Ambitious style for ambitious goals
Meet the 2021 Honda City, now in its fifth generation and designed to be a more mature-looking subcompact sedan. Honda’s engineers are experts at making their smallest cars roomy and this all-new City is no exception. It’s a bigger car than the last generation, offering even more space inside.
Exterior
This fifth generation Honda City’s design is based on the “Ambitious Sedan” concept. Designers sought to create a vehicle with a look and feel that compliments the customer’s sense of ambition, giving them the confidence to upgrade their lives. To do that, the design projects sophistication, strength and sportiness.
Just how much bigger is it than the fourth-generation City? The wheelbase hasn’t changed, still at 2600mm, but the fifth-gen is 111mm longer at 4553mm, 54mm wider at 1748mm and it has a nice, lower stance by 10mm.
The City has clean lines. You’ll immediately notice the new front end, with the new bumper and front grille, and a hood that looks longer than the previous City. Its “integrated solid wing face” is emphasized by the new daytime running lights just above the halogen projector headlamps. Around the back, you get LED tail lamps which wrap around the rear quarters. On the side you’ll notice two sharp character lines: one which starts at the headlights and ends at the brake lights; and the other starting at the bottom of the front fender behind the front wheel sloping up the rear doors and up the nice, new sculpted bumpers. The S variant rolls on 185/60’s on 15-inch aluminum alloy wheels.
Powerplant
Under the hood is a Euro 4-compliant, four-cylinder 1.5L DOHC i-VTEC gasoline engine that puts out 121-Ps at 6,600 rpm with 145-Nm of torque at 4,300 rpm. It’s paired to an Earth Dreams Technology Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT).
Interior
While this S is the base CVT variant, there’s nothing base about it. No fumbling for keys with keyless entry and starting up is quick with one push of the engine start/stop button. Fabric seats are comfortable, and despite the minimal use of soft touch materials in the cabin, you still get Honda’s consistent high quality fit and finish, with some trim in brushed aluminum and piano black.
For the perfect driving position, headrests are adjustable, the driver’s seat has a manual height adjuster, and there’s tilt and telescopic steering wheel adjustment. There’s lots of useable storage areas with 2 cup holders in front of the shift lever in the center console, and four bottle holders, one in each door.
The entertainment system is a four-speaker system with an eight-inch touchscreen audio with Apple Carplay, Android Auto and Weblink. It comes with two USB ports and a 12V accessory socket. The air conditioning interface is new with knobs and digital display.
Safety
The fifth gen City has Honda’s G-CON collision safety body, driver and front passenger airbags, side airbags, three-point ELR seatbelts for the driver and four passengers, child locks and ISOFIX anchors, speed sensing auto door locks, vehicle stability assist (VSA) with agile handling assist (ASA), hill start assist (HSA), anti-lock braking system (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), emergency stop signal (ESS) and an alarm with immobilizer.
How does it drive?
The all-new Honda City looks and feels like a more grown-up car compared to the previous generation City.
Its simpler, sleeker lines with chrome in the right places give it some sophistication. The 1.5L engine still provides adequate power, happily revving up and down through the CVT’s virtual gears. It drives and handles as well as you’d expect from a Honda.
The City, in its past iterations, was always an economical car. It continues with this generation with the ECO Assist System and the ECON button helping you get more mileage out of your 40-liter tank.
Its size is near that of the next class of sedan. Some would say the interior color scheme may be bland, but I actually like fabric seats and found the interior quite pleasant. It’s roomier with the back seat allowing three to sit (not squeeze) next to each other while offering more leg room. Trunk space is a good 519-liters.
Honda air conditioning is good enough to cool even the passengers in the back. Though the V and RS variants add in ventilation for the rear passengers.
The 2021 Honda City 1.5 S CVT we drove in Lunar Silver Metallic is priced at P888,000 which is slightly lower than other brands in the same class with the same displacement. This actually makes it reasonably priced for a Honda, and it will probably hold its value better, well into its life, and that’s its strength.
So does it make you want to upgrade your life? At this price/category it might be time to consider a Honda. It has sophistication. Sportiness? Well, if you get the RS variant or kit it out with original Modulo accessories, that too.