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We’ve had a Hyundai Getz 1.3L for the past 6+ years. We love the performance of the Getz especially its super smooth gears. We were now in search of a second car preferably a C2 segment sedan.
After owning a Korean make Getz 1.3L with which we are very pleased, we wanted to look at some different brand. One thing was sure; we wanted a Japanese make this time. Somehow the German Volkswagen Vento, even though a very strong contender, was not in my radar. The Hyundai Verna is a good sedan but we did not want another Hyundai, hence we never even took a test drive of the Verna. So the typical choices we had were Toyota, Honda, Maruti & Nissan in around the 10L range. Somehow right from the start we were more inclined towards a Toyota or a Honda, but we anyways decided to test drive the other Jap cars available.
Test Drive:
It was summer of 2012 when we started our test drive tour. Since we were not in any particular hurry, we test drove the Toyota Etios, Honda City, Maruti Ertiga (yes, not a sedan class, but was newly launched, so we thought we’d test drive it) and the Nissan Sunny. At this point we were not decided if we wanted a diesel or a petrol car. With around 800 – 1000 kms per month typical running, either was good enough.
To be honest, all the cars we test drove were good – probably all new cars being test driven feel ‘good’. It was becoming hard to decide.
The Ertiga was spacious and rode well. The feel was nice, in fact we liked the drive but we were just not sure if we wanted a Maruti…somehow the build qualities of a Maruti, we felt were a notch lower than then a Honda or a Toyota. Of course Maruti with its reasonable pricing, low maintenance costs & lows spares cost has great sales figures, but still we were not too convinced.
The Toyota Etios was spacious and rode well. However, the interiors were average. I just could not understand why the Etios had only 1 reverse parking light, single wiper, single horn, no rubber beading on doors, trunk interior & engine bonnet were pretty light weight with no proper insulation. The things we liked were, it had spacious interiors, plenty of leg room for the back seat and had a large trunk. It also had an air cooled glove compartment which was pretty big. Overall it seemed good and perhaps will be a good buy for some. I read in forums that many Etios owners are really happy with the ride quality & low service cost. But for us, somehow the overall package did not seem like a ‘true Toyota’. Somehow, we got the feeling that for Indian customers, Toyota had compromised on the Etios on many fronts.
The Nissan Sunny was a very strong contender. The car was spacious and really good if it were going to be chauffeur driven. For a car which was going to be self-driven by me, the Sunny somehow felt a few points lower than the Honda City, which has a peppy & refined i-vtec engine and a classy interior. The Nissan Sunny’s grey interiors and the round knobs & round air vents were not very appealing to us. The plushness was somehow missing. This coupled with the fact that many on different forums had concerns about Nissan dealer attitudes and not many dealers nationwide was something we also considered. However, had we gone in for a Nissan Sunny it probably may have been a diesel variant. But with 1+L premium for a diesel variant and no discounts / offers at the time, it seemed high.
The Honda City, we test drove 3 to 4 times. Each time we took a test drive of the Honda, the smoothness and responsiveness of the proven sweet i-vtec engine impressed us. The sheer comfort and the overall interiors of the Honda City was something we really liked. It just felt ‘royal’ somehow, driving the Honda City. The cruise control feature was something that I really liked which was missing in all other sedans we test drove. The stock audio system with 6 speakers (including 2 tweeters) gives an amazing sound. The blue dashboard lights also looked very nice. The roar & the power of the 1.5L i-vtec engine was great on clear stretches. The acceleration was very smooth and the passengers in the back seat had enough leg room. The under thigh support also felt adequate in the back seat. The dual horn also sounded nice. The suspension felt nice and the best thing was we test drove on some pretty rough roads and went over some large speed-breakers, but the car never bottomed out. Honda engineers have certainly improved on the ground clearance of the all new Honda City.
Finally, with the Honda City, we felt that HONDA had not compromised on any safety features, bells & whistles, the general looks & build quality for the Indian customers (when compared broadly to a Honda City sold in South East Asia) unlike Toyota’s Etios. All these factors certainly were driving us in favor of the Honda City.
Decision:
Since at the start of the test drive, since we were anyways trending towards a Honda or a Toyota, the decision was almost a given. The Toyota stable did not have anything equivalent in the C2 sedan segment. The Corolla (D segment) was nice but over budget, the Etios (C1 segment) just did not feel like a ‘Toyota’ in its interiors and general build quality.
So the decision was straight forward, Honda City was checking all our requirements and overall had a ‘feel good’ factor. We did pause, before finally deciding, to re-consider the Nissan Sunny Dci. Again, the Nissan Sunny was nice and spacious but somehow did not feel it was in the same ‘class’ (looks, interior features, driving comfort etc.) as the Honda City.
The more we thought, the more we were convinced that the Honda City was a better overall package even though it was more costly compared to the Nissan Sunny. This coupled with forum discussions & talks with some of my friends who own a Honda City, all were saying the same thing that Honda City is a real pleasure to drive with relatively low service cost. Of course, the 2012 Honda City looks very cool too, with it arrow shaped design.
With the final decision made, we booked the 2012 Carnelian Red Pearl, Honda City VMT. We got the car delivery within 10 days. It has been about 7+ months since we became the proud owners of the 2012 Honda City VMT. I must say that, we are very happy with the Honda City’s performance. The proven and time tested HONDA i-vtec engine is extremely quite & really smooth. So far we have been getting a decent mileage of about 13-14 kmpl in the City and around 17+ kmpl on the highways. There is no engine sound in the cabin, in traffic or at a stop light; I need to look at the RPM meter to ensure the engine is running. In all, we feel that the Honda City is a great package and worth the additional premium that Honda demands in terms of price. I will continue to add to this, in my subsequent updates.
We’ve had a Hyundai Getz 1.3L for the past 6+ years. We love the performance of the Getz especially its super smooth gears. We were now in search of a second car preferably a C2 segment sedan.
After owning a Korean make Getz 1.3L with which we are very pleased, we wanted to look at some different brand. One thing was sure; we wanted a Japanese make this time. Somehow the German Volkswagen Vento, even though a very strong contender, was not in my radar. The Hyundai Verna is a good sedan but we did not want another Hyundai, hence we never even took a test drive of the Verna. So the typical choices we had were Toyota, Honda, Maruti & Nissan in around the 10L range. Somehow right from the start we were more inclined towards a Toyota or a Honda, but we anyways decided to test drive the other Jap cars available.
Test Drive:
It was summer of 2012 when we started our test drive tour. Since we were not in any particular hurry, we test drove the Toyota Etios, Honda City, Maruti Ertiga (yes, not a sedan class, but was newly launched, so we thought we’d test drive it) and the Nissan Sunny. At this point we were not decided if we wanted a diesel or a petrol car. With around 800 – 1000 kms per month typical running, either was good enough.
To be honest, all the cars we test drove were good – probably all new cars being test driven feel ‘good’. It was becoming hard to decide.
The Ertiga was spacious and rode well. The feel was nice, in fact we liked the drive but we were just not sure if we wanted a Maruti…somehow the build qualities of a Maruti, we felt were a notch lower than then a Honda or a Toyota. Of course Maruti with its reasonable pricing, low maintenance costs & lows spares cost has great sales figures, but still we were not too convinced.
The Toyota Etios was spacious and rode well. However, the interiors were average. I just could not understand why the Etios had only 1 reverse parking light, single wiper, single horn, no rubber beading on doors, trunk interior & engine bonnet were pretty light weight with no proper insulation. The things we liked were, it had spacious interiors, plenty of leg room for the back seat and had a large trunk. It also had an air cooled glove compartment which was pretty big. Overall it seemed good and perhaps will be a good buy for some. I read in forums that many Etios owners are really happy with the ride quality & low service cost. But for us, somehow the overall package did not seem like a ‘true Toyota’. Somehow, we got the feeling that for Indian customers, Toyota had compromised on the Etios on many fronts.
The Nissan Sunny was a very strong contender. The car was spacious and really good if it were going to be chauffeur driven. For a car which was going to be self-driven by me, the Sunny somehow felt a few points lower than the Honda City, which has a peppy & refined i-vtec engine and a classy interior. The Nissan Sunny’s grey interiors and the round knobs & round air vents were not very appealing to us. The plushness was somehow missing. This coupled with the fact that many on different forums had concerns about Nissan dealer attitudes and not many dealers nationwide was something we also considered. However, had we gone in for a Nissan Sunny it probably may have been a diesel variant. But with 1+L premium for a diesel variant and no discounts / offers at the time, it seemed high.
The Honda City, we test drove 3 to 4 times. Each time we took a test drive of the Honda, the smoothness and responsiveness of the proven sweet i-vtec engine impressed us. The sheer comfort and the overall interiors of the Honda City was something we really liked. It just felt ‘royal’ somehow, driving the Honda City. The cruise control feature was something that I really liked which was missing in all other sedans we test drove. The stock audio system with 6 speakers (including 2 tweeters) gives an amazing sound. The blue dashboard lights also looked very nice. The roar & the power of the 1.5L i-vtec engine was great on clear stretches. The acceleration was very smooth and the passengers in the back seat had enough leg room. The under thigh support also felt adequate in the back seat. The dual horn also sounded nice. The suspension felt nice and the best thing was we test drove on some pretty rough roads and went over some large speed-breakers, but the car never bottomed out. Honda engineers have certainly improved on the ground clearance of the all new Honda City.
Finally, with the Honda City, we felt that HONDA had not compromised on any safety features, bells & whistles, the general looks & build quality for the Indian customers (when compared broadly to a Honda City sold in South East Asia) unlike Toyota’s Etios. All these factors certainly were driving us in favor of the Honda City.
Decision:
Since at the start of the test drive, since we were anyways trending towards a Honda or a Toyota, the decision was almost a given. The Toyota stable did not have anything equivalent in the C2 sedan segment. The Corolla (D segment) was nice but over budget, the Etios (C1 segment) just did not feel like a ‘Toyota’ in its interiors and general build quality.
So the decision was straight forward, Honda City was checking all our requirements and overall had a ‘feel good’ factor. We did pause, before finally deciding, to re-consider the Nissan Sunny Dci. Again, the Nissan Sunny was nice and spacious but somehow did not feel it was in the same ‘class’ (looks, interior features, driving comfort etc.) as the Honda City.
The more we thought, the more we were convinced that the Honda City was a better overall package even though it was more costly compared to the Nissan Sunny. This coupled with forum discussions & talks with some of my friends who own a Honda City, all were saying the same thing that Honda City is a real pleasure to drive with relatively low service cost. Of course, the 2012 Honda City looks very cool too, with it arrow shaped design.
With the final decision made, we booked the 2012 Carnelian Red Pearl, Honda City VMT. We got the car delivery within 10 days. It has been about 7+ months since we became the proud owners of the 2012 Honda City VMT. I must say that, we are very happy with the Honda City’s performance. The proven and time tested HONDA i-vtec engine is extremely quite & really smooth. So far we have been getting a decent mileage of about 13-14 kmpl in the City and around 17+ kmpl on the highways. There is no engine sound in the cabin, in traffic or at a stop light; I need to look at the RPM meter to ensure the engine is running. In all, we feel that the Honda City is a great package and worth the additional premium that Honda demands in terms of price. I will continue to add to this, in my subsequent updates.
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do post some interior pictures as we all will love to see them. city's headlights are one of my favourite headlights in sedans. ![[lol]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Laugh.gif "Laugh [lol]")
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