Honda City First Drive Review - Interior, Exterior

Note: If you prefer watching the review in Hindi instead of reading it in English, then you can play the following video:

Honda City Facelift Petrol - Exterior Review

In terms of dimensions, there is not much difference between the pre-facelift and facelift versions of the City. However, in the 2023 model's ZX variant, the front and rear bumpers are significantly restyled, making it slightly longer than the older City.

The front bumper has a carbon fibre-type trim on its lip, and the fog lamp housing also gets minor styling changes. Due to the criss-cross pattern of the lower grille, the chequered flag-type upper grille and the sharp bumper design, the face of the car looks sportier. The City now also comes with auto wipers, which were not available before.

There is only one change on the side of the car - the design of the alloy wheels. These look sporty from certain angles, but the City still looks under-tyred. It deserves wider tyres to match the car’s size and length, if not bigger alloy wheels.

The changes around the rear are as subtle as those at the front, but somehow the styling of its rear diffusers is more striking. These also get carbon fibre detailing, like at the front, which makes the car look sporty. The car also has a rear spoiler on its boot lid, which complements its design.

The boot space of the City remains the same as before, so it is 506L for the petrol version and 306L for the hybrid.

2023 Honda City Petrol - Interior Review

Moving inside the cabin, there are not many changes here either. You still get the dual-tone beige-black interior with glossy wooden accents in the petrol model and ivory cabin with glossy carbon-fibre trim in hybrid variants. The design of the dashboard and interior space remains the same. The cabin now also has a wireless phone charger just ahead of the front armrest in the hybrid version. In the petrol version, it is a removable accessory, which draws power from the front 12V power outlet.

In addition, there is also wireless phone pairing available, which complements the wireless phone charging. Furthermore, ambient lighting is also available in the door latches and door pockets.

If you want to understand the interior space of the City in detail, you can watch our Sensible review of the pre-facelift. Now, let’s see how it drives.

2023 Honda City Petrol and Hybrid - Engine Performance And Drive Review

The City still comes with a 1.5L petrol engine, which produces a maximum power of 121PS and peak torque of 145Nm. The power output of the City hybrid is 126PS and peak torque is 253Nm. Both powertrains were also present in the pre-facelift City with the same performance figures.

Regarding the manual transmission in the City, it is only available with the normal petrol engine. It's a 6-speed gearbox and ADAS is available with this transmission from the V variant onwards.

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This engine also comes with a CVT type automatic transmission. In this case, the engine output is the same, but its claimed fuel efficiency is higher than the petrol-manual powertrain. If you want to see a detailed review of the City normal petrol, you can watch the following video of the pre-facelift City:

To know how the City hybrid performs, you can watch the following video of the pre-facelift City:

Honda City Facelift Petrol And Hybrid - Prices

The prices of the new City start from Rs. 11.49 lakh. The ZX top model with a petrol-manual powertrain costs Rs. 14.72 lakh. The V, VX, and ZX variants come with an automatic transmission option with an incremental cost of Rs. 1.25 lakh for all three higher variants.

The City hybrid is now available in two variants – V and ZX. The hybrid version of V variant costs Rs. 5.27 lakh more than the petrol-automatic City, and in ZX, it costs Rs. 4.42 lakh more. The top-most variant of the City's range is the ZX hybrid, which costs Rs. 20.39 lakh ex-showroom.

If you plan to buy the City petrol-manual, you should consider the V variant. It is the best value-wise. You can upgrade to the VX variant for curtain airbags or a sunroof. The ZX variant offers better value than just the SV variant. It mainly adds good-to-have functional and style-related features, so we will leave it up to you to decide if you should go for this upgrade.

In the case of City automatic also, the V variant is our top recommended variant, as it offers most of the must-have and some good-to-have features. It also offers better value than the other variants. In this case, you can upgrade to VX for added safety features or a sunroof, but upgrading to ZX doesn’t feel very compelling.

If you’re interested in the City hybrid, then you should buy the V variant. The V variant offers most of the basic features, and in ZX, all the features are available. ZX also offers slightly better value than the V variant, so upgrading for these extra features makes sense. But, to make sure that this upgrade is financially suitable, you should consider checking out our fuel cost calculator and run some numbers.

If you want to understand all the variants of City in detail, you can watch the variants explained video below:

Alternatively, you can also go through the variants explained article:

Honda City Petrol, Hybrid Petrol Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

2023 Honda City Facelift Petrol and Hybrid - Verdict And Buying Recommendation

The mid-life facelift of the City brings minor cosmetic enhancements, including a new blue body colour. Its exterior design updates are sporty and we like them.

Honda didn't make any major cosmetic changes to the City's interior and we believe that an all-black or grey-black theme would complement its sportier exterior even more. Additionally, we feel that it should offer electrically adjustable and ventilated front seats.

The City is a rare car, which gets adaptive cruise control with a manual transmission. We think that its usage is limited within the city, but it’s very useful on the expressways. Overall, we believe that the Honda City is still one of the most comfortable cars in its segment, and its cabin space, seating comfort, and drivetrain refinement are its USPs.