Honda City 1.5L Still On Top Of Its Segment

February 28, 2023

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We take the popular Honda City for a weekend break and learn more about this practical and well equipped family sedan.

in the past few years before Covid arrived we have seen a year on year reduction in the demand for sedans in Malaysia (and most of the world) as crossovers and SUV’s get more attention from buyers.

Honda has seen massive success with the HR-V crossover since its arrival in February 2015 (and continues to enjoy sales success with the brand new HR-V) and Mazda followed in December the same year with their CX-3 crossover. Both these crossovers took away sales from the sedan segment.

Now, with this all new 2020 model City, Honda re-ignited interest in the sedan segment and this is good news.

Features Provided

This version of the Honda City, the ‘V Variant’ comes with Auto LED headlights, LED front fog lights, 16” alloy wheels, Leather upholstery (black with Ivory highlights), Honda LaneWatch and 6 airbags.

Driving Around The City

This 5th Generation City is now longer by 111mm, wider by 54mm and lowered by 10mm compared to the 4th Generation City. So, it is a more spacious sedan.

From ignition you will notice a refined engine with only a whisper coming from the front. Sound insulation is good and once you start moving along the engine bay returns a murmur to the cabin. Its power delivery is smooth and progressively quick when you put down the accelerator.

Gearshifts are smooth and without any hesitation as you work this City hard on the open highway. A 110km/h top speed is reached quite swiftly and there is little hesitation if you want to break the law and reach 170km/h.

On our run to Penang, and in keeping with the speed limit we used about RM45,00 worth of fuel (average) without using the very important ‘ECO’ button.

On our journey back, we used the ‘ECO’ button and kept to the speed limit and we estimate some RM38.00 worth of fuel was used. So, the ECO button does work and there is savings to be had.

The new front seats offer great head and neck support and the seats are wide to cater for varied torso sizes. So, regular nasi kandar eaters will fit nicely.

Rear passengers get very good legroom and there is even decent shoulder room for 3 average sized Malaysians. As with previous versions of the City, climate control is good and Honda has packaged this sedan to take some abuse over the years with heavy inner city commuting, especially with our loosely managed roads and side streets.

Decision Time

We have to say that Honda has delivered a class act family sedan with and impressive list of cabin comfort features. There is very little to fault this new City from the showroom and after a test drive yourself you will understand what we are saying. The only issue is the rising number of competitors currently in this segment.

Yes, the latest Almera is gaining popularity and we have to see how the all new Vios bookings will rise, however it might be Perodua with its Ativa which takes a lion’s share of the sales numbers for this price segment. So which takes your fancy is best decided after a test drive yourself.