Having seen off the competition in the burgeoning C-segment with its stunning second generation City, Honda Siel Cars is poised to add muscle to its best-seller by launching the hot 110PS VTEC-engined City later this year. So is a flirtatious flash of the evocative VTEC tag on the rump of this fiery Honda enough to inject more sex into the City? Adil Jal Darukhanawala finds out after an exhilarating drive session in Bangkok.

OVERDRIVE’s Car of the Year 2004, the Honda City iDSI has had a wonderful run so far, gunning for glory not just with enthusiasts and upper C-segment punters but also in the mind share stakes vis-a-vis the competition. Of course it is a radical departure from the previous bearer of the City name plate but given the practicality of the car’s design, its great all-round capability and the typical Honda attention to detail plus a very competitive price tag, it yet continues to draw in big numbers. So much so that a seven to nine week waiting period is what confronts most potential City slickers.
In the present scenario confronting the C-segment car buyer in India, more often than not it is difficult to unravel the best set of wheels for his money. While many do give overall aesthetics and glam a major priority, the slightly quirky treatment of the City’s rear end surely indicates that looks sometimes do take a backseat to practicality and economy, particularly when it comes to parting a car buyer from his hard-earned cash.
However, there is a certain irony in the ongoing success saga of the second generation City. It is a package which bears no resemblance or feel to its predecessor which built up its reputation on sterling performance, superb handling and sportiness. The competition was quick to fire salvo after salvo proclaiming new pretenders to the C-segment performance throne and even with the lack of horses under its hood, the brilliantly packaged second generation City has confounded the competition and continues to roll in the numbers for its maker

And there could be more trouble lurking just round the corner - for the competition - because Honda has just launched VTEC power to sex up its new babe in the south-east Asian markets. The smart money has it that it will be more a matter of when and not if for Honda Siel Cars to bring this hot 110PS City to India and in the process reinvigorate the faithful who worshipped at the Temple of VTEC.
The City VTEC was launched a month ago in Thailand and I was able to drive the car in Bangkok while my colleagues from split second media in Singapore got behind the wheel of the fiery red number draped on these pages. It is a very different way of life in their part of the world, where the City is sold alongside the stylish and well proportioned Jazz (Fit). Apart from the familiarity and ‘comfort’ of the three-box shape in this conservative market, the Thai-made City is priced a little lower than the Jazz, which often leads to the conclusion that the City is offering ‘more body for the money’, even to the extent that the odd looks of the City are conveniently overlooked.
With the VTEC variant of the City available, it now seems that potential City owners will have as good a time flashing their ‘rear’ as the generously rearward proportioned wobble-bottom, Beyonce Knowles! The evocative ‘VTEC’ badge now proudly adorns the queer end of the City VTEC and as the drive reveals, there’s a whole lot more on offer than just an eye-catching tag, which I’m sure, should find its way on a whole host of i-DSIs even in India before long!
But let’s cut to the chase and zero in on the VTEC engine which is all new. Well, new to take in the VTEC headgear because that is what it all is about. Injecting the City with the evocative VTEC tag will certainly help Honda Siel to get in additional sales for all those who loved the earlier City for all the right reasons. The VTEC technology that has long been associated with Honda’s high-revving, banshee-screaming legends, like the EK9 Civic Type R, DC2/DB8 Integra Type R and the EG/EK SIR to name just a few in the south east Asian markets while gems like the Accord 2.4 and 3.0 V6 also do pack in this great gear. Available in both manual and CVT guise, the City VTEC is powered by a SOHC VTEC engine displacing 1497cc. The 16-valve cylinder head is a brand new unit, but the engine block is carried over from the 1.5-litre i-DSI unit. Producing 110PS at 5800rpm and 143Nm at 4800rpm, the 1000kg plus car feels reasonably sprightly off the mark, and the slick-shifting gear-change is a joy to use. As has happened before as well, the City VTEC might not offer the full power monty in India, being tailored differently in the induction department to make do with our inconsistent fuel quality but one can rest assured that it will have at least one hundred genuine Honda horses on tap when it hits showrooms late this year.
What I found rather surprising was the fact that Honda also offers the City VTEC with the CVT transmission as an option to the five-speed manual which is the standard fitment gearbox. While we have nothing against the CVT which works brilliantly well in our environment (and notably is just as fuel efficient as the manual) and also in the south east Asian markets, for a performance-oriented machine I think the 5-speed manual should be the logical and obvious choice. However, initial reports from both Thailand and Singapore confirm that sales have been split down the middle between the CVT and the manual! Maybe it is a sign of the times not to mention traffic density dictating such a trend.
In fact, I drove the City VTEC with the top of the line 7-speed mode CVT enabled by the Steermatic switches on the steering wheel (this detail yet to appear on Citys earmarked for our market) and came back pretty well dumbfounded. I thought there would be some element of slippage or whine but the CVT grabbed well and really hurtled the car with some zest as I put her through the paces on the freeway leading out of Bangkok. Compared to the i-DSI variant, the City VTEC seems to have lost the immediacy of having a generous pool of low-end torque, although the clean-revving unit unhesitatingly races its way up the rev-band towards the 6250rpm red-line. The buzzy nature of the VTEC gear working its magic was apparent and I longed to lay my hands on a car with the 5-speed manual to see what sort of feel it delivered and whether it was anywhere near that accorded by the first generation City VTEC which yet remains a favourite of the majority of OVERDRIVE staffers.
However we got our friends from split second media in Singapore to do the deed for us and they were quite emphatic that the City VTEC is best experienced in manual form, as you really get to enjoy the thrill of eking every last ounce of performance from the gem of a motor as one works one’s way up to the 6250rpm red-line through the slick-shifting tranny. Even with a little over 40km on the clock, the engine revved cleanly and without hesitation. Our Singaporean pals felt the gear ratios could have been spaced a little closer for quicker sprints from junction to junction, but they did concur that the top cog was more than ideal for highway cruising. And when one reflects back on the overall performance potential all Honda VTEC engines pack in, they also aim for the best in class fuel efficiency even with the performance component on tap and it is the adoption of optimised gear ratios which helps the VTECs deliver the best of both worlds.
With a 180kmph plus max speed potential and a zero to 100kmph capability of around 13 seconds, Honda has realised the front discs, rear drums combo needed to be beefed up. There are new ventilated discs up front while at the rear the drum brakes have made way for solid discs. This new set-up works well to bring you to fuss-free halts. However in the particular example that I drove, a less than confidence-inspiring initial pedal feel didn’t encourage me to push it as hard as I otherwise would have been tempted to, especially when the red-mist has descended and I was just getting farther and farther away from Bangkok.
The car rides on front MacPherson struts and a rear torsion beam that is heavily biased towards comfort than performance. But there is still sufficient body control for you to explore the limits of the chassis while cornering. The City retains the electric power steering which to many enthusiast purists may seem a tad vague about the straight ahead position, but offers a decent level of feedback nonetheless as you push the car’s handling envelope while cornering.
The ride and handling settings provide a comfortable journey around town, and have just enough ability to make a series of corners interesting, albeit never more than can be comfortably dealt with by a novitiate. I however have to state that Honda Siel has craftily kept out certain crucial elements of the Thai-spec City away from us here in India. Stuff like ABS anti-lock brakes and EBD electronic brake force distribution system are lacking and one hopes that these make an appearance at least on the more powerful City VTEC.
Only the eagle-eyed Honda fanatics will notice the discreet visual embellishments over the i-DSI version that take the form of sporty new 15-inch alloys, understated VTEC badge on the rear rump and disc brakes on the rear wheels. Those snazzy alloys now come shod with 185/55 R15 radials and this is a major move up for the new City, making for a better planted feel.

Will the Civic make sense for India?
With the advent of the second generation City, Honda has priced its new baby perfectly to slot into a segment one notch lower than that occupied by its predecessor. In this process, there has opened up a big gap between the City at the lower end of the range and the Accord at the higher end, a gap which could be filled up admirably by the Civic.
The Civic is one of the most famous success stories for Honda in the world, having come in earlier than the Accord and been a tough competitor to the likes of the Toyota Corolla, a car which has done very well in India. The Civic is one of Honda’s best-sellers in Japan and also in the USA and as the Asian market matures, Honda is steadily introducing it in countries like Thailand, China and Malaysia to open out its range. The same could happen in India as well with 132PS 1.7-litre and 158PS 2.0-litre VTEC engined offerings coming our way later this year. Things have got pretty hectic in the lower end D-segment with the new Hyundai Elantra taking the challenge not just to the Chevrolet Optra and the Skoda Octavia but also to the Toyota Corolla (refer comparison test in this very issue) and Honda obviously sees that it can offer a serious challenge to all these exceptional automobiles. The present Civic is due for a complete makeover in late 2005 and Honda Siel Cars has to make the agonising choice of either to wait for the new car or to get its present Civic right away. The answer should pan out soon.