2020 Honda City review, road test

We put the fifth-generation City through our comprehensive tests to find out how it performs in the real world.

Published on Sep 28, 2020 07:00:00 AM

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Based on the Jazz platform, like its predecessor, its wheelbase remains the same at 2,600mm. However this fifth-gen platform has been heavily modified for improved crash protection and refinement, and there’s a higher percentage of high-strength steel used, which doesn’t merely help save weight, but has also improved torsional rigidity by around 20 percent.

The City has grown in size with each subsequent generation change and this fifth generation isn’t an exception. Not only is it larger than the outgoing version in almost every dimension, it is actually the longest car in its segment, boasting of a 4,549mm length, which is even longer than the first-gen Civic (if only by 4mm). To put its growth into perspective, compared to the first-generation Honda City that was launched back in 1998, this fifth-gen is approximately 300mm longer, 50mm wider and 100mm taller.

Full-LED headlamps look premium and light-up the road nicely.

Its styling has evolved, and it wears a subtler, more grown-up persona; yet its silhouette has a visual link to the outgoing version. Honda’s signature chunky chrome bar that stretches across the width of the front fascia is now flanked by sleek headlamps that make it resemble the more premium Civic. Adding a touch of bling to its styling are the full-LED headlamps, which look contemporary and upmarket. The diamond-cut 16-inch alloys are attractively styled, but the 185/55 tyres look undersized for this car’s stretched dimensions. The LED tail-lights are good-looking too, and bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the new BMW 3 Series.