Honda City VTi auto 2009 Review

Honda City VTi auto

Road Test

Honda has exhumed the City name and applied it to a car taking nothing from the tiny hatch that wore it in the early-mid 1980s. This time, the City is a compact four-door designed to plug the gap between the Jazz hatch and the Civic.

It is essentially a Jazz with a boot, although Honda has gone to some lengths to differentiate the two.  It looks an altogether different car -- sharper edged, less feminine.

Unlike the Jazz, however, the City offers no choice of engine, coming only with the larger 88kW 1.5-litre unit. Like most Hondas, its by-wire throttle needs a bit of a poke to reach its peak 145Nm, which turns up at 4800 revs. That's well within reach -- Honda fours are made to spin fast.

Not that the average City owner would do that too often. The City is set up with a decided emphasis on economy -- in ways good and not so good.

On the useful side is a strip gauge giving you an instantaneous L/100km fuel consumption readout -- one of those touches that helps justify the considerable premium it commands over competitors like the Toyota Yaris and Holden Barina.

These little windows into engine drinking patterns are a great way to keep drivers alert to the way they're driving. There's a certain video-game enjoyment in challenging oneself. The gauge zizzes off past 20 when you're taking off; once you've hit 60km/h on a flat, though, it's remarkably painless keeping it well below 10, often closer to five.

This activity is helped by a relatively tall top gear in the five-speed auto box which sees 80km/h come up at just 1500rpm and freeway speeds at around 2000 -- low for an engine of this size.

Predictably, when the topography steepens up, the gears go down pretty hastily. But the middle cog has the flexibility to put the limited torque available to good use.

This makes it worth keeping an eye on the auto gear indicator -- it's easy to unwittingly pull the shift through the D setting into the midrange D3 thereby locking out the two top cogs. And in suburban traffic with the radio on, it's not thrashing obviously enough to notice immediately.

The not so attractive side of the economy equation is in the built-to-a-price interior elements. There's plenty of hard, bangy plastic, which is rather at odds with Honda's reputation for tactile appeal. But this is entry-level product and hard, bangy plastic's the way these days -- it's there in big name Europeans costing lots more than this one. And it's still well put together by the standards of its sector.

Climb in and you find yourself before a decidedly conservative dash layout. It shares nothing of the Jazz's busy toyland aesthetic.

The seats are comfortable front and rear for well-portioned grown-ups, and even on this base model you get plenty of 'stuff' for your money: electric windows and mirrors all round, remote central locking, cruise plus a decent audio system with a single CD in the dash and inputs for iPod and USB players secreted in a small ashtray-like nook on the console below. There are also cruise and audio controls on the wheel.

A commendable approach to safety arms every City with six airbags (driver, front passenger, side and full length curtains), front seatbelt pretensioners with double-load force limiters in front, five head restraints and anchor points for three child seats.

Notably absent is stability control. It's not even an option, and Honda has told the Carsales Network it won't be here on the City or Jazz for two years. Partial compensation comes in the inclusion of electronic brake distribution to supplement the ABS.

Overall, the City's safety package is in keeping with its price point at the upper end of its sector.

The front seats sit high -- even at its lowest setting, the height adjustable driver's side might take a little getting used to for those who no longer need a high-chair at the dinner table. But the driving position and ergonomics are well sorted and that front seat elevation works to the benefit of rear passenger feet without encroaching on headroom.

Forward and side vision are great; rearward is fine too, in spite of the high waistline at the C-pillar.

The door pockets are useful, but you don't need much more than a wallet and a pair of sunnies before you start looking around for a bit more knick-knack storage.

One of Honda's consistent strengths is interior space; almost always to the benefit of rear seat passengers. The City's interior volume, abundant headroom and class-leading rear leg room make it a thoroughly pleasant day-to-day proposition. Four adults on board around a twisting, hilly suburban back route have the engine complaining louder than the occupants.

That roominess extends to the front and back boxes as well. At the thick end of the wedge is an enormous boot -- a near-match for cars a couple of classes bigger. The opening isn't that big and it has to suck its cheeks in a bit to accommodate the suspension pillars, but it's quite an achievement for a car of the City's exterior dimensions. And in case it's not enough, there's a 60:40 splitfold rear seat as well.
And beneath its floor -- behold! -- a full-size spare.

At the wheel, the car feels a little heavier than the Jazz. The Macpherson strut front and torsion bar rear suspension keep it reasonably well planted with a ride that's firm but comfortable on surfaces this side of extreme.

That said, it struggles less than most cars at this end of the market to keep the road noise out. Rough tar might get annoying on an extended trip, but that's the case in any model in this sector. When you're in a hurry, the engine can be intrusive through the low gears.

If the City's pricing brings it uncomfortably close to the entry-end Civics, that's explained by better equipment levels offsetting the disparity in size.

While the Jazz is more clearly aimed at younger women, the City brings a more masculine look to Honda's youth offering. It's also ideal fare for retired folk looking for something that's well appointed, easy to manoeuvre around the parking lot and capable of carrying a couple of adults in the rear.

Oh, and if you are such a buyer and perhaps given to a little confusion around technology and newfangled devices, let me save you the frustration and phone calls involved in working out how to open the petrol filler cover for the first time. It locks and unlocks with the car, and you press it in to click it open.