Honda City – Was it Premium Always?

The Honda City remains to be the bread and butter product of the company. It is one of the most popular names in the Indian market and is often the car that you associate with the word sedan. An all-new model is due for this year and will be launched very soon. We take a look back at the 22 years of journey that the Honda City has had. It was not always the premium sedan that is it is now.

The original – 1998

This car is the icon that introduced India to sedans. The City had the original engine from japan and you could see the excellent engineering that had gone into it’s making. The driving dynamics of the car were superb back then and even now when you drive the car it does not feel low on power.

It was also later launched with an automatic gearbox, making it one of the only cars to be available with such a variant. The car got a facelift in the year 2000.

The car was based on the Honda Civic which is a sporty sedan. With the facelift, the car got variable valve timing and it produced almost 100 bhp. What is more surprising is that it weighed only 1000 kgs. This will make the car’s performance equivalent even to the current City that is sold today.

Also read: Tata Peregrin – A capable Honda City Rival

Honda City second-gen – 2003

The second-generation car came out in 2003 and this car got a complete transformation in terms of design. It got smaller and lost the sharp looks of the original City. It was meant more of a family car rather than one for college boys. This car also carried forward the sales of the original City. It was also called the dolphin model by some as it resembled one. This car got a facelift in 2005. The car became a compact car for the urban areas.

Also read: Honda City 2020 hatchback – Is it comng?

Honda City third-gen – 2008

This car again got a complete redesign and the dimensions started looking again like the original. The design of the car was fantastic and it looked very aerodynamic as well. The car got an engine upgrade as well and it produced around 116 bhp. This was a significant upgrade and the car felt quick as well. It even got many features such as a sunroof, a refined engine and cruise control. This car got a minor facelift in the year 2011 wherein the diesel engine was introduced for the first time.

The Current gen – 2016

In terms of evolution, there was not much on the outside of the car. It did get a lot of changes but was not radically different than the previous model. From the insides though the car got better materials as well as features.

Although it did not get any kind of engine upgrade which was a bit disappointing. This car has also gotten good sales but is not as dominant as the previous generations due to the car getting stiff competition from the likes of the Maruti Ciaz and the Volkswagen Polo.