1 May 2014
Honda entered a dwindling segment in mid-2014, with its Jazz-based City sedan charged with taking sales away from light hatches as well as sedans a whole segment larger.
The City had a massive 536-litre boot, which not only eclipsed the few offerings in the segment at the time, it also swallowed more than a Holden Commodore (496 litres).
Honda made improvements to the 88kW/145Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine from the previous City and included a new CVT developed using the company's Earth Dreams technology. That improved fuel efficiency from 6.3 litres per 100 kilometres to 5.8L/100km on the combined cycle for the manual, while the CVT dropped from 6.6L/100km with the old auto to 5.7L/100km. The City was offered in base VTi and top-spec VTi-L guise and the base model featured cruise control, Honda's Display Audio system that included a reversing camera with three modes – normal, wide and top down – Bluetooth phone and audio with steering wheel mounted controls, a USB port, two 12v power outlets in the front, sat-nav via an iPhone app (Honda is currently working on Andriod capability), power windows, cloth trim, height and reach adjustable steering wheel and eight cup holders as standard.