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 Why mend something that’s not broken? Because humans have this perennial itch to tinker with things to try and make them better. Seldom does it happen that they mess something up while trying to improve it. That’s the reason we drive around in cars today unlike our forebears who had to live with sore bums while scaling land in bullock carts. Even they were better off than the ancestors before them who had to trade the skin of their soles with the earth they strode on. The apes in the jungles are still having a gala time eating bananas; they’re not mending what’s not broken for them. We are humans , because we did! Things must be improved. That’s how we progress. Honda know this fact and that’s why they came out with the new City even when the old One was still a furlong away from its competitors. But a new car doesn’t necessarily translate into a better automobile. Things do take a turn for the worse sometimes. The world of cars is littered with examples where successors destroyed the brand equity of their predecessors. So here we have it , the newest City against the oldest of its rivals – the SX4 , and the Fiesta 1.6 S.
Let’s begin talking about the cars in this comparison the traditional way , aesthetics first. It’ll be so not right to start with anything but the City’s gorgeous form. Long and low and sharp at the front , the new City is based on the principles of the orthodox performance saloon. And then , to the proven old recipe , the design cooks at Honda have added a dash of some sci-fi seasoning to make it look like a space age rocketship on wheels. Those titanium finish slats on the grille merging seamlessly with the sharply tapering wraparound headlamps equip the front end of the City with enough oomph to blow the pride of quite a few expensive cars. The sleek , aggressive and aerodynamic theme continues through the roofline and ends in a stubby , high boot. The rear somewhat loses the panache of the front , but manages to look nice. In contrast to the City’s unrelenting saloon design , the SX4 is clearly a crossover derivative – high , muscular and brawny with big , wide tyres. Take that beefy boot out  and the SX4 will reveal is true crossover identity. It’s got presence but it’s not one of the most well-proportioned cars around. The front window of the SX4 features a quarter glass with a kink in its base. Although detrimental to visibility from the driver’s seat , it lends character to the car’s profile. The boot is short , high and beefy – in line with the rest of the design. It’s quite an unusual design , and while it may appeal a lot to some , it may put off quite a few others. The Fiesta , right since its inception three years ago , was considered a very conservative design unlike its rather flamboyant counterparts featured here. And the fact didn’t have positive bearings on the car’s sales. Having realized this , Ford recently tried to Jazz things up by adding some sporty bits to the bumper , introducing a side skirt and throwing in a spoiler over the boot. The exercise has worked well and the rather dull looking Fiesta , in its 1.6 S avatar , looks more youthful and athletic. While the alterations should help the Fiesta to be chosen over the SX4 by some , there isn’t a bleak chance that it could match the evolved , futuristic looks of the City. It’s like chalk and cheese. The City , without a doubt , is the sexiest looking car here and by a huge margin.
While the Honda wins accolades for the best aesthetics on the outside easily , the going isn’t as easy for the new car on the inside. The City has liberal space , an airy feel , great ergonomics and a well sorted layout on its side. But then , it better have all that if it were to command a premium over its contenders. There are some things inside the cabin which didn’t go down too well with us. The quality of the plastic on the door panels , for one , should have been much better for a car this expensive. At the points where the panels end , they have sharp edges , indicating second-rate quality. The joints  between two panels at places don’t look too well finished either. Then there is the music unit with a USB connector which on the pretext of being hi-tech serves the purpose of saving Honda some money. iPods and pen drives are attachable with most music players these days , along with CD compatibility. So what’s so advanced about this restricted functionality? What does one do with his CD collection? Throw it away as his car cannot play discs? There’s hardly anything wrong with the rest of the cabin. The Type-R derived three-spoke steering wheel looks Superb and has volume , seek and mode controls on the left spoke. The instrumentation with its orange backlight looks chic and delivers useful info like distance to dry , average and instantaneous fuel efficiency. The absence of a proper temperature gauge , however , is bewildering. The car only shows whether the engine is hot or cold – there’s no way to have a check on the intermediate progression of temperature. The Fiesta , with its all-black interiors gives the plushest feel. The bolstered bucket seats , the chunky steering wheel , the sporty driving position , the parallel dual stitching on the seats in contrasting colour and the perforated aluminium pedals together make the driver feel as if he’s up to something really exciting. The black instrumentation with a honeycomb graphic dial has a digital readout for distance to dry but doesn’t display average fuel efficiency and few other bits of info that the diesel variant does. The car’s space isn’t as generous as the City and the black colour of the interior doesn’t help the perception of space either. Nonetheless legroom is sufficient , both for the passengers at the front as well as at the rear. The Fiesta , unlike the City , won’t seat three in comfort at the backseat. The SX4 looks like the biggest of the three cars from the outside but it doesn’t offer the most cabin space. The ambience inside and the quality of materials too is average at best. This Suzuki , however , has climate control and steering mounted audio controls to its advantage. The centre console with an integrated audio system looks nice , but the plastic bits doing duties don’t offer much to write home about. The height of the car aids headroom and the airy feel , but leg space isn’t the best of the triad. The comfort and support offered by the seats in the City and the Fiesta is better too. Overall , the City , even with some of its disappointing plastic bits and a half-functional stereo runs neck-to-neck with the Fiesta’s sporty black cabin. The SX4’s cabin is reasonably good , but in this company , it’ll have to do undergo some alterations to pose a serious challenge.
Ford India extensively reworked  the suspension and steering bits of the Fiesta in a bid to make the 1.6 S variant the best handling car in its segment. The efforts paid off to some extent as was proven when we took the car for a spin around the MMSC racetrack a few months back. Those low profile tyres coupled with altered steering ratios and a stiffened suspension have reasonably enhanced the Fiesta’s dynamic ability. While all that works fine on smooth tarmac , the detrimental aspects of the new sporty settings reveal themselves the moment you hit a rough patch. The shudder on the steering wheel as the wheels negotiate undulations is way too pronounced and the relatively stiff suspension does its bit to negate the comfort aspect. We think the trade-off between handling and ride quality has been a little too much. The SX4 has great ground clearance. But then , that virtue isn’t too high on the priority list of customers who are buying this sort of a car. A high roofline and high ground clearance doesn’t aid keeping the centre of gravity low. The suspension itself isn’t as well sorted as the other two cars here. The bumps get transmitted rather easily inside the cabin and you don’t really feel like hurling this Maruti fast around corners.
The City exemplifies how it needs to be done. The steering feel isn’t too weighty , but guide the car around a set of bends and it tries hard to match up to the Fiesta’s ability to relay the information from the road to your palms. You’ll have to pass over serious undulations relentlessly to feel any disturbing vibes on the steering wheel. Though it doesn’t step out from the intended line by an inch , the City is not as reassuring as the Ford. Nonetheless Honda have fused lightness , convenience , refinement and preciseness immaculately. The suspension is another revelation. The low stance of the car may fool you into believing that it’s sprung stiffly to favour handling over comfort but this thing absolutely glides  over undulations. On our trip to Tamhini Ghats for the photo shoot , the City easily emerged the winner in terms of ride quality.
The urgent engine response , the refinement and that addictive VTEC growl over 4000rpm , together make the City a hoot to get behind the wheel of. It’s a fabulous car to drive and the most astonishing part is that it doesn’t compromise comfort one bit to be all that. You can lug around your family in supreme comfort around town during the day and switch to your Boy Racer alter ego after midnight – the City will do both the jobs for you with effortless élan. That’s not all; after setting a new performance benchmark , the City redefines the expected fuel efficiency in its class as well. And it has raised the bar by a huge margin this time.
The 1.6-litre Duratec motor in the Ford Fiesta has always been one of the most exciting engines in its segment. There are absolutely no grouses about its performance. Add to the equation the superb , short throw shifter and the 1.6 S presents itself as one of the most enticing offerings in its segment. It isn’t light on gas though , and the kind of fuel efficiency it returns when driven enthusiastically will be tough to manage for the people going for a car in that price bracket. The same theory applies to the SX4’s powerplant too. The worse thing for the SX4 is that it’s even slower and less efficient than the Fiesta. Needless to say , the fact doesn’t help the case of the Suzuki saloon much. In the end , the City proves its authority over its competitors. We don’t want you to wait till you flip to the next page to know that the City is technically the best car here , keeping some other very important factors aside – factors that really count. Sometimes , being the best car isn’t good enough to win a shootout as some factors take prominence over the product itself.
VERDICT
First things first. At Rs 9.39 lakh , the top of the line City comes at a price premium of more than Rs  1.10 lakh OTR Pune over its corresponding contenders. The question that i ask and every Honda customer should too , is why does this car not have alloy wheels , fog lamps and the option to play CDs even after one pays so much extra money? No doubt , the new City is a great car and even when the Fiesta and the SX-4 hold their own in the segment , the latest Honda outclasses them by a good margin. But to not have the aforementioned options in a 10 lakh rupee car is a shame. The City has a clear advantage in terms of refinement , space , reliability , better resale value , aesthetics and probably every other perceptible department , but then that’s why the customer is paying the extra money for. Being bereaved of features that are available on some much cheaper cars does and should hurt the buyer. The City in its latest guise has become a segment straddler of sorts and we’re sure it’ll eat into the customer base of the Optra , the Lancer and even the Octavia to some extent. It’s more expensive , but then it’s superior to the car it replaces which is fair , really. We can’t possibly find a reason to not adjudge the new City a stomping winner of this three car shootout. With the three missing bits , however , the victory for this exceptional car would have been much more convincing.
More photos:
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Let’s begin talking about the cars in this comparison the traditional way , aesthetics first. It’ll be so not right to start with anything but the City’s gorgeous form. Long and low and sharp at the front , the new City is based on the principles of the orthodox performance saloon. And then , to the proven old recipe , the design cooks at Honda have added a dash of some sci-fi seasoning to make it look like a space age rocketship on wheels. Those titanium finish slats on the grille merging seamlessly with the sharply tapering wraparound headlamps equip the front end of the City with enough oomph to blow the pride of quite a few expensive cars. The sleek , aggressive and aerodynamic theme continues through the roofline and ends in a stubby , high boot. The rear somewhat loses the panache of the front , but manages to look nice. In contrast to the City’s unrelenting saloon design , the SX4 is clearly a crossover derivative – high , muscular and brawny with big , wide tyres. Take that beefy boot out
and the SX4 will reveal is true crossover identity. It’s got presence but it’s not one of the most well-proportioned cars around. The front window of the SX4 features a quarter glass with a kink in its base. Although detrimental to visibility from the driver’s seat , it lends character to the car’s profile. The boot is short , high and beefy – in line with the rest of the design. It’s quite an unusual design , and while it may appeal a lot to some , it may put off quite a few others. The Fiesta , right since its inception three years ago , was considered a very conservative design unlike its rather flamboyant counterparts featured here. And the fact didn’t have positive bearings on the car’s sales. Having realized this , Ford recently tried to Jazz things up by adding some sporty bits to the bumper , introducing a side skirt and throwing in a spoiler over the boot. The exercise has worked well and the rather dull looking Fiesta , in its 1.6 S avatar , looks more youthful and athletic. While the alterations should help the Fiesta to be chosen over the SX4 by some , there isn’t a bleak chance that it could match the evolved , futuristic looks of the City. It’s like chalk and cheese. The City , without a doubt , is the sexiest looking car here and by a huge margin.
While the Honda wins accolades for the best aesthetics on the outside easily , the going isn’t as easy for the new car on the inside. The City has liberal space , an airy feel , great ergonomics and a well sorted layout on its side. But then , it better have all that if it were to command a premium over its contenders. There are some things inside the cabin which didn’t go down too well with us. The quality of the plastic on the door panels , for one , should have been much better for a car this expensive. At the points where the panels end , they have sharp edges , indicating second-rate quality. The joints
between two panels at places don’t look too well finished either. Then there is the music unit with a USB connector which on the pretext of being hi-tech serves the purpose of saving Honda some money. iPods and pen drives are attachable with most music players these days , along with CD compatibility. So what’s so advanced about this restricted functionality? What does one do with his CD collection? Throw it away as his car cannot play discs? There’s hardly anything wrong with the rest of the cabin. The Type-R derived three-spoke steering wheel looks Superb and has volume , seek and mode controls on the left spoke. The instrumentation with its orange backlight looks chic and delivers useful info like distance to dry , average and instantaneous fuel efficiency. The absence of a proper temperature gauge , however , is bewildering. The car only shows whether the engine is hot or cold – there’s no way to have a check on the intermediate progression of temperature. The Fiesta , with its all-black interiors gives the plushest feel. The bolstered bucket seats , the chunky steering wheel , the sporty driving position , the parallel dual stitching on the seats in contrasting colour and the perforated aluminium pedals together make the driver feel as if he’s up to something really exciting. The black instrumentation with a honeycomb graphic dial has a digital readout for distance to dry but doesn’t display average fuel efficiency and few other bits of info that the diesel variant does. The car’s space isn’t as generous as the City and the black colour of the interior doesn’t help the perception of space either. Nonetheless legroom is sufficient , both for the passengers at the front as well as at the rear. The Fiesta , unlike the City , won’t seat three in comfort at the backseat. The SX4 looks like the biggest of the three cars from the outside but it doesn’t offer the most cabin space. The ambience inside and the quality of materials too is average at best. This Suzuki , however , has climate control and steering mounted audio controls to its advantage. The centre console with an integrated audio system looks nice , but the plastic bits doing duties don’t offer much to write home about. The height of the car aids headroom and the airy feel , but leg space isn’t the best of the triad. The comfort and support offered by the seats in the City and the Fiesta is better too. Overall , the City , even with some of its disappointing plastic bits and a half-functional stereo runs neck-to-neck with the Fiesta’s sporty black cabin. The SX4’s cabin is reasonably good , but in this company , it’ll have to do undergo some alterations to pose a serious challenge.
Ford India extensively reworked
the suspension and steering bits of the Fiesta in a bid to make the 1.6 S variant the best handling car in its segment. The efforts paid off to some extent as was proven when we took the car for a spin around the MMSC racetrack a few months back. Those low profile tyres coupled with altered steering ratios and a stiffened suspension have reasonably enhanced the Fiesta’s dynamic ability. While all that works fine on smooth tarmac , the detrimental aspects of the new sporty settings reveal themselves the moment you hit a rough patch. The shudder on the steering wheel as the wheels negotiate undulations is way too pronounced and the relatively stiff suspension does its bit to negate the comfort aspect. We think the trade-off between handling and ride quality has been a little too much. The SX4 has great ground clearance. But then , that virtue isn’t too high on the priority list of customers who are buying this sort of a car. A high roofline and high ground clearance doesn’t aid keeping the centre of gravity low. The suspension itself isn’t as well sorted as the other two cars here. The bumps get transmitted rather easily inside the cabin and you don’t really feel like hurling this Maruti fast around corners.
The City exemplifies how it needs to be done. The steering feel isn’t too weighty , but guide the car around a set of bends and it tries hard to match up to the Fiesta’s ability to relay the information from the road to your palms. You’ll have to pass over serious undulations relentlessly to feel any disturbing vibes on the steering wheel. Though it doesn’t step out from the intended line by an inch , the City is not as reassuring as the Ford. Nonetheless Honda have fused lightness , convenience , refinement and preciseness immaculately. The suspension is another revelation. The low stance of the car may fool you into believing that it’s sprung stiffly to favour handling over comfort but this thing absolutely glides
over undulations. On our trip to Tamhini Ghats for the photo shoot , the City easily emerged the winner in terms of ride quality.
The urgent engine response , the refinement and that addictive VTEC growl over 4000rpm , together make the City a hoot to get behind the wheel of. It’s a fabulous car to drive and the most astonishing part is that it doesn’t compromise comfort one bit to be all that. You can lug around your family in supreme comfort around town during the day and switch to your Boy Racer alter ego after midnight – the City will do both the jobs for you with effortless élan. That’s not all; after setting a new performance benchmark , the City redefines the expected fuel efficiency in its class as well. And it has raised the bar by a huge margin this time.
The 1.6-litre Duratec motor in the Ford Fiesta has always been one of the most exciting engines in its segment. There are absolutely no grouses about its performance. Add to the equation the superb , short throw shifter and the 1.6 S presents itself as one of the most enticing offerings in its segment. It isn’t light on gas though , and the kind of fuel efficiency it returns when driven enthusiastically will be tough to manage for the people going for a car in that price bracket. The same theory applies to the SX4’s powerplant too. The worse thing for the SX4 is that it’s even slower and less efficient than the Fiesta. Needless to say , the fact doesn’t help the case of the Suzuki saloon much. In the end , the City proves its authority over its competitors. We don’t want you to wait till you flip to the next page to know that the City is technically the best car here , keeping some other very important factors aside – factors that really count. Sometimes , being the best car isn’t good enough to win a shootout as some factors take prominence over the product itself.
VERDICT
First things first. At Rs 9.39 lakh , the top of the line City comes at a price premium of more than Rs
1.10 lakh OTR Pune over its corresponding contenders. The question that i ask and every Honda customer should too , is why does this car not have alloy wheels , fog lamps and the option to play CDs even after one pays so much extra money? No doubt , the new City is a great car and even when the Fiesta and the SX-4 hold their own in the segment , the latest Honda outclasses them by a good margin. But to not have the aforementioned options in a 10 lakh rupee car is a shame. The City has a clear advantage in terms of refinement , space , reliability , better resale value , aesthetics and probably every other perceptible department , but then that’s why the customer is paying the extra money for. Being bereaved of features that are available on some much cheaper cars does and should hurt the buyer. The City in its latest guise has become a segment straddler of sorts and we’re sure it’ll eat into the customer base of the Optra , the Lancer and even the Octavia to some extent. It’s more expensive , but then it’s superior to the car it replaces which is fair , really. We can’t possibly find a reason to not adjudge the new City a stomping winner of this three car shootout. With the three missing bits , however , the victory for this exceptional car would have been much more convincing.
More photos:
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SX4 gives good value & after sales service efficiently & economically...rest it is up to individual choice!
I can say that its good car on drive after driving for few days only, but as somebody rightly pointed out that in luxury segment car, with so much of cost, how Honda can think of making money by marketing accessories like CD player, Alloy wheel, body guard, Mud flaps (first time I heart in my life time that the luxury cars are being sold without mud flaps), mud guards, fog lights etc. Now a days even small segment cars (new one) have all those advance features i.e ABS and Anti Locking system and tubeless tires etc. Honda should realize that he is marketing brand and not the car... if this continues; very soon Honda will see loosing its precious customers.
best of luck honda
The new city is great but, comming to interriors it is very very cheep interriors i feel very bad It is a sedan,but its features are not even as a hatchback car
hey, honda city has ABS, airbags and tubeless tyres standard !!!!! stupids
I drove both the New City & the Linea top end versions - Petrol & Diesel. The features are great on Linea...that makes me inclined to buy. But after the test drive of both Petrol & Diesel Linea, i was so disappointed. Man it makes me sad that I cant buy this car. ..its meant for the heart and not the head... The new city definitely has a great punch to offer but then the features that a lesser priced linea is offering are missing on the almost 1.5lakh more priced City. DIESEL Linea: I regulalry drive verna crdi...honda city Zxi (old)...(we got a big family with all the cars from this segment). So when i compare Linea with verna ...no power .... when u compare the new honda city with linea petrol ..again no power. I really wanted Linea but I am settling down with the new city though with a heavy heart (and pocket) but with a smarter head.
well i use City for the lst 2 years.I went to buy Baleno but a friend from Maruti itself discouraged as Baleno was phased out . I have really been more than satisfied . The cost and its low power are 2 constraints but in terms of sitting comfort,driving and reliability, it scores over other similar range cars . It is most suitable for medium profile professionals like me.
the new sx4 is a great deal and its fully loaded with all features.its performance is good.
I have been driving SX 4 leather for last two years and last week unfortunately i had met with an accident when car hit a tree to proect a cow on the High way @ 90kmph speed.Though my wife had her hand fractured , nose broken and had head injury who was sitting on the L rear seat without seat belt but i came out perfectly well with my daughter 100 % scratch free.It air bags ejected out,body not collapsing, gave me ALL assurance that this is the safest car on earth.First thing after accident i found that air bags ejected with sound ,my steering still protected and doors and windows not getting locked which normally occurs after such serious accidents.except few front part engine etc not damaged despite such heavy impact was astonoshing. After the accidents best part was the service.Maruti chaps came all the way from 100 km and towed my car in no time to that isolated highway while i attended my wife in trauma care centre. Lesson learnt- SX-4 is asfest.Air bags are the best safest features.Its wide and strong tyres ,ABS,EBD provide the safest comforts. driving is very comfortable and untiring.aLSO LEARNT Most importantly the rear passengers should also wear the safety belt while on high way driving. I tried Honda city.it brushesover the speed breakers and left is not safe ,thats the only disadvtg otherwise is a best in its class ofcoure you to cough 1.75 lacs more for the same. Regards, s k moitra
Sx4 is bigger than verna, honda city and fiesta, hence it commands the way in crowded Indian roads, people pay respect to only bigger cars nowadays, and hence you are more safer on Sx4. Honda City is too costly.. Sx4 is cheaper and reliable too... after all its from Maruti.. hence no problem with service and resale values!!