Since it's launch around the ASEAN region barely 2 years ago, the Honda City has enjoyed tremendous success and achieved great popularity. It wasn't entirely smooth sailing though and indeed the City has also suffered its fair share of being pre-judged. Much of this has to do with the new L-series iDSI engine, which is designed for outstanding fuel economy. So while Honda kept to its true spirit, introducing an engine that can rightfully be called 'state of the art', but because of its SOHC and 8V configuration, many have wrongly pre-judged it as 'old tech'.
Honda also fitted the City with the wonderful CVT-7 gearbox. But despite my best efforts to explain how this gearbox is superior to normal automatics, many still persists in pre-judging the City, with an 88ps 8V SOHC engine and an automatic gearbox, as 'condemned' to be 'slow'
When the City was first launched here in Malaysia, I publicly went and forwarded the opinion that despite its relatively modest 88ps engine, the combination of the superior CVT-7 gearbox and an EPS system should afford the City a level of performance above what would be the norm for its specs. This then is my chance to see whether my 'theory' is right or wrong.
When I had my first loan of the City, I didn't do any high-speed tests on the car, mainly because I felt the City is not designed to excel as a high speed cruiser. Rather, my single high-speed test session was solely to check out a complaint about 'wind noise' at around 120kph. For this round, since I had to take a half-hour drive via the expressways to the 'test site', I took the opportunity to do a proper 'high-speed' tests on the City.
The City behaved as I had expected. I was able to acheive speeds in excess of 160kph during the drive and the City was really stable at that speed. I was surprised that it did not exhibit any trace of floatiness. Indeed even if it did, I still wouldn't fault it because we have to bear in mind that the City is the entry level Honda model for the ASEAN region. As would be expected, acceleration was relatively good and steady all the way up to around 140kph but after which it slowed significantly. The climb from 140kph to 160kph was gradual but steady and to its credit, the little L15A did not feel like straining to acheive it. After 160kph though it became clear that the engine was starting to dig deep into its reserves. I do not conduct max speed tests and thus I will not be able to report on the max speed of the City but I am fairly confident it will be in excess of 170kph, maybe even 180kph. Taking turns at high speed was also stable despite the City's relatively tall design.
For this round of test, I finally understood what owners were complaining about when they say 'wind noise'. There is a sort of a soft 'whistling' that protrudes into the cabin at speeds beyond around 120-130kph. This is not wind noise which is a low frequency 'rushing noise' but more high pitched. It really do sound as if there is a small gap somewhere around the front part of the car, just before the dashboard where the small triangular glass is. I understand that from owners feedback, Honda Malaysia have since added extra padding to this area and this complaint have since been resolved. The car I have on loan is of course one of the first few produced.
It is perhaps good testimonial to the high speed cruising ability of the City that I actually made the journey to the 'test site' in just slightly over 20minutes. Once I arrived, I did the initial test runs and then after a 15 minutes rest at the nearby mall, proceeded to conduct the proper timed runs.
The result of the City in the standing start tests were quite closely tied to how well the launching went. For the acceleration runs, I adopted the 'CVT-7 to S-mode' method that I described in my original review of this car. With the car stationary, and the gear lever in S-mode, I hit the '7-speed mode' button and then tapped the downshift button on the steering wheel. This puts the CVT gearbox into the 1st gear of the 7 speed mode. With the left foot lightly on the brake pedal to hold the car stationary, I apply slight pressure on the throttle to 'pre-tension' the gearbox. The best launch requires a very tight timing and coordination between the left and right foot. Basically as I squeeze the throttle downwards, I need to 'feel' the gearbox tightening up and then let go of the brake pedal at just the right moment. This 'right moment' is actually almost immediately after squeezing the throttle, when the CVT gearbox has just started to 'pre-tension'. Once I have let go of the brake pedal, I immediately jammed the throttle to WOT. Of course I also briefly checked the results using just plain S-mode or just plain 7-speed mode but these two alternate methods consistently returned slower times.
Because the City's CVT is not equipped with a torque converter, it is much more efficient, i.e. incurs less power loss in transmitting engine power to the front wheels. Conversely because there is no torque converter, the CVT gearbox does not take kindly to being 'pre-tensioned', i.e. to the application of the throttle but being held stationary by the car's brakes. It almost felt as if the gearbox fluid overheats when being subjected to too much pre-tensioning. Hence if I release the brake pedal a little bit too late, the City actually felt very much like 'bogging', the CVT gearbox very much like struggling to let the engine pick up revs. Conversely releasing the brake too early also caused the engine to struggle to overcome the car's inertia. The little L15A do not generate anywhere near enough low-end torque to spin the tyres on launching, not even to chirp it. So the launching of the car was the most crucial part of the whole acceleration run; how well it went had a great impact on the result of the run, especially in the shorter 0-60mph acceleration test.
After getting the launch right, the other crucial part would be to closely watch the tachometer and to tap the 7-speed mode button to get out of 7-speed mode and into S-mode at the engine's red-line of ~6000rpm. As explained previously, this gets the CVT-7 gearbox into the highest possible gear-ratio for the speed the City is going at and allows it to maintain the highest possible gear ratio for the rest of the run. The timing of this move is also crucial because somehow when I got out of 7-speed mode a little bit too early (tapping when engine rpms is below 5500rpm), the engine-gearbox settles at only around 5000rpm for the run. If I timed it just right and tapped the button at almost 6000rpm, just before the gearbox is about to up-shift into 2nd, the engine-gearbox settles into 5500-5800rpm. This then is the optimal condition for max acceleration for the run. Getting this right seems to contribute a few tenths of a seconds to the final time, almost as significant as getting the launch right especially for the 0-60mph run.
If all these sounds confusing, it's because its really very difficult to describe the best launching method in words. But owners of the City who read through the descriptions above clearly and then go and actually try the procedure out will understand much better what I am trying to say. In practise, the procedure is straightforward to execute and much simpler than how it sounds here. All it needs is a little bit of concentration and the right coordination.
The City is sold in ASEAN but most ASEAN car magazines do not conduct timed performance tests in their reviews. Since the City's launch, I have actually only read one timed run in a Malaysian car magazine and that is a 0-100kph timing of around 11.9 seconds. A local Malaysian '2004 Car Buyers Guide' also listed a time of 13.2 seconds for the 0-100kph run which was supposedly the 'factory spec'. As a result, the most I had expected from the City for the 0-60mph tests was for it to crack the 12 seconds time.
But in the very first 0-60mph timed run, the GTech Pro already showed a time of less than 11 seconds ! I was amazed at the very low time. And it was not a fluke run because I was consistently able to dip below 11 seconds for most of the runs. When I did not get the launch or the change from 7 speed to S-mode right, the times went above 11 seconds but it was still in the very low 11 seconds range.
Looking at the chart, the effect of a good and not so good run can be clearly seen. The two data points on the 'wrong side' of 11 seconds were from a less than optimal launch. But once I developed a 'feel' for the launching method, it was relatively easy to get it consistently right and this is clearly shown by the majority of the runs delivering times below 11 seconds.
While the advantage of the CVT-7 gearbox clearly shone in the 0-60mph standing start tests, the City's relatively moderate max power of 88ps is also clearly shown in the quarter mile standing start tests.
In terms of 'work', the quarter mile run is relatively easy going since both of the critical tasks are already done with by the time we reach 60mph; the launching and the switching from 7-speed to S-mode. Thereafter it was simply a matter of keeping the throttle jammed tight against the floor and waiting for the GTech Pro to flash the quarter mile time. Slowing down after that was a breeze since the road is close to a mile long and I actually usually cruise with the throttle shut or sometimes even in neutral to cool down the engine for the next run.
Actually in terms of being 'par' for a 0-60mph time of less than 11 seconds, I would expect a 0-1/4mile time of below 18seconds. But as explained, the modest power rating of 88ps is the limiting factor here; there's only so much the wonderful CVT-7 gearbox can do. Still the City managed to return very low 18 seconds times for the 0-1/4mile runs which I feel are actually quite good for the rated 88ps rating. Trap speeds (or terminal speed at the end of the quarter mile run) are all within a tight range of around 76-79mph which again shows the ability of the City to deliver consistent results.
The area of braking is perhaps the most controversial for the City. Because of its entry-level model status, Honda fitted the City with front discs but rear drums. Detractors had a field day with this, with sometimes downright ridiculous claims about many supposed disadvantages of a rear drum design. Indeed reading some of the ridiculous claims, it seemed as if having a rear drum brake would make it suicidal to drive the City ! The most accurate judgement of the absolute braking ability of the City will actually be how well the City can stop, in this test, how much distance is needed to brake from 60mph to a standstill.
I have always felt that for all properly designed modern cars, the braking distance is more or less 'grip limited'. I.e. how much distance we need to stop is almost soley determined by how much grip we can extract out of the tyres before they lose traction and lock up. Furthermore during braking, there is a lot of weight transfer to the front wheels - anyone who have watched an emergency braking will clearly see the car dip forward during the process. This means it is the grip of the front tyres which matters most. Having ABS and EBD helps tremendously here because once the tyres locks up, few will have enough experience to ease off the brake pedal or to modulate it to prevent further lock-up. So ABS helps by mechanically modulating the braking on behalf of the driver. Still, once ABS cuts in, it means the driver has already over-braked the car and braking distance will be proportionally lengthened.
The Honda City requires a distance of between 140-150 feet to stop from 60mph. In absolute terms this is actually about par for a well designed modern car, even those fitted with discs front and rear. The City comes stock with GoodYear Eagle tyres which are quite average street tyres compromised for a balance of grip, road noise and of course cost. So given this, I for one thinks the City can most definitely brake as well as any of its competitors ! As explained above, the 2 data points at 150 feet in the chart on the left is actually when I slightly over braked the car - with the ABS cutting in just a little bit more than absolutely necessary. The best result on the chart is 143 feet, with the ABS not activating at all and with the tyres just chirping very lightly throughout. The City felt evenly balanced and stable during the braking process, at not time did it feel as if the car might lost control.
There are actually many aspects in the 'braking performance' and this 60-0mph braking check is only 1 aspect. To be absolutely honest the City can also be criticized in the 'brake feel' area - I feel that a bit too much effort is required to get the brakes to initially bite. This is apparent especially in slow moving congested traffic conditions - quite a bit of force is needed on the brake pedal before the City will start to slow down. And when stuck behind another car and stationary but in gear, I needed to conciously press harder on the brake pedal to prevent the City from creeping forward. The other thing is the brakes are not linear enough. From little or lacklustre response, the brakes will suddenly bite. It is not possible to 'play' with the pedal to finely modulate the amount of retardation. Nevertheless after being so critical, I now need to highlight that all these are typical of cars in the City's market segment. We need to bear in mind that the City is Honda's entry level model, so it will certainly not make sense to expect it to brake like an sports car !
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The table on the left tabulates the set of best, average and worse values for the three tests described above. The table is tabulated from the 'set of 10' values sets used to prepare the charts above. For those who are more comfortable dealing with a single value for the performance checks, the averaged values would be very useful. I list the timing values to 1 decimal place, the quarter mile terminal speed to the nearest mph and braking distance to the nearest feet. The GTech Pro actually displays timing in 2 decimal places accuracy and quarter mile terminal speeds in 1 decimal place. But standard practise is to use only 1 decimal place for the timing values.
I have close to 6 years of ownership experience with the excellent Multimatic gearbox on my ex EK3 Civic Ferio Vi. So even before conducting the tests, I was confident that the City would do well. Still I will be absolutely honest when I say the City even managed to surprise me with its relatively good performance, especially in the 0-60mph standing start run. For the quarter mile and braking tests, I think the City certainly performed on par with other cars in the same market segment and with about the same or even a bit higher specs.
I think of all my articles on the Honda City, I wonder if this one might well be the most debated one amongst my readers, especially City owners from ASEAN. From what I know, this would be the first time the City's performance is tested to such an extent and then analyzed to such a level of detail. It is not totally comprehensive of course but this is still the first time the City's ability in the standing start quarter mile run or 60-0 braking performance is discussed, whether in magazines, internet or anywhere.
Wong KN
April 2004
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