The City’s 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine hails from Honda’s Earth Dreams line of engines that focus on fuel efficiency and reduction in emission. It made its Indian début in the Amaze compact sedan and has been borrowed by the City without any change. However, it is mated to a slick six-speed manual gearbox instead of the Amaze’s five-speed transmission. The four-cylinder engine has a power output of 100 PS at 3,600 RPM and the peak torque of 200 Nm is available right from 1,750 RPM.
The car never feels dull in spite of the 100-kg increase in its weight as compared to the Amaze. It starts gathering momentum right from 1,500 RPM and unleashes the torque progressively, which makes it easy to manoeuvre it well in traffic. The City diesel isn’t a very quick car in its class, though, and tops out at 175 km/h. However, the compromise in performance has been fulfilled by fuel efficiency. The car returns 18 km/l when driven in urban conditions while at a constant cruising speed on the highway it stretches one litre of diesel to 24 kilometres. This brings the average fuel efficiency to a best-in-class 19.5 km/l and the 40-litre fuel-tank gives it an impressive range of 780 km.
However, the engine and road noise can be heard inside the cabin all the time. Barring that, we have no complaint about the cabin comfort. It is a spacious car that offers very good leg space for the rear passengers and the new puffy seats provide good support.
I am yet to drive a Honda car with bad vehicle dynamics and the new City diesel hasn’t changed my opinion. This front-wheel-driven car has a responsive steering and light handling. The suspension erases the bumps efficiently even at high speeds and there is very little body-roll in corners. However, the A-pillar still acts as a blind spot during right turns.
To answer the query we raised at the beginning of this article, the 2014 Honda City diesel is indeed in the same league as its ancestors. The most important development in this generation is, of course, the impressive diesel engine, which gives the City an equal standing in the segment while the upgraded feature list is always welcome. However, Honda haven’t really upped the game in terms of its standard, but with a price-tag of Rs 13.03 lakh (OTR, Pune), it is an expensive car in its class.
