Honda launches City facelift

Honda has launched the facelift of the fifth-generation City starting from ₹11.49 lakh and going up to ₹20.39 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the top-spec City Hybrid. The City facelift features minor cosmetic changes, more equipment, new entry-level variants and a new paint shade.

The starting prices for the City petrol and City Hybrid have gone down, thanks to the inclusion of new trims. The entry-level City petrol is now ₹38,000 more affordable than the pre-facelift car. The City hybrid, with the new entry-level variant, is a full ₹1 lakh more affordable than before.

Bookings for the Honda City facelift are already underway for ₹5,000 if booked online and ₹21,000 if booked at a dealership.

Like most mid-life-cycle facelifts, the updated City gets minor cosmetic changes inside-out. From the front, Honda has tweaked the bumpers, and the grille now features a slimmer chrome bar. The facelift retains sharply styled, sweptback tail-lamps with nine LED arrays as before. The grille design is also updated and features a honeycomb pattern on higher variants and vertical slats on lower variants.

On the side, not much has changed except for a new design for the alloys. At the rear, the City facelift gets newly designed bumpers and Honda has changed the positioning of the reflectors with adding a spoiler on the trunk. There is also a new Obsidian Blue Pearl paint shade option with this update.

As with the exterior, the changes to the interior of the City facelift are minimal, with the layout, upholstery and switchgear being similar as before. The City facelift continues to get a beige and black theme for the petrol variants and an ivory and black theme for the hybrid variants.

With this facelift, Honda has added new entry-level variants to the City range. It sees the addition of the new SV trim, which only comes with manual transmission. The City facelift, in petrol guise, is now available in a total of four trims — SV, V, VX and ZX. Except for the SV trims, the rest get an option of a CVT gearbox.

Honda has also introduced the new entry-level V trim on the City Hybrid, which was previously available only in the top-spec ZX trim.

In terms of equipment, the City facelift gets ADAS features such as adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking even on the petrol variants.

Honda has also added a new feature to the ADAS tech in the City Hybrid called the “Low-Speed Follow” function, which enables the driver to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle ahead. It also gets a “Lead Car Departure Notification System” that alerts the driver when the car in front starts moving.

Higher variants of the midsize sedan get six airbags, a tyre-pressure monitoring system (TPMS), and some new features such as rain-sensing wipers, ambient lighting, a wireless charger and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The City facelift ditches the 1.5-litre diesel engine, ahead of the upcoming Real Driving Emission (RDE) norms. Honda is only offering the City with the 121hp, 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine paired to either a 6-speed manual or a CVT gearbox, and a 126hp, Atkinson Cycle 1.5-litre petrol-hybrid paired to an eCVT transmission.

The City is still the only car that offers a strong-hybrid powertrain in its class. Both the petrol and petrol-hybrid powertrains will meet RDE norms as well as be E20 (20% ethanol blend) compliant.

With the petrol-manual, the City facelift has a claimed fuel efficiency figure of 17.8kpl and for the petrol-auto, it is 18.4kpl. The City Hybrid delivers a claimed fuel-efficiency figure of 27.13kpl.

Honda is offering a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty as standard on both the City petrol and the City Hybrid. The warranty can be extended up to five years. For the City hybrid, Honda is offering an eight-year/1,60,000km warranty on its lithium-ion battery.