Yeehah! There’s a new VTEC in town. But hang on: can the City’s Mr Clean image stretch to include a rev-hungry engine? Vardhan Kondvikar takes it for a spin.

Frrrrr-rrr-rrroaw… This VTEC sounds very nice you know, at least once you get it above 4,000rpm. The needle of that handsome new Opti-tron rev-counter starts racing north now, with the opening of four more valves giving you a (slightly muted) whump, the engine management switching from ‘tootle mode’ to ‘nutter.’ Honda insists it’s made the step more gradual than in the peaky old City, but it’s there all right. The redline’s a bit lower, with emphasis on driveability than shrieking performance, but it’s a fast car. We hit an indicated 190 (!), and according to Honda, fuel economy’s just two percent worse than the i-DSI’s. Not a bad engine, all things considered.
And Honda’s done well with the styling, too. It’s a subtle but extensive Bo Derek job, and will help a lot under the showroom lights. The old City’s problem was that it was hunchbacked (for a reason), and that it had a wedge-like nose and a substantial rump (for no good reason.) “It looked like a big, fat hen from the rear,” was Dhaval’s accurate assessment.
Now, they’ve made the nose just a bit more imposing and the rear less bulky, to redress that balance. The bonnet bulges a bit more now, with deeper bevels along the ‘V,’ with a rather large grille and slimmer, almond-eyed headlamps that give the impression of a bigger face. The VTEC has foglamps in the revised bumper, which looks better still. The tail’s vastly better: a new, more sculpted bumper, with a big chunk lopped off the bottom, looks much lighter and tighter than the frumpy old one. The new, longer tail-lights look quite nice as well, with their round elements and all, and if they’ve been cribbed from the BMW 6-Series we really shouldn’t complain, because they do make the City look less like it escaped from a Star Trek sketch. It’ll never make us weep with joy when we see it, but at least we won’t shield our eyes while following one in traffic any more. The guys at Honda should be proud.
Instead, they looked uncomfortable. In a press trip that favoured engineering talk over PR-babble, the only moment of doublespeak was when I asked them what the point of the VTEC was. “Customers… er… best balance… er… dynamic something…” Not good. There was no such thing with the old VTEC: it was a hooligan, pure and simple, with no pretence of satisfying the widest range of customers. It wasn’t very driveable and had a distinct step in performance, but at least when the performance arrived it did so with a very exciting bang, with lots of screaming and popping – and the rest of the car was geared up for that assault. It made sense. This, however, is a strictly urban car – so why does it need Expressway performance? It’s not particularly good at high speeds. Sure I did 190, but that was at least 70kph too fast in this car, which shudders and jiggles even in mild crosswinds, and has neither the chassis nor the tyres for that. It positively hates bends, the steering still has no feel, and though disc brakes front and rear may be a class first, they’re still awful, with a smidge more feel than the old setup, but dismal stopping power and a tendency to lock up.
And here’s the bad bit about the VTEC: driveability may have improved over the last one, but that wasn’t of a particularly high standard either. Pull out from behind a truck on the highway and zoom, the car behind you has passed you again, leaving you stranded in the path of that monster. It’s not funny. And it’s frustrating in town too, and you have to drop down at least a gear, sometimes two, to remind the engine it’s supposed to propel you forward. A big, smooth engine is fine in a long- distance car like an Accord, but what’s the point of it on your office commute?
The i-DSI fits in far better with the City’s philosophy. Driveability (never a problem anyway) is even better now, and though it remains somewhat over-eager, it makes for a very effective urban commuter, very easy to plough through stop-go traffic. There’s also a much-improved ride now, less noisy and less prone to harsh secondary vibrations, which is great in town. Add that soulless but light steering, a well-sorted CVT and a comfy cabin, and it works. Clinically, but it works.
The VTEC doesn’t, not as well. Perhaps, to be honest, we hacks are to blame: we threw such a tantrum over the old car’s demise that Honda said “Oh, all right” and gave us one, even though it’s patently unsuited to the new car. Honda believes it’ll sell extremely well as an upmarket mid-sizer, better than the niche-market old VTEC, and who are we to argue if they’re right?
For our part though, we’ll stick to the humbler car, gives it to a wife or girlfriend who hates the business of driving, and quite possibly live happily ever after. With a second-hand old VTEC in our half of the garage…