Honda City 2015 News

Half-time is typically a time for reflection.With six months of 2015 gone — and the official sales results arriving last week — it's time to look at what was hot and what was not in showrooms this year.At a glance, small cars are out and tiny SUVs are in. Diesels and hybrids are out, and turbocharged petrol cars are in. Luxury brands are in demand, local cars are not.Honda and Isuzu sales are surging, Ford and Holden have hit new lows.Sales of baby SUVs are up by 23 per cent in the first half of the year, thanks to the arrival of new offerings from Mazda and Honda. The surprise last month was that Honda's HR-V outsold Mazda's CX-3, despite a get-in price that is $5000 more than the baby Mazda. Buyers are no doubt attracted by the roominess of the Honda's cabin, which shares the clever design of its donor vehicle, the Jazz. Mitsubishi has also benefited from the increased showroom interest in this type of vehicle, with sales of its ASX surging by more than 45 per cent.They share their underpinnings with the new breed of SUVs, but they haven't been hurt by their arrival. Honda again leads the charge, with sales of its City sedan and Jazz hatch surging. Sales of the all-new Mazda2 are also strong and it remains best-selling car in the class. Other models that have captured the imagination of buyers are the evergreen Suzuki Swift and Toyota Yaris, as well as the Volkswagen Polo, which is up by more than 50 per cent thanks to sharp pricing.Low interest rates mean that a luxury badge is now within reach of more car buyers. As a result Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus are all enjoying double-digit growth. Understandably, most of the action is at the lower end of the market, with models high on the shopping list including BMW's Mini (up 59 per cent) and Audi's A3 (up 23 per cent). BMW's new 2 Series coupe and Lexus's NX small SUV have also launched with a bang, but the biggest success story is CarsGuide's 2014 Car of the Year, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which has doubled its sales in the first half of the year.Somebody is cashing in on Australia's property boom, with sales of sports cars costing more than $200,000 rising more than 20 per cent, albeit off a low base. Ferrari and Lamborghini dealerships are busy this year, with Ferrari logging 95 local sales compared with 52 in the same period last year and Lamborghini jumping from just seven sales to 60. The segment's most popular car, the Porsche 911, also enjoyed solid growth. At the other end of the spectrum, sales of affordable sports cars slumped as the initial shine predictably wore off the Toyota 86, Subaru BRZ and Hyundai Veloster. That will change, though, when Mazda's all-new MX-5 arrives in the second half of the year.They're big news in Japan and Europe, but micro cars haven't captured the Australian car buying public's imagination. Despite the arrival of an all-new model in the Suzuki Celerio and a midlife update for the Nissan Micra, sales are down by almost a third.They're still the nation's car of choice, but the arrival of baby SUVs has put a dent in the popularity of the small-car brigade led by the Toyota Corolla and Mazda3. This time last year, the Mazda3 was the top-selling vehicle in Australia, but sales this year are down by almost 10 per cent, cannibalised by the newer and funkier CX-3. Toyota, which has no mini-SUV in its range, fared better with the Corolla, which almost held its own in a market segment that shrank by 10,000 cars.When locally made cars began to slide in popularity, most pundits said it was because they were too big and thirsty, but the figures show otherwise. Large cars are down by 14 per cent this year, but medium and large SUVs have enjoyed solid growth. Toyota's Camry, which has a hybrid version, has fared better than the rest of the locals, but the Holden Cruze small car has experienced a bigger sales slide than Ford's Falcon and Territory. Overall, the prognosis remains bleak. Australians bought almost as many German-made cars as locally-made ones in the first six months.The Europeans are mad for it — and most 4WD utes use it too — but Australians, it seems, don't like getting their hands dirty. After an initial spike in interest in diesel passenger cars and SUVs among private buyers and fleets between 2005 and 2010, the interest continues to wane. Sales of diesel passenger cars grew sixfold from 2005 to 2010, while diesel SUV sales more than doubled. But in the first six months of this year — and on the back of a decline last year — sales of diesel cars fell by more than a quarter. Diesel SUV sales were stagnant despite big growth in overall SUV sales.Honda - up 33.4 per centIsuzu - up 30.3 per centSkoda - up 30.2 per centRenault - up 30.1 per centLexus - up 24.9 per centFord - down 17.6 per centVolvo - down 16.6 per centFiat - down 16.4 per centHolden - down 8.9 per centNissan - down 0.6 per centToyota - 101,714 - up 0.6 per centMazda - 56,591 - up 9 per centHolden - 51,737 - down 8.9 per centHyundai - 50,099 - up 1 per centMitsubishi - 35,866 - up 9.8 per centFord - 34,810 - down 17.6 per centNissan - 32,950 - down 0.6 per centVolkswagen - 32,020 - up 12.1 per centSubaru - 21,659 - up 8.1 per centHonda 20,602 - up 33.4 per centToyota Corolla - 21,750Mazda3 - 20,427Toyota HiLux - 18,781Hyundai i30 - 15,801Ford Ranger - 14,144Holden Commodore - 13,769Mitsubishi Triton - 13,709Mazda CX-5 - 12,489Volkswagen Golf - 11,829Toyota Camry - 10,426

The Honda City is a relative newcomer to Australia – having been launched here in February this year – but is well-known overseas. It first appeared there in 1996, and since then has sold more than a million units in 39 countries around the world; a success rate that Honda hopes will be repeated in the Australian market.  In our market, the little sedan aims to bridge the gap left by not having a hatch in the popular Civic range except for the hot Type R. Drivetrains We tested both variants available here; the five-speed automatic VTi and the five-speed manual VTi-L, both of which are powered by a single overhead cam i-VTEC, in-line four-cylinder engine that develops 88kW of power at 6600rpm and 145Nm of torque at 4800rpm. Combined fuel consumption and emissions figures are the same again for both vehicles at 6.3l/100kms and 148g/km CO2 for the manual and 6.6l/100km and CO2 156g/km for the auto. Exterior The Thailand-built City sits on a stretched version of the Honda Jazz platform, gaining 50mm at the wheelbase and allowing for a sizeable boot capacity of 500 litres.  The car has been given the family’s `arrowshot’ face, with a strongly defined grille design set off by slim-line headlights.The City is a smart-looking sporty number with a gently tapering slope up from the nose to the B-pillar and a short, squared-off rump that owes its styling to Honda sedan DNA, but is also a shape that is useful and becoming more common as compact sedans grow in popularity.  The only real difference between the two City variants is that the VTi-L weighs 15kg more, has slightly bigger wheels and has chrome-plated door handles and exhausts. Interior The City comes with most of the cabin features you’d expect from a new small Honda these days. Air conditioning, power windows, cruise control a multi-information display and plenty of compartments for storage – including seven cup holders, are all standard. The front seats are fully reclinable and the rear seats split 60/40 and you also get a leather wrapped steering wheel and premium cloth trim in the VTi-L. Safety As well as a comprehensive air bag package, the City offers advanced compatibility engineering, anti-lock brakes, central locking, electronic brakeforce distribution and Honda’s G-con technology. Pricing Pricing for the Honda City starts at $20,490 for the VTi manual and tops out at $25,685 for the VTi-L automatic with metallic paint. Driving Wigley says The Honda City does an adequate job for what it is but we haven’t rushed out to tell our friends about it yet. It feels more substantial than its slightly slimmer brother the Jazz, but at least the quirkiness of the Jazz gives it a small amount of X-factor. The City just doesn’t have much to crow about.  It’s airy inside and has enough head and leg room, and the higher level trim pack with leather wheel and gear knob adds a bit more comfort. Cornering quickly was hairy at times as it doesn’t feel like they got weight distribution down pat given the substantial body roll. But vision is great all around the car, and the engine, although not a beast, does give you enough grunt to push past a lane hogging truck, or merge quickly, if the need arises. Stop-start city driving - as you’d hope given the name of the car – is easy and the steering is light. Obviously the manual is more of a pain than the automatic in a bumper to bumper situation but that extra control makes it easily the best choice when you have a bit more room. The City is a capable, well built car and there’s no real complaints about the way it drives, but there’s nothing about it that gets you searching for excuses to grab the keys and head out. Verdict: 7/10Pincott says Before it arrived, we were thinking of the City as being a ‘Jazz with a boot’ but it’s a bit more than that.   There’s no doubt the boot space – in a car this size – is very useful, and while you’re not going to be carting wardrobes home in it, there’s enough capacity to accommodate most average family loads. But there’s a surprising amount of room inside the car as well, with head and legroom enough for reasonably tall people.  The interior is comfortable, well-styled and a little more elegant (or a little less funky, depending on your age and attitude) than the Jazz. And apart from a couple of stretches of cheap-looking plastic on the dash and doors, the finish is good quality. The visibility in the front row is great, helped by the higher seating position that accommodates the fuel tank under the front seats.  Both the manual and automatic transmissions are easy to use, but for crowded town driving we’ll happily go for the auto’s set-and-forget. The light steering was great around town, but lacked feedback in anything above urban speeds or twistier than a sedate city corner.  But let’s be honest, it’s close to pointless to look for track ability in a car like this. City by name, city by nature, and well-suited to that job. Verdict: 7.8/10 in town, 5.5/10 on the highway.

The Honda Civic hatch was one of the most popular small fours in Australia, so the decision in 2006 to bring out the Thai-built sedan, and not the Euro-styled hatch (with the exception of the top-shel