2015 Honda City Reviews

Although it was never a huge seller, the GM2 (Honda’s in-house code) Honda City four-door sedan was eventually replaced by the GM6 model, and with that update came a bigger car in pretty much every direction, further differentiating the City from the more popular Honda Jazz hatchback.The GM6 City was both longer and taller than the car it replaced and, crucially, there was an extra 50mm in the wheelbase, giving both a larger cabin and more boot space. Clearly, Honda had worked out that City buyers were a pragmatic bunch.Mechanically, not much had changed, though, and the 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with its fairly meagre 88kW remained the only choice. You could still get a five-speed manual, but only in the entry-level version, and just about everybody who bought a City brand new specified the continuously variable transmission (CVT) anyway.Trim levels were also unchanged with the VTi the base version and the VTi-L for those who had a bit more to spend. The VTi-L step-up got you paddle shifters for the CVT (an affectation, to be sure) a leather-clad steering wheel, better stereo and 16-inch alloy wheels. Curiously, the VTi had simple, steel wheels of 15 inches.Generally, yes. Even though the City is built in Thailand and not Honda’s home-base of Japan, quality seems pretty good. You also get Honda’s engineering flair in the case of the zingy little engine with its variable valve timing and great fuel economy. But that doesn’t mean the City will appeal to keener drivers out there; the suspension is too soft and the steering too slow for that.If you don’t need the arguably more versatile packaging of a hatchback, then the City’s roomy interior and boot makes plenty of sense.Just bear in mind that `good’ doesn’t mean sexy.But in this case it does mean safe and the City scored the maximum five stars for safety in local independent testing.Like the vast majority of Hondas built anywhere in the world, the City seems to be pretty robust and able to go the distance. That, however, is on the proviso that it’s been maintained, but that goes for any make and model.Overall, instances of major failures and owner complaints are few and far between.Probably the most common problem exhibited by the Honda City is a CVT that shudders on take-off or slips or jerks when the driver applies a load to the driveline. The good news is that, unlike many CVTs from other makers, the Honda’s unit is a lot stronger (possibly due to the fact that Honda makes its own CVT to its own standards) and problems like these are often fixed with a change of transmission fluid to replace the old, dirty fluid.The exception is the model year 2014 City, a batch of which was fitted with an incorrect shaft within the transmission. Under high loads, this shaft could sheer off, leaving the vehicle with either no drive at all, or locked front wheels. A Honda dealer can check the VIN of a particular City and know whether it was affected by this.Most experts reckon the CVT fluid should be changed every 50,000km to keep everything running smoothly and reduce wear to a minimum.The exception to this good track record will be the City that has been neglected in regards to its routine maintenance. The complex little engine uses a maze of tiny oilways to power its variable valve timing and lift function (which gives the engine its sparkle). But if regular servicing has been missed, these oilways can soon fill up with sludge and dirt, at which point the engine can’t perform properly.The City also uses a timing chain, so that component should last the life of the car and not need periodic replacement like a toothed rubber belt in many other makes and models.The City GM6 was recalled twice, the first for that CVT with the dodgy internal shaft that could fail at any time. The other recall was for a batch of cars built across 2019 and 2020, in which the electric fuel pump could suddenly die, leaving you stranded wherever that failure occurred.You can search for more recall data at: https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/That 2014 batch of Citys with the iffy shaft in their CVT are the ones to avoid now. Although if the car has been fixed as part of the associated safety recall, then the modified City should be just as robust as any other City. But if the City you’re looking at is a manual-transmission car, disregard the above as it was only the CVT that was affected.Beyond that, buy on condition and service history rather than build date.The majority of Citys have never strayed too far from the, er, city. Nor have they been embraced by couriers and Uber drivers, so you don’t see too many with a lot of kilometres on board.That said, there’s absolutely no reason to think that a well-serviced City won’t push through the 200,000km mark with lots of life left in it. In any case, a high percentage of Citys for sale right now have less than 100,000km on their odometers, suggesting lots of reliable motoring still to be had.We’d often advise against the version of any car with a CVT, but the Honda’s in-house CVT seems a lot better than most of the rest out there. So there’s no problem with a City with two pedals if that makes life easier. It will certainly make the car a lot easier to unload come trade-in time, too.And since the price difference between the VTi and the ritzier VTi-L version is a lot less now than when the car was brand new, there seems little reason not to opt for the more luxurious latter variant as a second-hand buy.Prices for early GM6 Citys start at around the $9000 or $10,000 mark, but they’ll nearly always be high-mileage cars (say, 160,000km or more, if that bothers you).Prices top out at closer to mid-to-high teens and for that, you’ll be buying a low-kilometre car in excellent condition. Just don’t forget to check the service history.Even though the City was not a huge seller here, parts and servicing are no problem. You can tap into the Honda dealer network and pay a little more, but the popularity of the Honda brand means there’s a huge aftermarket and enthusiast scene for the brand.Global popularity for Honda products generally means there’s also a healthy online marketplace for sourcing spare parts, service items and accessories.The City sales story is one of steadily falling volumes as the years have passed. Although the car sold a few thousand units in its first year or two of sales, buy the end of 2019, that figure had fallen to just over 600 sales for the year.That’s not a judgment on the Honda, but the reality of the small sedan market in this country as we shifted to hatchbacks and, notably, SUVs.

Honda City sits into the space between the Jazz and Civic hatches and acts as a sedan option for both, City has never been a particularly big seller since arriving here in 2009. A $20,000 price tag for that first model certainly didn't help and $4000 was eventually cut to bring to a more realistic price.The latest (second generation) model City, launched here in mid-2014, comes with a range of new features including continuously variable transmission (CVT), a more fuel-efficient engine and a smartphone-based multimedia system; all in a larger but sleeker body.The new City delivers excellent value for money through fuel economy and top-line specification levels, the latter the result of the Japanese manufacturer trawling the world to discover how owners use their vehicles, what they like and dislike, how they live and what are their future plans.A common theme emerged: their reliance on smartphones, which travel with them constantly, hence the truly integrated experience on offer with the new City.The car comes powered by Honda's upgraded 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine in three versions – VTi manual and automatic and VTi-L automatic – coming to market from $15,990 to $21,885, plus on-road costs.The City follows fashion with the sedan curving front to back in a way that copies coupe shapes. The nose-down front emphasises the vehicle width with an aero-style bumper and incorporated air inlets.A strong so-called character line connects front and rear and is distinguishable, says the maker, equally in bright sunlight or cloudy conditions. Flared rear wheel arches add substance to the profile, while the rear lamp clusters are brought together by a chrome licence plate surround.While keeping within the confines of smaller sized sedan models, the City has expanded internally with an extended wheelbase. The spacious interior can seat five adults in relative comfort with significant increases in head, leg and shoulder room over the previous model.At the rear, the already huge boot has got even bigger in size, up 30 litres to a whopping 536-litre capacity. Honda rates it at four in the golf bag scale.Central to the Honda Display Audio system is the seven-inch colour touch screen, centrally located on the dashboard in easy reach of the driver and front-seat passenger.It enables Bluetooth connectivity for Apple and Android smartphones, including audio streaming, plus HDMI audio and video playback, the latter with the vehicle at a standstill and the handbrake on.Display Audio also integrates Apple's Siri reducing the time the driver needs to take eyes off the road. Compatible iPhone users, via Bluetooth, can operate Siri with voice command by holding down the Talk button on the steering wheel.By downloading an app, satellite navigation can be stored on a smartphone as opposed to the hardware of an in-car system. This sets the user free to have a navigation system in the car or elsewhere, providing more mobility.A roomy cabin put occupants at easeThe 1.5-litre SOHC four-cylinder petrol engine carries over from the previous City with power and torque unchanged at 88kW and 145Nm respectively. However, new lightweight technologies and the use of the CVT reduce fuel consumption to a combined city/highway figure of 5.7L/100km.An Eco Assist function helps the driver keep fuel consumption to a minimum by monitoring driving style using the outer ring of the speedometer. A blue light changes to green as fuel efficiency is increased by the driving mode.Further help comes in the shape of an Econ system which is connected at the push of a button. This remaps the drive-by-wire throttle system to maximise fuel economy.Active safety is covered by ABS braking, electronic brake-force distribution, emergency braking, vehicle stability assist with traction control and hill start assist. An emergency stop signal flashes the rear lights under hard braking, warning following drivers.Honda's long established ACE (Advanced Compatibility Engineering) body structure provides occupant protection in a variety of crash conditions, along with six airbags and front seat whiplash mitigating head restraints.A reversing camera is standard in all models and includes three modes: normal, wide, and top-down. Rear parking sensors are a $450 option.It has an impressive list of standard features, many of which are rare in a car of this classA roomy cabin put occupants at ease for the test vehicle take-off, which was smooth enough in Normal mode. However, the engine struggled in Econ under hard acceleration. Up to speed the engine appeared to be holding back, which, of course, it was in a bid to save fuel.Under test the City recorded fuel consumption of 4.5L/100km on the motorway, 10.0L/100km around town. In Econ consumption was 6.8 in the suburbs and, again 4.5 on the open road, so the Econ mode certainly works well.According to Honda, at 536 litres, the new City boot is larger than that of the preceding model (506 litres) and is larger than many large sedans including the Holden Commodore. While that's big enough to take large objects, the boot opening however is not, which makes loading and unloading some objects awkward.When open, the hatch leaves its lower edge in a horizontal position just above eye level. More than once on test the lid was given a nudge by the noggin while dropping stuff into the boot.