Honda City vs BMW 3 Series

What's the difference?

Small sedan sales are on the wane, and as a result, the cars that remain in the market often aren’t the best in a brand’s lineup.

This is the case with the Honda City. While it’s got plenty of space for passengers and it’s economical, the performance of the drivetrain in terms of composure leaves a lot to be desired.

The underdone steering, too, makes the car uncomfortable for passengers more often than not, while the buggy, hard-to-use multimedia system is unforgivable in an almost-$22,000 car.

Put it this way… the larger, newer, more refined base model Honda Civic is tantalisingly close in price to the top-spec City, and we know which side of the dealership we’d be walking towards.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the BMW 320i M Sport. It’s fun to drive and I felt connected to what the car was doing on the road. The harder ride may not appeal to some but I didn’t mind it. The cosy back seat and boot mean it will probably suit a smaller family best and one which doesn’t have to worry about carrying a lot of gear around regularly, but it suited my needs just fine.

I reckon this is a car for those drivers who don’t want to compromise on performance but still have a kid or two. If you’re after the cushioned comfort of a Merc, this won’t appeal but I didn't want to give this one back and happily give it a firm 8/10.

My son liked the sports car looks and enjoyed the amenities in his row. He gives it a 10/10.

The City does a good job of disguising the fact that it’s a micro-sized sedan; at first glance, the revised front bar and grille that’s meant to mimic the one on the new Civic does such a good job that some people will need to look at the bootlid badge to find out it’s not a Civic.

A high waistline and a solid yet stylish sweep over the roof keep the City from looking overly twee, and even though the 16-inch wheels look a bit narrow, the overall impression is one of a larger car.

The interior, too, is spacious and airy, while the controls and steering wheel give the City an upmarket feel. There’s a little too much grey plastic inside, and hard plastics aren’t difficult to spot, but the City presents well, on the whole.

Sharper than its predecessor, the new 320i has LED everything with the rear lights being longer and curving around to the sides of the car.

The classic 'kidney' grille is darkened and more pronounced, with the black panelling extending to the rear to create an unapologetically sporty presence. A presence that’s accentuated by the twin exhausts.

The batcave interior with its black headliner, black seats… black everything, looks smart and stylish.

You do have a fair bit of harder touchpoints throughout but the customisable ambient lighting helps to soften the overall effect.

With its 2068mm width, 4709mm length and 1435mm height, the sedan makes its presence known without feeling cumbersome to manoeuvre. Urban dwellers need not fear their local car park!

Up front, the City is a great fit even for taller drivers, and its height-adjustable seat also means that the, err, less vertically inclined pilot can find a comfortable position behind the tilt-and-reach adjustable wheel.

A regular gear shifter and manual handbrake means the two cupholders are squashed under the centre console, but there are bottle holders in all four doors, as well as two more cupholders in the rear centre armrest in the VTi-L.

The VTi-L also gains two extra 12-volt accessory power points in the rear to complement the USB and a third 12V point up front, while the keyless entry system is not something you’d usually find on a car at this price point.

Sadly, the City’s multimedia system lets the side down - big time. Try as we might, we couldn’t connect a phone to our tester, no matter what we did, and it’s just utterly unintuitive to use in most situations.

It’s a bit of a rude shock, actually; most manufacturers have media systems sorted, but there’s simply not a even a half-decent one in any Honda that’s currently on sale. And there's no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, though you can find those mirroring systems in the larger Civic.

Rear seating has adequate headroom – just – for taller teens, and there isn’t a lot of compromise required from front seaters to comfortably accommodate four people. Five? That’s getting crowded, but it can be done.

Two ISOFIX baby seat fixtures are present, along with three top-tether mounts. Boot space measures 536 litres - which is actually 12 litres bigger than that of the new Camry - while both rear seats fold flat(ish) to increase load capacity further.

A good point; the seats can be unlatched via boot-mounted buttons. A bad point; you still have to reach in and push the seats down by hand. A space saver spare nestles under the boot floor, as well.

For such a sleek looking sedan, it’s generous up front with plenty of head and legroom.

You can adjust the seat to sit quite low and both front seats have extendable under-thigh supports, which should excite taller drivers. 

My 189cm (6’2”) brother has the 328i and is very comfortable but taller front passengers will encroach on back seat passenger comfort.

The front seats are quite firm on the backside, they also lack adjustable lumbar support, so expect to stretch the kinks out on a longer trip.

The amenities and tech feel well thought out and easy enough to use. The 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system looks great and has the best-looking graphics I’ve sampled.

The BMW system is intuitive to use once you get used to it. If you’re not interested in using the touchscreen, you can also utilise the rotary-wheel for menu selections.

There’s also Bluetooth connectivity, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus built-in satellite navigation.

The 12.3-inch digital instrument panel is customisable and the information displayed simply but you won’t really look at it because of the head-up display.

Front occupants enjoy a wireless charging pad for their smart phone, a USB-A and USB-C port plus a 12-volt socket. Rear passengers get a couple of USB-C ports, too.

The storage is good for this size sedan but overall passenger room takes priority, but the glove box and middle console will suffice for everyday use.

While it may not excite others, I love the big bottle holders in the doors. They’re large enough for my big 1.5L bottle and angled for easy access. These are found in the rear doors as well.

Back seat passengers enjoy climate control, directional air vents, two cupholders, netted map pockets and reading lights.

My six-year old was happy with the amenities and lower ground clearance because he felt comfortable and had his independence.

The boot offers a good capacity of 480L and the aperture isn’t too narrow, so you can comfortably access items if they roll to the back.

I had plenty of room for my little family’s needs but if you’re a larger family, you may need to get strategic with gear storage.

Being a base model, you do miss out on a powered tailgate, which is a shame but not too much of an issue given this is a sedan and the lid isn’t heavy.

There’s also no spare tyre or even a puncture repair kit but you have run-flats, so you should be able to limp to a service centre if need be.

There are seven variants for the BMW 3 Series sedan and our model is the base model for the petrol variants.

There is a plug-in hybrid version, the 330e, if you’re after a more fuel-efficient option but it will up the price by about $20K.

As it stands the 320i M Sport is $78,900, before on-road costs. Our model has been finished in 'M Brooklyn Grey', which adds $1539 to the price.

That puts it at a similar price point as its rivals. You get a well-specified package with the M Sport but it doesn’t have the same sense of cushioned comfort as the Merc does, but more on that later.

Still, the sporty and streamlined interior is headlined by BMW’s dual 12.3-inch screens that sit propped on the dash like a futuristic cockpit.

The mix of synthetic leather and cloth seats are electric and have adjustable side bolsters for when you want to go hard in a turn.

The interior also boasts a sunroof and wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto. There are some other highlights like the 18-inch alloy wheels, leather steering wheel and the crystal-clear head-up display, to name a few. 

The i-VTEC four-cylinder 1.5-litre single cam engine is naturally aspirated, and it makes its 88kW at a high 6600rpm, while its modest 145Nm of torque peaks at 4600rpm.

It means the CVT gearbox needs to work pretty hard to get the best from the engine, which has been superseded by a twin-cam version in other markets.

The 320i M Sport has the ‘baby’ engine in the 3 Series line-up but the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo-petrol powertrain still delivers on power with a maximum output of 135kW/300Nm. 

This is a rear-wheel drive and has an eight-speed auto-transmission which delivers very smooth gear changes.

Despite having the smaller engine, it can still go from 0-100km/h in just 7.4 seconds.

The underdone performance does offer a benefit at the petrol pump, with the City returning a claimed 5.9 litres per 100km on the combined fuel economy cycle.

A 320km test loop netted us a dash-indicated figure of 6.3 litres per 100km, which is impressively close.

The 40-litre fuel tank is happy to accept standard unleaded petrol, too.

In a world with rising fuel prices, the efficiency of this decently powered sedan should excite you.

The official combined fuel cycle is 6.5L/100km. Real world testing saw my figure at 7.4L/100km after a mix of open-road and urban driving this week.

I thought that was great for how hard I drove it and for the power, you won’t be wincing when you put your foot down. I would expect it to be higher in an urban setting.

The 320i has a 59L fuel tank and based on the official combined cycle figure, you should get just over 900km of driving range, which is great, especially if you do 'roadies' like me!

Weighing just 1100kg, you’d expect the 1.5-litre powered City to have a bit of get up and go… but unfortunately it’s already gotten up and left by the time you drive off.

The 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine is a carryover unit from the previous generation, and it feels like it, too. It’s also teamed with a CVT gearbox that isn’t a patch on more up-to-date trannies from the likes of Subaru and Toyota.

On any sort of incline, the CVT ups the revs of the engine to a point between bloody annoying and mildly painful, too. The VTi can be ordered with a manual gearbox, which has to be better than the CVT in this example.

The underdamped suspension tune is adequate for light duties around town, but the electric steering feel very odd underhand, especially at the very beginning of a turn.

There’s a big initial motion at the front wheels when you start to turn which then quickly tapers off, meaning that you have to be ultra precise with your steering to prevent the City from lurching into the corner and falling over its soft suspension.

On light throttle, with no hills and few corners, though, the City is just fine…

There's a lot that I like about how this performs but a highlight is how eagerly the car responds when you accelerate.

However, it’s not unbridled power. There’s no bucking at the front or shuddering through the steering wheel. It’s controlled but still very fun.

The lower centre of gravity and coupe-like height of this does mean it handles corners well and the bolstered seats hold you firmly into place, meaning you can be free to drive this a little harder than you might normally. Which I did and can confirm it handles itself well.

This has the M Sport suspension, which means it’s stiff, but you feel very connected to the road.

You do get a lot of talk-back from bumps in the road but unless you hit a big pothole, you never feel rattled by them.

But it is a harder ride than other luxury models, which doesn’t bother me as I like the handling, but if you want limo-like comfort, look elsewhere.

The cabin is very nice to spend a lot of time in and relatively quiet, even at higher speeds.

The 11.4m turning circle and sleek dimensions makes it very handy to park, even in tight car parks. The nose is long but the front and rear parking sensors take out any ‘will I make it’ moments and the super clear reversing camera is great. 

The safety list includes a suite of features and the following come as standard: adaptive cruise control, auto emergency braking (operational from 5.0-210km/h), blind-spot monitoring, speed sign recognition, forward collision warning, SOS emergency call button, daytime running lights and rear cross-traffic alert.

I like the intelligent seatbelt reminder and that the bonnet is considered 'active', meaning it will lift up and away from the engine if the sensors detect that a pedestrian has been hit.

However, I have to call out the lane departure and keeping aids. It’s a hit or miss system and I tested it extensively this week once I noticed it.

You can customise the sensitivity levels and even on the highest sensitivity, it works too sporadically for my liking. BMW should improve this system for future instalments.

The 3 Series has been awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating but it was done a while ago in 2019. It only has seven airbags and is missing the newer front centre airbag. 

There are ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard seats and three top tether anchor points but the back seat is a bit too narrow to comfortably fit three child seats side by side.

You'll be able to fit a 0-4 rearward facing child seat but may struggle if you're a tall family.

Honda sells the City with a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, while a no-catch seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty is occasionally offered with its cars, along with premium roadside assistance for the life of the longer warranty.

Both warranties are also transferable to the next owner, should you sell your car before the warranty expires.

A fixed-price servicing regime is in place for the City, too, starting at $259 and peaking at $297. But Honda asks for the City to be serviced every six months or 10,000km, which does add to the cost of running the car.

The 320i comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, which is standard for this class.

You can choose between a three- or five-year capped-priced servicing plan. The five-year plan costs just $2150, or $430 a year, which is competitive for this class.

Like other BMWs, servicing intervals are condition-based, with the car letting you know when it needs to be serviced.