues to sell the frugal 77 bhp variant.Now, why did Honda launch the ZX. Well, last six months has seen some high profile launches in this segment. First, Ford launched the Fiesta, then Chevrolet launched the Aveo. Both of these cars competes with Honda City. Even, Hyundai is about to launch a new car in this category.Since its launch, the Honda City has been a best seller in it’s segment. But, now it remains to be seen of the City can protect it’s turf with competition from Ford, Chevrolet and Hyundai hot on it’s trail.

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Finally got the Elantra today. Went to the Advaith at about 5.30 pm. The registration number had not yet arrived, so waited till 6.30 pm. Meanwhile Jonali aslo arrived. While we waited we had samosa and coffee at Coffee Day which was right behind the Advaith showroom.

There was a poojari available at the showroom. He performed pooja on the new car.

By 6.45 I was behind the wheel of my new Elantra and drivng home……………..

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When I bought my first car, I was in California. Corolla was one car I was condidering for buying. Corolla in US is an entry level car staring at $13K. In India this is luxury !!! So Corolla is a n obvious choice for me now. Now a days on Bangalore streets Corolla has become as common as a Maruti Esteem 🙂

I contacted Ravindu Toyota. They promised to bring a Corolla for test drive. I waited for two weeks, they called me a couple of times asking when to bring to car. But they never showed up.

I read some reviews on MouthShut.com on Ravindu Toyota, Bangalore. The user feedback was very bad.

Corolla did not have ABS or TCS. It appeared to be a solid car. The price was also beyond my max budget of INR 10 lakhs. The dealer also did not show for a test drive as promised. I started feeling that this is not value for money.

I took Corolla out of my list !! With Honda City out, it leaves me Elantra and Optra.

– Manas Kamal Bhattacharya

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The new Honda City is like a hot cake on Indian Roads. This car is everywhere.I did flirt with the idea of buying City for two reasons

1. It is a Honda Car
2. The great milage everyone talks of.

As I looked at the specs, it just had 77 bhp. On a highway I would have struggled more then I did with my current Santro. There is nothing much to say about the City’s looks.My collegue at work is has been waiting 3 weeks now for his Honda City GXI, he has no clue when it is going to be delivered.Okay !! No point even going for a test drive.

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I drove the car for 3 hours today. I drove it on mud roads, on highway and through the traffic jam at Airport Road. Great car to drive. The sales guy from Sundaram Motors was very helpful and ready t answer all my querries.

Looks wise, this is the best among all the 4 cars I have shortlisted. The interiors is not a good as the outside. The two tone finish was a little flashy. However it had a lot of storage space and cabinets inside.

I drove the the 1.6 LT version, that has 104 bhp with a 1.6 l engine.

The problem is that it also did not have ABS on the 1.6 LT. The 1.8 version had a ABS, but was priced wel above a corolla. The dealer was willing to give only a small discount. The price they quoyed was only a little less then a Hyunday Elantra GT. On paper Elantra had much more features then the Optra.

Also, I have lived in US long enough to know what Chevrolet means for quality.

At the moment the scales are going much against the Optra.

– Manas Kamal Bhattacharya

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