50,000 km completed with our 2018 Honda City 4th Gen V MT ❤️
This car was actually my father's dream car since 1998, when the first gen City launched in India. Finally buying one in 2018 was a huge moment for our family, and even today, every time I look back at it after parking, it still feels beautiful.
In fact, I genuinely find this car beautiful enough to make it my phone wallpaper
It’s the i-VTEC manual (V variant), and after 50,000 km, I feel I know this car inside out now.
What I love about it:
• The engine is incredibly smooth and refined. I’ve taken it on several trips — highways, hills, mountains — and never really felt a lack of power.
• Overtaking on highways or mountain roads is effortless.
• It has a surprisingly good amount of low-end torque too, so you don’t constantly need to downshift in traffic or inclines.
• Though it obviously can’t match the newer 1.5 turbo petrols in outright punch, I genuinely feel it drives better than the 1.0 TSI in the Virtus/Slavia and also feels stronger than the 1.5 NA in the Verna.
• Ride comfort is excellent and body roll is well controlled even on mountain roads.
• Boot space is massive — honestly bigger and more usable than many modern crossovers.
• Headlight throw is excellent in the city and decent enough on highways.
Mileage I’ve observed: • Light foot city driving: 14–18 kmpl
• Normal city driving: 11–13 kmpl
• Highway: 17–19 kmpl
One thing that genuinely shocked me is the speaker setup.
This variant has an 8-speaker setup (4 speakers + 4 tweeters), and EVERY person who has sat in this car has praised the audio quality.
I’ve sat in cars like the Camry, Jeep Meridian, Hilux, Verna, i20, Sonet Bose, Seltos Bose, even the 5th gen City — and I can confidently say the stock audio setup in this car sounds better than all of them. The only car I’ve personally sat in with clearly better speakers was a BMW X3.
Now for the negatives:
• The infotainment didn’t support Android Auto or Apple CarPlay
• The infotainment stopped working, so we had to get it replaced, done within warranty.
• Major rattling noise issues. Even after getting them fixed at the service centre, they return within 1–2 months.
• All pillars have pretty significant blind spots.
• 6ft+ passengers may feel lack of headroom despite the amazing knee room.
• The front headrest angle pushes the neck slightly forward if you try to sit laid back.
• Tyre noise becomes very evident around 100 kmph+.
• The gearing is slightly short for highway cruising — the car sits at around 2.7k rpm at 100 kmph and ~3.5k rpm at 120 kmph.
• Ground clearance is definitely an issue. The car has bottomed out 2–3 times over the years.
• We had to replace all 4 suspensions in 2023 because the car was driven on rough unpaved rural roads quite a bit.
• I’ve also noticed a slight drop in power after E20 fuel became common.
Fun fact: I have NEVER redlined the i-VTEC till date🫠
And by God’s grace, the car has never been in any major accident till now. Considering it also got a 4-star GNCAP rating back then, that gives some peace of mind too.
What’s funny is that recently we’ve been looking at crossovers/SUVs in the market, but under ₹18–19 lakh, we still haven’t found something that offers this same combination of comfort, space, refinement, practicality and overall feel as a complete package.
In today’s market full of crossovers and pseudo SUVs, driving a proper sedan still feels special. The 4th gen City may not be perfect, but it has a character that’s honestly hard to find now.
Would love to hear from other 4th gen City owners here