Honda City facelift launched at Rs 8.49 lakh

Honda launched the facelifted City with prices starting from Rs 8.59 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The car gets a number of updates on the outside as well as on the inside, however nothing mechanical has changed. This is just a mid-life nip and tuck since its launch in January 2014. Honda has however introduced a new variant too — the ZX variant that now sits at the top of the City.

Up front, the most prominent change is the grille, which now features a thin chrome strip under the signature thick one like on the old car. The grille is flanked by new LED headlamps (lower variants still get halogens) and fog lamps, and the headlamps now also feature DRLs. The rear gets an updated tail-light cluster as well, with LED inserts (only on the top-of-the-line variants). The City also gets 16-inch wheels on the higher variants now.

The interiors and features offered on the inside have been updated as well. It now gets a touchscreen infotainment system developed by Honda’s engineers in India itself. The touchscreen itself offers versatile connectivity to android phones via MirrorLink. in addition to Bluetooth connectivity, it can also connect to the internet through Wi-Fi. It also offers plenty of options on how you want to play your music — 2 micro SD card slots, 2 USB ports, an HDMI input and 1.5GB of internal memory. And apart from the touchscreen, the entire system can be operated though voice commands.

On the safety front Honda is offering dual airbags, ABS with EBD, and ISO FIX mounts as standard. The top trim cars however, get six airbags now.

Mechanically, the car remains identical to one it replaces. There are two power plants on offer — a 1.5-litre petrol engine and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The diesel makes 99bhp at 3600rpm and 200Nm from 1750rpm, and is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. While Honda hasn’t got the engine to make more power, they claim to have reduced NVH levels using better sound and vibration insulation.

The petrol engine makes 117bhp at 6600prm and 145Nm at 4500rpm, and comes with the option of the CVT along with a 5 speed manual. The top-of-the-line ZX variant is only available with the CVT though. The City is being offered with a standard warranty of 3 years/ unlimited km which can be extended to 5 years / unlimited km.

We’re going to be driving the updated City later today so stay tuned to our website for the review.