One of the most awaited launches of the year, delayed by over three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has finally taken place today. The 2020 Honda City has been launched at Rs 10.89 lakh for the base petrol manual variant while the diesel starts at Rs 12.39 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi. In the recent months, we have seen as many as three mid-size sedans go on sale including the Skoda Rapid TSI, Volkswagen Vento TSI, Hyundai Verna facelift and the 2020 Honda City is the latest entrant to the segment.
The design of the fifth generation Honda City is now in-line with rest of the cars in Honda’s portfolio, especially with the Civic and the Amaze. A thick slab of chrome above the grille unites the new LED headlamps and the eyebrow LED DRLs. The side profile is clutter free and the City gets 16-inch diamond cut alloys. The LED tail lamps are sleeker than before and overall, the design of the 2020 Honda City is crisp and European.
Step inside and the redesigned dual tone beige and black interiors are hard to ignore. The instrument cluster now comprises of a 7-inch digital cockpit while a large 8-inch touchscreen sits in the centre of the dashboard. In fact, its slightly canted towards the co-driver’s side. That said, premium goodies include a sunroof, 180W 8-speaker sound system, blind spot monitoring, segment first Alexa integration and 32 connected car features via the Honda Connect app that allows remote start/stop, geofencing and more.
On the powertrain front, Honda has carried over the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine from the fourth generation City. It now gets a new head featuring twin overhead cams. The engine makes 119.3bhp (2bhp more than before) and 145Nm of torque. This engine can be had with a 6-speed manual transmission or a CVT. The latter delivers a claimed mileage of 18.4kmpl while the manual delivers 17.8kmpl. That said, the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine puts out 99bhp and 200Nm of torque and can be had only with a 6-speed manual gearbox.
The fifth generation Honda City locks horns with its newly launched rivals the Skoda Rapid, Volkswagen Vento and the Hyundai Verna. What the Honda City misses out on is a turbocharged petrol engine that all of its rivals get. Internationally a 120bhp 1-litre turbo-petrol motor is also offered with the City and that is something India misses out on.
Here's the detailed price list of the 2020 Honda City