All-new 2014 Honda City launches in Malaysia
The City is a fairly new model line in Honda’s history. Originally debuting as a hatchback in 1981, Honda retired the name in 1994 only to revive it two years later as a budget sedan based on an older generation Civic platform. Since then, this new reborn lineage of the City has spawned three model generations with 2.2 million units sold in 55 countries; Honda Malaysia itself sold 145,000 units since the company started business in 2001.
Current Honda literature describes that 1996 City sedan as the ‘first-generation City’, and moving along that convention, we now welcome the all-new fourth-generation City that officially makes its Malaysian debut this week as Honda Malaysia’s first launch in 2014.
Locally-assembled at Honda’s Pegoh plant in Malacca, the all-new 2014 City will be offered with a selection of four variants as Honda Malaysia makes an unprecedented foray into the lower end of the B-segment market. The last two model generations of the City have been consciously placed at the upper reaches of the market segment, but this all-new model sees the introduction of two sub-RM80k variants that brings the City right into ‘Vios J’ territory.
According Honda Malaysia’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr Yoichiro Ueno, the decision to introduce the more affordable Grade S and Grade S+ variants was to bring the City’s price point closer to younger buyers aspiring to upgrade from their national cars. With insurance, these two variants are priced at RM75,800 and RM78,800 respectively.
Standard equipment at these two variants include height adjustable driver seat, remote trunk release, tilt & telescopic steering adjustment, one-touch indicators, all-round power windows, electric door mirror adjustment, USB connectivity, ABS, EBD, brake assist, dual airbags, three-point seat belts for all passengers, ISOFIX, and reverse sensors. The S+ variant adds handsfree telephone feature and 15-inch alloy rims; yes, the Grade S gets steel wheels.
At the City’s more familiar pricing ground, we have the Grade E and Grade V models hitting the road at RM83,800 and RM90,800 respectively. These range-topping variants add keyless entry, start/stop button, steering-mounted controls, 60:40 split-folding rear seats, rear air-con vents, two rear-mounted 12V sockets, stability control, and hill start assist. The Grade V further tops it with front fog lights, cruise control, touch panel auto climate control, 7″ touchscreen audio (no reverse camera, unfortunately), voice recognition, and a six-airbag package.
On paper, the Grade E and Grade V are shaping to be the better value purchases of the range despite costing more. To recap, the previous City was priced from RM85,890 to RM90,980, which means that the new City follows Honda’s pleasing recent trend of not imposing price increases in their new models.
Underpinning the 2014 City is Honda’s all-new B-segment platform that underpins the next-generation Jazz and upcoming Vezel compact SUV. It follows the predecessor’s basic suspension layout of having MacPherson struts up front and torsion beam rear suspension. Interestingly, Honda has reverted to the traditional rear-mounted fuel tank for the City even though the new Jazz will persist with the previous model’s central fuel tank design. According to Honda, this is done for weight saving purposes as the fuel filling pipe can be made shorter – how much weight was saved by this design feature was not disclosed, but for comparison, the previous-generation City in its range-topping Grade E spec tipped the scales at 1,160kg, whilst the current Grade V weighs only 1,106kg.
In the engine room, Honda retains the services of the previous City’s proven 1.5-litre single-cam 16-valve i-VTEC engine with rated outputs of 118hp and 145Nm. Thai-spec models tuned to run on E85 ethanol blend fuel come further equipped with a valve-deactivation feature for even better fuel economy. Malaysia-spec models do not receive this enhancement.
In place of the familiar 5-speed automatic transmission, however, comes a new in-house designed Earth Dreams CVT fitted with a torque converter. The CVT’s improved efficiency, together with the vehicle’s considerable weight loss, aerodynamic improvements, and reduction in mechanical friction helped Honda achieve a 13% improvement in fuel economy – 17.5km/l achieved on internal testing, up from the predecessor’s 15.3km/l.
Available in a choice of five colours – Modern Steel Metallic, Alabaster Silver Metallic, Taffeta White, Crystal Black Pearl, and Brilliant Sporty Blue Metallic – the new City can be further specced with a choice of two optional accessory packages consisting of Honda’s Genuine Accessories at RM1,700 and Honda’s Modulo Package at RM3,200.
As with other Honda models, the new City is covered with a 5-year unlimited mileage warranty. Service intervals are recommended at 10,000km. Some 1,800 bookings have been collected since bookings opened for the past month, and Honda Malaysia is expecting to sell 2,500 units of the City monthly in 2014.
Pictures: Official Honda release.
