New Honda City

HONDA SAFETY SYSTEM OF YOUR CAR.
For its tenth anniversary, Honda gives the City some minor upgrades.

FIRST VERDICT
At last, the City gets airbags and ABS, but sadly, only for the VTEC.
FOR YEARS, THE only safety aid that Indian cars came equipped with was the horn. And when the government mandated the use of seatbelts, the Indian motorist finally had a second layer of defense in the war zone we call Indian roads. In a country where more than 90,000 people die in road accidents every year, you could do with all the safety aids possible in your car.

Unfortunately, a majority of the cars sold in India do not offer much by way of safety features. Safety features drive up costs, and carmakers in a battle to capture market share, pare down safety aids. But it's also the same market force that is now driving in better safety features into our cars. And the most recent case is the Honda City ZX. India finally gets what its siblings in Thailand and Malaysia always had – ABS and airbags. But it's only available in the 10th anniversary edition Honda City ZX VTEC.

The reason for Honda SIEL’s sudden change of heart can be seen wearing the Maruti SX4 badge. Since its launch in 2003, the new City has enjoyed a near-monopoly in the segment. And now that Maruti has taken the battle into Honda’s turf, by offering these features as standard, and at a competitive price, Honda has been forced to act. In our road test of the car in December 2005, we had pointed out that the wheels are prone to lock-up under panic braking and the absence of ABS is a serious lapse. So how does the ABS is equipped City VTEC fare against the VTEC without this important safety aid? We pit them against each other for the answer.

The changes are apparent the instant a meandering cow walks across your path. Under Emergency braking, the old car tends to lock its wheels very fast. Result Ever seen a cow with eyes very wide open? This is where the VTEC ABS scores. The brakes are easier to modulate and, when they do reach the point of locking up, the city’s well-calibrated ABS system cuts in, helping you steer out of the way. The cow is happy and so are you.

In dry conditions on tarmac, the ABS system reduces stopping distances quite a bit. The ABS car came to a dead halt three metres before the non-ABS car. The difference will be greater on loose surfaces or in the wet, and is a potential life-saver in the way that it helps you steer clear from the danger.

The ABS car is also a lot more stable under hard braking than the non-ABS version. That should be enough to keep you from greying prematurely. As for the airbags, we were only happy not to have to put them to the test.

The 10th Anniversary Honda City ZX VTEC ABS, at Rs 9.07 lakh, costs Rs 65,000 more than the non-ABS car (which is also on offer). It still is priced way higher than the SX4 ZXi, which costs Rs 7.25 lakh and comes with these features and then some more. If you think the VTEC ABS City is too expensive, Honda has made a few minor improvements to the GXi and EXi versions too. Priced at Rs 7.69 lakh and Rs 7.16 lakh respectively, these changes come at a marginal Rs 3,000 increase over the old car’s price. There are two new paint shades for the City too.

Now the bad news. If you want ABS and airbags, you have to buy the top-line version. The more popular variants, the EXi and the GXi, don't get these. Not even as options. We fervently hope that Honda offers the ABS and airbag as options on the lower versions as well. The more popular versions are where these features would really make a difference.

ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM
The natural tendency for most drivers making an emergency stop is to slam on the brakes, which mostly results in locked wheels. Locked wheels mean longer stopping distances and loss of directional control and accidents. What ABS (for Anti-Blockier System, the German coined term for anti-lock braking) as its name suggests does is prevent the wheels from locking up by releasing and re-applying the brakes as much as 15 times a second. This keeps the wheels on the verge of lock-up but they are still rolling so the braking efficiency is optimised. ABS is particularly useful on wet and slippery surfaces.