Road Sense

The fifth generation Honda City that Honda Cars Philippines Inc,. launched last week brought back many good memories of the first Honda City which entered the Philippine market in 1996.

That was the City that many motoring journalists got to know like it was their own car because of an extraordinary event. That was the Honda Media Challenge, which allowed us to drive the City through a 1.5-kilometer dirt trial course for at least five weekends — pushing it to do handbrake turns, slides, racing lines, slow-in-fast-out maneuvers, through very uneven sandy and muddy terrain.

For 10 years, from 1998 to 2008, the Honda Media Challenge with the City (and much later with the Jazz) survived the variety of driving styles of the motoring writers and road terrain it was staged on. All participants wanted to clock the fastest time, and take home the championship trophy.

Team Manila Bulletin took at least three of those overall championship trophies — the first one in 1998, and the two trophies for the Honda City 1.3 and the 1.5 category in the following season. Taking the Fastest Driver award was Anjo Perez.  The members of the first MB team were Aris Ilagan, Ding Marcelo, Rey Bancod, Anjo, and me.

Before the Media Challenge, the Honda City went through several enduro-style test drive events.  HCPI had put the City through other test drives to prove the performance, reliability, and durable character of the “small car” which was what most people used to call a 1.3-liter sedan.

In 1997, five brand new Honda City 1.3-liter units drove through a 17-day City Enduro Run that started in Manila, went up to the Ilocos Region, to Cagayan Valley, down to south Luzon, to the Visayas Region, and then to Mindanao, and back to Manila, covering almost 8,000 kilometers. The two variants in that event were the City LX and the EXi with the Honda-patented Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI) system.

The year after that, HCPI put the Honda City 1.5-liter EXi and the 1.3-liter LXi through another long drive — the 1998 City Enduro Non-Stop Marathon. For five days, the City ran for 24 hours to demonstrate its durability and engine performance. The City EXi’s powerplant had 105 horsepower while the EXi, 95 horsepower, both with manual transmission.

That was not the end of the tests that needed to convince the car market of the City’s fuel-efficient performance and reliability. In 1998, HCPI conducted the Honda City Type Z Enduro, a drive from Manila to eight major cities in Luzon where the subcompact was introduced to customers.

If the Honda City were a person, it would by now have earned a PhD in test drives.

Riding on that reputation established by the third-generation Honda City, and after the sale of more than 131,000 units, the all-new fifth generation City will be on its way to many buyers’ hearts. The launch of the fifth generation Honda City was held to mark the 30th year anniversary of HCPI.

The all-new City is powered by a new 1.5-liter four-cylinder DOHC i-VTEC engine to provide an ideal balance of performance and fuel efficiency. Coupled with Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT), this powertrain is able to produce up to a maximum power output of 121ps at 6,600 rpm and a maximum of 145 Nm of torque at 4,300 rpm.

 A wide-range six-speed manual transmission option is available for the 1.5 S MT variant.

HCPI announced that for the "first time in the Philippine market, the all-new Honda City is available in a 1.5 RS CVT variant that gives it a sportier and more premium look. The RS variant comes with a complete set of sporty upgrades.”

The all-new City’s exterior has a sleek design — thick long nose, lowered full height, and widened full width. The fifth generation City is now longer by 111 mm, wider by 54 mm, and lowered by 10mm, compared to the fourth generation City, HCPI announced.