The Crusader: New Member in the Family, the 4th Gen Honda City!


Thread Starter #1
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
147
Likes
105
Location
Kanpur
WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE VERY LONG. I RECOMMEND ORDERING A DOMINOES PIZZA WHICH SHALL ARRIVE BEFORE YOU FINISH READING THIS!!

20140727_134834 - Copy.jpg

Hello fellow TAIgers,

A car in my family is not just to take us from point A to point B, each and every day whenever it rolls out of the garage, it is driven with passion, love and care. This very much explains that why we have celebrated the birthday of our Daewoo Matiz all these 14 years. The Matiz has been very reliable and gotten us through pure SUV territories numerous times. On a continuous stretch, my father has driven it for 10 hours many times when we used to live in NTPC Rihand Colony in sonebhadra district and used to go to Kanpur. The roads en-route, the less spoken the better! So, now after 14 years, we needed a new vehicle as the Matiz was showing its age, problems in servicing and maintaining it as well as due to frequent small problems. Moreover, some crucial exams of my brother were coming up and so a new, bigger, reliable vehicle was necessary. We went on to look for our perfect vehicle which took almost 5 months of decision making.

The Contenders :
We had a budget maxing out at 10-10.5OTR. 10 was a stretch and 10.5 was an even higher stretch. My father loves driving but on the other hand never accepts it, but give him a good set of wheels and watch him zooming past the traffic! Thus, he said to us, the less expenditure the better which we took with a pinch of salt! :biggrin:
Thus the contenders were -

  • Hyundai Verna
  • Fiat Linea T-jet
  • Renault Duster
  • Honda Amaze
  • Ford Ecosport
  • 4th gen. Honda City
  • Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
  • Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire
  • Hyundai Xcent
  • Nissan Sunny/Renault Scala
REQUIREMENTS:

Well, on seeing the contenders, most of you must be thinking how can we compare cars amongst segments? Well, we being a typical Indian family wanted to explore all the options available and see which one is the most appropriate one. Before writing the requirements, I must tell that my brother wanted the terrano(way out of budget) and so Duster because they have good ground clearance and come with go anywhere assurance. My Mother has had the Honda City as her favourite while my sister also wanted a SUV but in sedans, her favourite was The Hyundai Verna. Now coming to me, I as totally fallen for the Honda City but seeing the state of roads here, thought that the Ecosport or Duster should be it. As far as my father is concerned, all the above options in contenders list are present because of him or else it would have been a straight City vs Verna vs Duster vs Ecosport. Now, without blabbering any more, the requirements were -

  • High Ground Clearance to face the pot-hole laden roads here(though work is going on to road smooth tarmac). - put forward by my brother.
  • A good looking vehicle that commands respect - by my mother and me.
  • Coming with all possible gizmos - by me
  • Should have ABS, EBD and at least two airbags - by me though everyone else was okay without these saying that in all these years our Matiz has fared well without any safety feature and all.. [frustration]
  • Should be able to seat 3 at the rear comfortably ( we are a family of 5 though it is rarely that all the 5 are present at home simultaneously)
  • A Petrol engine with manual gearbox and good mileage, we did not want to spend on an auto tranny since my father was ok with manual. Our running is very less. Our 14 year old Matiz has only ran 84000 kms and now we are near to our native place so running is going to be more less.

DECISION MAKING:

Now, the concept of Compact sedans just goes over me. I cannot bear their looks(no offense meant to owners - just personal opinion) and so was against any of the compact sedan.

In our colony, Nissan had put up its camp where the Terrano XL and Sunny XV were present for test drive. We test drove both. My mother did not like the Sunny one bit. Somehow, the headroom was not adequate and the whole time we were in the car, both me and my mother felt suffocating at the rear. Though it had almost every feature but then the grey interior theme did not give sense of luxury and the engines were nothing extraordinary. On the other hand, the Terrano won the heart of everyone. The space at the rear is top class. The rear legroom is short but once you get seated seats are comfortable and rear seat is very wide. But the Terrano was going way over our budget.

Now, we live in a sub-urban place, the nearest cities being Allahabad, Lucknow and Kanpur with allahabad the nearest. Moreover, we frequently go to Allahabad for dropping of my sister at the Railway Station. Now, our town has Ford, Maruti, Hyundai,TATA dealerships and so Ecosport was checked out first. We visited the dealer three times, once with me, seocnd time with me and sister and third time with brother. Everyone liked it. At the showroom, it looked quite big, features were awesome, good build quality and adequate ground clearance. But the dealer was trying to convince us for a diesel version(this is during May 2014) and was promising delivery within a month but was not able to provide a Petrol model. Moreover, the test drive was not pleasing. Ecosport has a harsh ride and space at rear is strictly for two adults and one child. My father, brother and mother felt very claustrophobic at the rear (infact, it felt as if they were sitting in a new Matiz!!). However, the situation at the front is completely reverse, ride quality upfront is good and space as well. the price hikes made matter worse and it could not justify its 10l+ tag to us. On the road, it looks quite small and so was ruled out.

The only other car with good ground clearance was Renault Duster. On a trip to Allahabad with me and my sister we checked the Duster. The dealership experience was fine though they took sometime to arrange a test-drive. The SA went with us in a new Duster and to show its SUV characteristics, he drove with the left side below the road. Ride quality was awesome. It was roomy and since we liked the terrano everyone liked the Duster as well except my mother. She did not like the looks. Moreover, my Sister felt as if the plastic quality everywhere was a bit cheap. It had necessary features though some like climate control were missing. On talking with the dealer, he advised us to go for the diesel and was ready to provide immediate delivery but was refraining from the petrol model. He told us it gives very poor mileage and they had sold very less petrols etc. But the deal breaker was the fact that the Petrol Rxl had no safety feature and diesel Rxl had it as an option. But the diesel was way over the budget and keeping in mind the running, it did not make any sense to go for the diesel. Though the Dealer tried to tempt us with providing free insurance on the diesel variant still it was stretch for us. Moreover, my mother was against the Duster and slowly my sister as well became neutral. For many days, the possibility of duster was discussed and eventually it was ruled out.

All the SUVs' were ruled out. The next vehicle with good GC was Linea T-jet. My father liked it very much on seeing the GC and big wheels and fat tires on the brochure and seeing many reviews. But the Linea gave very poor mileage and its service centre was only in Lucknow, there was a showroom in Kanpur but Fiat India website showed no service center there. Hence, it was ruled out mainly because of service center issue as we have faced a lot of problem servicing the Matiz and with very less holidays, it was not possible for my father to take a leave specifically for servicing the car.

Now we visited the Hyundai Dealership to test-drive the verna for a total of 3 times. Alas, there was no test drive model available. Each time the SA would say that he will come the car to our home but would never come. Still we checked out the Verna being neutral with the dealer. My sister was the happiest person in the showroom. Well, the white colour SX top model did look hot! It was the rear seat under thigh support and high window line that put us off. Moreover, when spending 10l+, it made sense to go for the City. And the SA was not knowing anything about the car. For any query, he would look in the brochure and tell, I think he learned more thing about the car by me than he did in his career. Later we came to know that he was knew to Hyundai, earlier worked in MS. Then the 4th time, when we one day were considering the Xcent, the SA called and we told him about being interested in Xcent. He brought over a red color top model. There was nothing wrong with the car and at its price point it was way cheaper than the cars we were considering. However, compact sedans just go over me and there were many heated arguments after which it was decided to rule our the Xcent.

Then, on day my father and mother along with my brother went to Lucknow for some work and test drove the Honda Amaze and City at Stallion Honda. The same thing, everyone was okay with Amaze except me. My sister said that if it was not verna then it didn't matter which car we buy. The size of Xcent and Amaze was just right and the bonnet was also about the size of our Matiz so my brother and father felt at home test-driving them but they felt City a bit too big. The feeling became more felt since they were driving it in a congested area. When my mother and father called I said a straight no for the Amaze. As a result it was decided that the City should be booked, over the phone. On my insistence, Crystal Black Pearl City V i-vtec was booked on 23rd June with Stallion Honda, Lucknow and my father told them that he needs the car on 27th July, not one day before and not one day after. It was some auspicious day.

Now, you all must be feeling that the City was booked so easily even though it has its own shortcomings. Now City ticked most of our requirements except the GC one. Moreover, when my sister saw it, she also liked it very much. It was a default choice in the family, my father too liked it from the very beginning but just wanted to explore other options. Also, the City enjoys a big fan following in India and commands a symbol of status and respect on the roads. Hence, it was decides so.

By the way, i left out Swift Dzire and Ertiga. Eritga was rejected for its MPV design immediately by my mother and sister and me as well. As far as Swift Dzire is concerned, my father found the drive seat very low even at max setting and did not feel comfortable at all and so did not even take a test-drive. In the showroom, a SX4 on display was offered by the SA for a flat 2lac discount. The high GC, big wheels and the Maruti badge immediately tempted my father (this showroom visit was done before visiting Stallion Honda on the same day) and they called me. I to save my City, told my mother that it was soon going to be discontinued and she said a straight no for the SX4 since we have already faced a lot of problems with Daewoo closing its operations.

Readers do post comments and rate the thread, also scopes for improvement!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thread Starter #2
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
147
Likes
105
Location
Kanpur
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

THE TRANSITION TIME BETWEEN DELIVERY AND BOOKING:

When everyone reached home, nobody was in the favour of the Black. My mother gave some spiritual reasons, father giving less visibility in night and brother wanted a white as he had seen a white in the showroom and it looked gorgeous. My sister wanted red. My father called the SA and told him that get us a red or a white on 27th July. I was sad [cry] but then was happy that at least we were buying my favourite car. in second week of July, my father called the SA to enquire about the status of our car. he said that they have a red and can deliver it to us on 27th. In the meanwhile, two Carnelian Red pearl City were brought in our colony and we did not want to bring a third one. So, we called the SA and told him to get a Taffeta White. Now, he was unsure of giving even a red one on the said date and stopped picking up our calls. On 24th some people from Stallion Honda came to tell us that they can get us Golden Brown City and we should pay the remaining amount to block it. My brother and mother were consistent on white. The guys told that they will manage and get us a white on 27th. To our dismay, even they stopped taking our calls and feeling very bad my father went to the stallion on 26th and cancelled the booking. While he was in the showroom, Pushp Honda from Kanpur called my father (we had earlier contacted Pushp Honda as well from getting some quotes) and told them him that they have a White petrol City V and can give us tomorrow. The guy who had brought the red on from Pushp Honda had told him that we were looking for a white City and as a result he called us. What a luck! My father immediately went to Kanpur after cancelling the booking and blocked the car. The next day my brother along with my mother went to take the delivery of the new Member of our family, the White Crusader![clap] We were given a box of chocolates and the delivery experience was very good. By the way, I now feel that White was a better decision as City looks very classy in white and awesome from any angle especially rear!

Some photos taken at the showroom -
20140727_160656.jpg 20140727_161718.jpg 20140727_161915.jpg 20140727_160021.jpg


DRIVE EXPERIENCE:
The car is completely butter smooth. In-vtec is one gem of a engine, no wonder it is considered legendary and one of the best Petrol engines on sale in India. For first 1000kms, revvs were kept below 3K. The steering is effortless to use in the city, and clutch is extremely light. In all, my father is loving to drive it and he is consistently finding silly reasons to take it out! He now cruises confidently at 120km/h. We got Good year tires with the car and decided to use them and when they wear out then upgrade to 195/60 since Vitamin-M is in scarcity right now!

RIDE QUALITY:
The ride quality is not as great as ,say a duster or a terrano. At low speeds, you can feel the bumps but it flattens out as speed increases. A special note has to be made of the seats. The seats foam density is very well calibrated by the engineers at Honda. It has just the right amount of softeness. Also, the seat also absorbs bumps.

Any questions? Feel free to ask!

Some more pics for you folks. At the last I will just say, " We are loving it!!"[cheers]
20140727_182345.jpg DSC_0594.jpg DSC_0598.jpg DSC_0601.jpg DSC06217.JPG 146418d1410240641-nostalgic-hatchbacks-india-daewoo-matiz-fiat-palio-maruti-800-dsc_0156.jpg 146419d1410240641-nostalgic-hatchbacks-india-daewoo-matiz-fiat-palio-maruti-800-dsc_0175.jpg
 
Thread Starter #3
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
147
Likes
105
Location
Kanpur
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

SOME OTHER POINTS:

  1. The car drives butter smooth. The rear seat is extremely comfortable and the neck pillow style headrests(headrests are fixed in the city) add to the comfort.
  2. The brakes have a very sharp bite. Even a little press on the pedal can be felt. on the delivery day while driving the car out of Kanpur traffic, by brother pressed the brake and Crusader stopped immediately. A Tempo which was at least one and a half car distance away came and bumped into the rear bumper. [frustration] Though it only caused a bit of peeling of paint at the very bottom of the rear bumper.
  3. The music system in V variant is awesome. Sound quality is very good and we don't think that we will need any speaker upgrade. Also, whenever we are traveling, everybody keeps on chatting so playing music has no point!!:tongue:
  4. The rear has sea of space. Even when my mother's seat is pushed all the way back, there is phenomenal space at the back!
  5. Haven't used cruise control as of now.
  6. The neon lights around the speedo are cool! At night(or at anytime) when you enter the car from driver's door, the neon lights light up and it looks really cool!!
  7. The odo now stands at a little over the 1K mark.
  8. Did not go for the VX as were apprehensive of the maintenance of the sunroof on the long run since we keep our cars for very long. Moreover, my mother and brother were against killing of animals for leather upholstery. And, at 11.3 lacs OTR around 80K expensive than the V, it did not look VFM for just sunroof(which would be rarely used), leather upholstery and keyless entry. Though, we would have loved keyless entry in the V as well!
  9. The mileage that MID shows right now is 12.3km/l. I hope it goes up as the engine settles in.
  10. Though many have felt the low beam inadequate, my father feels it to be okay. Actually, using the weak lights of Matiz(in these many years they had become weak) the new headlights of City are more powerful in comparison and hence no complaints! :wink:
  11. The rear armrest goes all the way down and rests on the seat. I would have liked it to say up a bit. Is is only with my city that it goes all the way down or is it normal? can anyone confirm this? In other sedans, the armrest stays a bit up in the air.
  12. The AC is fantastic, usually it is set on 22. The rear AC vents do make a difference.
  13. Gear throws are short and quick and slot into their positions effortlessly.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
972
Likes
886
Location
Mangalore
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Congratulations Rollerdude on your Crusader! Another white beauty to the TAI family[clap]. Wishing you millions of happy miles with your Crusader. Yes I agree with your initial assessment.[clap]
 
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
Messages
3,171
Likes
829
Location
Ahmedabad
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Heartiest congratulations on your Crusader.White looks brilliant and rightly choosed too by your family.
Wishing you many happy miles with your new ride.Do share more interior pics and what were the deals offers given by the dealer, do share.
 
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
527
Likes
962
Location
Chennai / Pondy
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Congratulations on your White Crusader. Welcome to the City Club. Wishing you a safe and happy cruising. [drive]
 

mayankdixit

Honoured Member
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
1,885
Likes
3,360
Location
kanpur
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Congratulations on your new car. The colour of your choice is the best of all. The engine is very good and refined. What car detailing items are in your wishlist?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
73
Likes
33
Location
kanpur
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Congratulation for the new acquisition [:D].Hope for your miles and miles of safe journey.White looks really cool on city by the way what upgrade are you looking for may be art leather seat cover may inhance the looks once again congratulation.[clap]
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
247
Likes
167
Location
Faridabad/Delhi
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Congrats and welcome to the City club.
If you haven't removed the red ribbon from the bonnet then do it ASAP as they can cause scratches.
Happy cruising!
 
Thread Starter #10
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
147
Likes
105
Location
Kanpur
Re: The Crusader : New Member in the family, the 4th gen Honda City!

Congratulations Rollerdude on your Crusader! Another white beauty to the TAI family[clap]. Wishing you millions of happy miles with your Crusader. Yes I agree with your initial assessment.[clap]
Thanks a lot Indian. The TAI family is surely growing at a fast pace!!

Heartiest congratulations on your Crusader.White looks brilliant and rightly choosed too by your family.
Wishing you many happy miles with your new ride.Do share more interior pics and what were the deals offers given by the dealer, do share.
Thanks a lot Vijay. Yes, I will share some interior pics in a few days, maybe tomorrow! There were absolutely no deals offered by the dealer as City is selling like hot cakes. Moreover, we had to change the dealer and get the car from another dealer in just a day but both the dealers were not offering anything. We even had to pay for the car cover, carpet mats etc. Though got a car perfume and box of chocolates free with the car.

Congratulations on your White Crusader. Welcome to the City Club. Wishing you a safe and happy cruising. [drive]
Thanks a lot Gandhi. I always envy the projector headlamps and DRLs that you have installed in your car and have it in my list but due to lack of funds right now and living in a sub-urban area, it is going to take some time to materialise!

Congratulations on your new car. The colour of your choice is the best of all. The engine is very good and refined. What car detailing items are in your wishlist?
THanks a lot Mayank. Yes, the engine is very silent and refined. Inside the cabin, the only way of knowing it is on is by looking in the RPM meter. Right now I have bought a Jopasu Duster from Snapdeal. I am thinking of buying a Formula 1 car shampoo but am not sure of its authenticity buying online. Other than that, I don't think I will buy any hard wax since we have very low running and the jopasu is good enough to get off the dirt.

Congratulation for the new acquisition .Hope for your miles and miles of safe journey.White looks really cool on city by the way what upgrade are you looking for may be art leather seat cover may inhance the looks once again congratulation.
THank you Carholic. Yes, I am thankful to my family right now that they had brains at that time. White really looks very good! As for art leather seat covers, I am planning to use the seats with the stock fabric upholstery (since we have paid for it as well) and when it gets soiled then go for art leather. I think they stitch the covers in the seat and so the stock upholstery cannot be used anymore so it is better to use them first and then install art leather seat covers.

Congrats and welcome to the City club.
If you haven't removed the red ribbon from the bonnet then do it ASAP as they can cause scratches.
Happy cruising!
Thanks a lot Harry. I have followed your thread on Team-bhp as well. I think, in July batches the cars came with no quality issues. As for the ribbon, I have removed them now but learned the hard way. The ribbons got wet due to many days of rain and lost their colour creating a light Pink coloured V mark on the bonnet. We are thinking of getting those removed during the 2nd service at the service centre.
 
Thread Starter #14
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
147
Likes
105
Location
Kanpur
I am getting muc-off 1lt from okloot.com at0 Rs.650, Sonax is costing something about 350 at snapdeal for 1lt, 3M car wash shampoo for rs.445 and meguiar's is costing Rs 570 for 500ml. Which one should I go for? Also, leaving the car to dry results in water marks. Will using these shampoos and then leaving to dry won't cause water marks? If no, then what should I use to dry the car?
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
1,164
Likes
1,328
Location
Hubli
I am getting muc-off 1lt from okloot.com at0 Rs.650, Sonax is costing something about 350 at snapdeal for 1lt, 3M car wash shampoo for rs.445 and meguiar's is costing Rs 570 for 500ml. Which one should I go for? Also, leaving the car to dry results in water marks. Will using these shampoos and then leaving to dry won't cause water marks? If no, then what should I use to dry the car?
Hello,

You can go for Muc-off Übershine Luxury Car Shampoo. I'm using it past one year and its excellent and only 50% I have used. Not that others are bad but I found this pretty good and efficient.
Only 10ml of shampoo is required to dilate with 6-7 liters of water. It is eco-friendly, safe on any materials and leaves spot free finish.

One of member in Gear heads forum has made a nice review of the product but I'm not allowed to share links to that site. You can search for it though.

btw; I bought the product from IAS (Link) and it is also available in local stores in my city.

This is for weekly washes only and for middle of week washing, Prokear's products are very efficient, time saving and eco-friendly again.

You can either go for Proklear's RAW Rinseless for mild cleaning or Proklear's RAW Xtreme Rinseless for better cleaning. Dilation ratio is 5ml RAW into 500 ltr of water, in a spray bottle. Spray into the body, wait few sec and wipe with a dump micro fiber cloth. Its Rinseless so you don't need liters of water. Just a spray bottle and few micro fiber cloths. Seller gives those for free with the product!

They also have products for windshield cleaning and treatment. The seller is a member in gear heads forum so you can find more info there and he sells products in ebay, shopclues and etc.

Hope I have helped to some degrees to clean and maintain your glorious car. [:)]

Thanks...
Best Regards
 
Last edited:

Top Bottom