2014 Honda City
City slick Life in the light car segment can be vicious these days and Honda thinks it can do well with its all-new fifth generation 2014 City sedan. Automan spends some time with the car in the Sultanate and evaluates its prospects Author: Chandan B Mallik | Photography: Elvis John Ferrao
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JUly 2014
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onda’s all-new Thailand-built City arrives in Oman with a very clear cut agenda at a time when most rival models with the exception of the new Mazda3, are at least a year old. Honda Middle East thinks there’s potential for growth with its new-generation B/C segment City and believes the package is a strong enough proposition to draw people back to its dealerships and boost the company’s overall sales. Globally, the City is in its sixth generation and from the Middle East perspective it is considered as the fifth generation since the Gen 1 [global] wasn’t available. The incoming subcompact sedan built on Honda’s Global Small Car platform, which is also shared with the Jazz hatchback and soon-to-arrive Vezel crossover. This means it is based on the new third generation architecture which also benefits from a longer wheelbase and supports improved ergonomics, courtesy of Honda’s current ‘Man Maximum and Machine Minimum’ philosophy. While, previous editions of the City
have had various styling agendas, the fourth generation [ME Gen II] which was introduced in 2002 was the odd one out with its ‘love-it hate it’ styling and proportions. These aspects were subsequently improved in the successor/s and if one considers three generations of City’s [in reverse order from the latest iteration], then it becomes clear how the design has steadily evolved and matured along with some dimensional changes and here’s the evidence: the City’s length has increased from 4,390mm [Gen IV] to 4,415 [Gen V] and now to 4,440mm and so has the wheel base from 2,450mm to 2,550mm and 2,600mm respectively. The width of the car has marginally been increased by 5mm and the height is also 5mm higher than the outgoing model. The new arrival is offered in three trims – DX, LX and EX in Oman. Honda designer’s have ensured that’s there’s continuity between the outgoing and incoming model despite modest dimensional changes and hence the overall profile of the car remains unchanged.
But what has significantly changed is the detailing – especially sheet metal – which now benefits from Honda’s corporate design approach. In fact, Gen VI City is Honda’s second model to sport the new Exciting H Design first seen on the third generation Honda Jazz which launched in September 2013 worldwide [this model hasn’t arrived in the region yet]. As a result of this application, the bold front-end styling is unmistakably Honda and the evolutionary design features the brand’s new signature broad U-shaped chrome grille bar. This is Honda’s latest design language called “solid wing face”. Meanwhile, the side sheet metal of the car has been transformed from plain Jane to a more curvy entity with very prominent character line running through from behind the front wheel arches to the horizontal L-shaped tail lamps at the rear where they are connected by a thin chrome strip as a sign-off. Overall, the new City’s profile is much closer to the new Civic, the model above in the line-up. The cabin of the car has received lavish JUly 2014
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