Tyler Into The New World...: A deeper look into the new Honda City 1.5S and 1.5E

Welcome to my review for cars..

Previously i reviewed about the Scuderia Ferrari S60 for Formula 1 Season 2009... In this post, is the whole new 2009 Honda City 1.5S and 1.5E..

The 2009 Honda City comes in 2 variants, the Honda City 1.5S and the Honda City 1.5E. The 1.5S is the lower end variant, priced at RM84,980 OTR with insurance while the top of the line is the Honda City 1.5E priced at RM89,980 and includes full specs such as larger wheels and paddle shifters.

look like BMW 3 Series

The City 1.5E and the City 1.5S are both powered by the new 1.5 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine producing 120 PS at 6,600rpm and 145Nm of torque at 4,800rpm. No manual option is available. The sole transmission is a 5-speed automatic with two overdrive ratios. Strangely, the Japanese engineers at the Honda City launch claims only one overdrive gear with no specific gear ratio data available, but a quick check from the specs in other countries shows the following gear ratios for the City: 1st - 2.995, 2nd - 1.678, 3rd - 1.066, 4th - 0.760, 5th - 0551. Perhaps they have a different definition of overdrive, or they’ve re-geared it for the Malaysian market.

Unlike the previous City which differentiated the i-DSI and VTEC models on the interior via different colours, the new City has an all-black interior across the variant range. I love black dashes, and although the plastics on the interior aren’t really soft touch as expected in a B-segment car, it has a slight rough texture to it so it doesn’t really look or feel cheap until you decide to rub around the dashboard. It’s definitely better than some of its competitors so it isn’t the worst in class.

The City 1.5 S base model’s interior lacks some nice features that the 1.5 E has, such as the compartment under the rear seats, 60:40 split rear seats with a reclining feature, a rear armrest with cupholder, and it only has fixed rear headrest. Both models have water repellent seats.

The audio system also only has 4 speakers compared to the 1.5 E model’s 6 speakers but both variants get the new audio system which features nearly every connectivity method you’d possibly want - CD with MP3 and WMA support, USB input with iPod control support, and an aux input. The only thing you could want is Bluetooth audio streaming.

The exterior between the two models can easily be differentiated by the front bumper and the alloy wheels. The 1.5 S has smaller 15 inch alloy wheels with 175/65R15 tyres while the 1.5 E has larger 16 inch alloy wheels with 185/55R16 tyres. The front bumper of the 1.5 E model has fog lamps while the 1.5 S does not. The 1.5 E also gains power retractable door mirrors (though both are electronically adjustable).

Coming to the safety features point, both the models are equally equipped. Both the 1.5 E and the 1.5 S has dual SRS airbags for the front passenger and driver, ABS brakes, EBD, Brake Assist, and a driver’s window that automatically stops when something is in its path while it is winding up.

Only five colours are available, but sadly no white or red! I asked Honda why did they omit these colours as the red seems to be the new City’s flagship colour while white seems to be quite a popular choice lately, but they said according to customer surveys and the past Honda cars sales colour mix, red wasn’t very popular so they decided to leave it out. The five colours are: Deep Lapis Blue Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Polished Metal Metallic, Alabaster Silver Metallic, and Bold Beige Metallic.

Here are some pictures of the car and its accessories... Enjoy!!!