Honda City facelift ready for March 2 launch

The City facelift test drives commence on March 3; gets more features across the line-up.

Published On Feb 27, 2023 05:03:00 PM

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Higher variants of City will get a new design for the alloys

Regular petrol variants of City will be updated with ADAS features.

The refreshed Honda City has finally started reaching dealer yards ahead of its price announcement and launch on March 2, 2023. As we've reported before, the new City will be available for test drives from March 3 onwards and deliveries are slated to begin sometime thereafter. We take a closer look at everything that will be new in the refreshed Honda City sedan.

Updated Honda City will get petrol, strong-hybrid powertarins
Mildly updated styling on the outside
More features, two new variants

Honda City facelift: mildly refreshed looks

As seen on almost all Honda mid-life-cycle updates, the City gets minimal styling tweaks on the outside. The front and rear bumpers get a new design, and higher variants get unique grille inserts that differentiate them from the lower ones. Even the headlamp and tail-lamps look identical to the outgoing car. The City facelift will get new 16-inch alloy wheel design for the higher variants, while the mid-spec ones continue with 15-inch iterations.

The cosmetic updates on the City facelift are very minimal.

Honda is also offering a new Obsidian Blue paint shade with this update. Like the exterior, the changes to the interior of the City facelift are minimal. The layout, upholstery and switchgear remain almost unchanged.

Honda City facelift: new variants, more equipment

The City petrol now gets a new entry-level SV trim that comes with a 5-speed manual gearbox only. The remaining three trims for the City petrol – V, VX and ZX – get an option of a CVT automatic as well. Meanwhile, the City hybrid also gets a new entry-level VX trim, which means the more fuel-efficient and tech-laden variant now gets two trims in total.

The interior of the City facelift will be largely unchanged.

As part of the update, the City petrol will also gets ADAS features like adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking on the higher trims. Earlier, ADAS was present only on the City Hybrid. Safety features include six airbags, TPMS, rain-sensing wipers, ambient lighting, wireless charging and wireless Apple CarPlay and Andriod Auto.

Honda City facelift: to be petrol-only sedan

The City facelift will continue with the 121hp, 1.5-litre petrol engine, mated to either a 6-speed manual or CVT automatic gearboxes. There will also be the 126hp, Atkinson Cycle 1.5-litre petrol-hybrid powertrain that comes mated to an e-CVT transmission. The City is still the only car that offers a strong-hybrid powertrain in its segment. The petrol and strong hybrid powertrains will be upgraded to meet the RDE norms as well as be E20 (20 percent ethanol blend) compliant. There will, however, no diesel engine on offer due to the RDE norms.

The City facelift will ditch the diesel engine to be a petrol-only sedan.

Honda City facelift: rivals in India

Like before, the Honda City facelift will take on the likes of the Volkswagen Virtus, Skoda Slavia, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and the all-new Hyundai Verna that will debut on March 21

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