2009 Honda City [ARCHIVED]

**mm15744** · January 8th, 2009 09:41 PM

And also, based on customers feedback, mas malakas sa gasolina ang 1.3 jazz at 09 dahil daw under powered kc di na cvt? Eh di lalo na tong city na toh na mukhang lumaki ang body...think think think wag padala sa emotion guys....

**suysuy** · January 8th, 2009 09:59 PM

kasalanan talaga ng 5speedAT yan hehe. pero nabasa ko less than .30 daw ang drag coefficient ng city. nasa youtube yung video hanapin niyo. sayang talaga di na CVT

and i agree, kung di lang maganda yung looks, hihindiin ko ito agad. ok din engine kaso naging conventional ang transmission

and ang daming inomit sa philippine model. tingnan ninyo yung sa india at malaysia.

**daimengrui** · January 8th, 2009 10:08 PM

I also went there and here are my observations:

Exterior - Finally Honda addressed the City's relative curse of being the ugliest sedan in its line. The design is comparable to the FCX Clarity. The arrow design philosophy seems to apply well to this particular iteration. The chrome door handles, side mirror turn lamps and the alloy wheels are a welcome change. The BMW 3 series tail lamps and design is also nice. The front grille is somewhat acceptable, good thing there is a Mugen body kit for those that don't like it. The only thing that seems bad in the exterior is the cheap plastic frame surrounding the car door windows, not only does it look cheap it also seems to be easily cracked with one wrong slam. On the good note, I'm loving the Polished Metal color.

Interior - Now this is a major letdown but I have an idea why Honda made some bad decisions. The top trim City's interior is somewhat tacky. It doesn't seem to be a top trim at all. No leather options, the door moulding finish and the dashboard plastics look cheap and uninspired. The audio control/panel design is bland and 1990ish. They also omitted the on steering wheel audio controls and the back seat umbrella compartment they oh so brag about in Thailand. I think Honda opted more to improve function over comfort because on the plus side, the leg room for both back and front seats are superior. The head clearance is also sizeable. And the most fantastic discovery is the humungous trunk space which is even bigger than the Civic's. Also plus points for having side mirror automatic controls and push button start/stop AND the height adjustable driver's seat and adjustable steering wheel. So yeah the Honda guys opted for function than luxury. The trunk lighting can get a little more work though.

Engine and Features - The 1.5 Li and 1.3 Li i-VTEC engines are enough IMO for intra island driving. The new City has a curb weight of 1150 kgs making it nearly as large as the Civic which is 1205 kgs. The used to be unreachable below 1m paddle shifters feature is now available for those who will avail the 1.5E at 806K.

Why would you buy the Honda City?
- Fuel Economy is important to you
- You are more of a city driver than a highway driver 90-80% city roads usage.
- You do not want to pay 50-120k thousand more for a Civic that doesn't have a paddle shifter or chrome door handles or side mirror turn lamps and consumes on average 8-10km/Li. Honestly the biggest brouhaha here is that the legroom for both Civic and City IMO is only an inch or two difference and if you're a small driver you can save more space.
- You want to use the excess 50-120k you did not use to buy a Civic (Plus the fuel savings you had in next year or two) to buy Mugen body kits and improvements to your city.

**suysuy** · January 8th, 2009 10:13 PM

*daim

waiiiit. hehe. start stop button? whats that? im thinking of it as an engine start stop button? hindi de susi???

**suysuy** · January 8th, 2009 10:14 PM

*daim

waiiiit. hehe. start stop button? whats that? im thinking of it as an engine start stop button? hindi de susi???

**mm15744** · January 8th, 2009 10:24 PM

Chinang china ang dating sa akin ng dash lalo na yung head unit set kaya it resulted to cheapy look rather than elegant look...tingnan nyong mabuti....hindi kaya Chinese na yung interior designer city 09...

Naalala ko tuloy yung binili kong mini component sa muslim na ang tatak eh akira, kakulay at ka looks ng head unit ng city na to.

my 2 cents

**HondaBoy™** · January 9th, 2009 12:28 AM

I think its to pricey... The base model should have an alloy wheel for its price

**haz117** · January 9th, 2009 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by xTrememan

I don't like the new city... hehe! Yung interior nagmukhang cheap and no more beige colors! The price is just not right... bibili nalang ako ng Honda Civic kung ganun lang ang presyo. Although lumaki naman yung bagong Honda City yun lang nagandahan ko.

I agree, "cheap" yung interior mukang vios... don't like na grille

.. mukang malalaos agad. Naaliw lang ako sa trunk space duh.

**morpheuzzz** · January 9th, 2009 09:43 AM

Hi guys, I've been lurking on this thread for quite a while since I bought my 1.3 S M/T back in August. At the time, Honda was still extremely secretive about the 2009 City. But I have no regrets not waiting for the new one because I love what I have in spite off the much-maligned body design. In short, it serves my needs very well. I's quick-footed and quite fuel-efficient. And I'm glad I got the last update of this outgoing model, because normally it would be the best one of all for the most part.

I was keenly watching out when I started hearing about the 09 model change, especially when the spy photos were being leaked. I did feel envious about the Civic-lifted steering wheel and updated dashboard, I must admit. I'm still wondering though, why Honda kept this new generation low key compared to the new Jazz, which was hyped up like crazy. Especially since they finally decided to present a new City based on its very own engineering platform and stopped borrowing from the Jazz. And they seriously corrected the look of the body to address all the criticism from the old one. Oh well, I don't know if that's because the City is primarily an Asian market model unlike the worldwide available Jazz. And up until the day of the event, the sales execs of Honda Phil. were either clueless about the price, or were under a severe gag order.

When I saw it two days ago, I have to say it was quite impressive. The crystal black color under the bright lights was show car quality IMHO, plus the polished metal tone is outstanding. And ABS being standard for the entire line is a plus. The price, on the other hand, is not so. It costs almost 100K more. Granted, economic downturns dictate these numbers, but 676K for steel rims is still a rip-off. And I was surprised to realize that the 1.3 S AT Jazz is 9k cheaper than the City's equivalent. It used to be the other way around. Must be the fact that they are now two different cars in every sense and not just hatchback vs. sedan variants of the same car. My family has been thinking of getting another City after the satisfaction with mine. But with the lower priced Jazz having more ooommpphh overall, we'll probably get that instead. I already have the big trunk with mine anyway.

**gen8 civic** · January 9th, 2009 09:43 AM

Dont like the interior din.Tagal ko pa naman inantay new city.Mag civic na lang ako 1.8v at 870k less 30k vs sa 806k na totl city,dami pa freebies.90% highway driving naman route ko.