Which Variant of 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Diesel Is Most Value For Money?

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Honda City 5th Gen Diesel?

The pros or advantages of City 5th Gen diesel 2020 are:

• Biggest (longest and widest) car in the segment - long enough to be called a D-segment sedan car
• 3 engine transmission combinations to choose from: petrol manual, petrol automatic and diesel manual
• Well-equipped V variant should suffice for most sedan buyers. It’s also the most #VFM option.
• Good number of standard safety features (ESP, TC, HSA, 4 airbags, ABS)
• Good fuel efficiency of 24.1kmpl

The Honda City has the following shortcomings or problems:

• Although it’s well equipped, it has a high starting price.
• The diesel variants command a premium of Rs. 1.5 lakh, which is high considering its unimpressive specs. Verna’s petrol-diesel price gap is narrower and it also has better performance and fuel efficiency.
• The torque and torque to weight ratio are acceptable at best but it doesn’t have much competition in the diesel sedan space. It’s only 10Nm better torque than the 1.2-litre Grand i10 Nios diesel.
• 185-section tyres are too narrow for a car of this size and price. Even the Baleno has wider tyres. V variant gets 15-inch wheels, which is too small considering the high ex-showroom price and the large dimensions of the City.

Read more about the detailed price, dimensions and engine specs comparison of the new Honda City with the old model at the following link:

Read - 2019 Honda City 4th Gen Vs 5th Gen Honda City 2020 - Old Vs New - Whats Different?

Here’s our 2020 Honda City Variant Breakdown video in Hindi if you prefer watching instead of reading:

What Is The Price Of New Honda City Diesel?

The new Honda City is available in 3 variants - V, VX and ZX. All three variants get petrol manual, petrol automatic and diesel manual transmission options.

The 2020 City diesel with a manual transmission costs Rs. 12.4 lakh for the V variant, Rs. 13.76 lakh for the VX and Rs. 14.65 lakh for the ZX. It costs Rs. 1.5 lakh more than the comparable petrol-manual variants. Compared to the City petrol automatic, the City diesel manual is Rs. 20,000 more expensive. 

Also Read - Which Variant of 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Petrol Is Most Value For Money?

Compared to the older Honda City BS4 diesel model, the new City diesel prices are Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 50,000 higher.

Is The V Variant Of 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Diesel Worth Buying?

The base V variant of the 5th gen Honda City diesel costs Rs. 12.4 lakh with a manual transmission. The notable standard features of the 2020 City are:

• 2 front and 2 front side airbags
• ABS
• Parking sensors
• Traction control
• Hill-start assist
• Electronic stability control
• Day/night inside mirror
• Rear defogger
• Halogen projector headlamps
• Tyre pressure monitoring system
• 3-point seatbelts for all occupants
• Fog lamps
• 8-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple Carplay
• Steering-mounted controls
• Electrically Adjustable & Foldable ORVMs
• Height Adjustable Driver Seat
• Tilt & Telescopic Steering
• Auto AC w/ Rear AC Vents
• Keyless Entry w/ Push-button Start/Stop
• Front Armrest w/ Storage
• LED DRLs
• Rear Armrest
• Cruise Control
• R15 Alloy Wheels
• Telematics (5-year subscription)
• Fixed Rear Headrests
• Fabric Upholstery
• Remote Functions w/ Alexa Voice Assistant
• LED Tail Lamps

Also read - Hyundai Verna Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

While the City’s base variant costs a lot more than other what’s acceptable for a base variant of a C-segment diesel sedan, it also has enough equipment to justify the higher asking price. This has a fantastic value for money for buyers interested in a diesel C-segment sedan if you can afford the Rs. 1.5 lakh price jump to the diesel engine. If you’re interested in a diesel sedan, then the V variant is definitely worth buying.

Now, let’s see if the higher variants justify their incremental asking price.

Also read - Maruti Suzuki Ciaz Petrol Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

Is The VX Variant Of 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Diesel Worth Buying?

The VX variant of the new Honda City diesel costs Rs. 13.76 lakh, which is Rs. 1.36 lakh more expensive than the V diesel variant. For this additional sum, you get the following notable features:

• 2 Curtain Airbags
• Auto Headlamps
• Electric Sunroof
• 7-inch full-colour instrument console
• Auto-dimming IRVM
• 4 Speakers
• R16 Alloy Wheels
• Walk-away Auto-Lock
• Rear Reading Lamps
• Leather-wrapped steering and gear knob

Also Read - Skoda Rapid Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

This variant comes very close to justifying its asking price. Also, most of its features are good-to-have but may have a higher emotional and perceived value for some buyers. But, value-wise, this is the worst offering. It’s still worth considering if you want some of these features in your car.

Is The ZX Variant Of 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Diesel Worth Buying?

The Honda City ZX diesel costs Rs. 14.65 lakh. It’s about Rs. 90,000 more expensive than the VX diesel. It gets the following additional features:

• LED array Headlamps
• LED cabin lights
• LED Turn Indicators
• Lane Watch Camera
• Remote Open/Close Power Windows & Sunroof
• LED Fog Lamps
• Ambient Lighting
• Rear Windshield Curtain
• Leather Upholstery
• Soft-touch Interior Elements

Also read - Hyundai Creta Petrol Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

The top variant too mostly adds good-to-have features but some of these are also some functional features as well. Strictly from a value for money perspective, though, the ZX variant is not worth buying.

Which Variant Of The 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Diesel Offers The Most Value For Money?

The V variant of the Honda City is so well equipped that it’ll suffice for most buyers. In fact, it may even meet the needs of buyers who are otherwise considering the higher variants of sedans like older City, Rapid, Vento or Ciaz. The base variant of the new City 2020 is the most value for money variant of the 5th gen Honda City.

The VX variant is not worth upgrading from a value perspective. But, this variant is not too expensive either for the additional features and is worth considering. Most of its features are good-to-have and style-oriented. So, we’d recommend that you instead jump to the ZX variant and go all in. The ZX variant has some functional features too, which most buyers will appreciate.

What Are The Engine Specifications Of The 2020 Honda City 5th Gen Diesel?

The 2020 City diesel retains its 1.5-litre diesel engine with a 6-speed manual transmission. It still makes 100PS of power and 200Nm of torque. Unlike the City’s petrol engine, this diesel engine doesn’t rev much and makes good torque at low RPMs to help with the drivability. But, the Verna diesel offers far better torque and torque-to-weight ratio. So, it won’t have a similar in-gear acceleration as the Verna diesel.

With the BS6 upgrade, the City diesel’s mileage has taken a hit of 1.5kmpl compared to the 2019 City diesel BS4. Its fuel efficiency figure is about 1kmpl lower than that of the Verna diesel manual. In the diesel C-segment sedan space, there’s not much competition and your only other option is Hyundai Verna, which also has the option of an automatic transmission.

Also read - Tata Nexon Petrol Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

What Are The Dimensions Of The 2020 Honda City 5th Gen?

The new-generation City has seriously impressive dimensions. It’s the longest and the widest car in the C-segment sedan space. In fact, it’s so long that it qualifies to be a D-segment sedan in our books as it’s longer than 4500mm. It’s actually longer than some of the older generations of D-segment sedans like Elantra fluidic, older Corolla Altis and Civic.

The 506-litre boot space is almost at the top of the list and its ground clearance is also acceptable at 165mm.

The new City’s tyre size is underwhelming. Even some of the smaller cars like the Baleno get wider 195-section tyres. Thankfully, this is an easy upgrade and you can easily swap out for 1 or even 2 sizes wider rubber for a better stance and grip.

*unofficial

What Are The Colour Options Of The 2020 Honda City 5th Gen?

The 2020 City 5th Gen is available in the following 5 colour options:

• Red
• Silver
• White
• Grey
• Brown

Also Read - Kia Seltos Variants Explained - Which One To Buy?

Note: Here is a quick look at our length-based segmentation of cars to give you an idea of how we are classifying cars based on their size.