First Drive: Honda City Facelift is Value for Money
The all-new grille features a honeycomb-like look and a new 2D Honda logo sits above it for an attractive look.
With a non-stop run for nearly 30 years in the fiercely competitive world’s third biggest car market, Honda City continues to rule the roads in India.
Even as the highly desirable sedan continues to defend its territory, the Japanese carmaker has introduced the 2026 Honda City facelift with a lot of upgrades with a sportier design and new features to keep it accelerating.
We took it for a long spin on highways and city roads to test what the sedan promises.
The Exterior
The 2026 Honda City facelift gets a revised fascia which makes the City look sportier. It comes with sleeker LED projector headlights, connected by a light bar on higher variants, and it forgoes the thick chrome band in the front grille for a more discreet look.
At the rear, it has a clear-lens treatment on the tail-lights and a honeycomb-pattern faux diffuser and vertical reflector units along the edges. The new bumpers have increased the sedan’s length by 11 mm, measuring 4,594 mm, lending the car a European stance. Overall, the new City comes across as an attractive-looking sedan.
The Interiors
While getting in and out is rather easy, a big change you notice is the modern 10.1-inch floating touchscreen system (wireless Android auto and Apple Carplay). But it is angled too sharply and is not bright enough, even at its brightest setting. Because it picks up reflections too easily, most of the information is not legible during the day.
The ventilated seats are a great relief with redesigned headrests, but the electric adjustment is missing. While the petrol variants get a huge 506-litre boot space, the hybrid variant drops to 306 liters. The rear seats are also roomy and comfortable with good legroom, a decent amount of headroom and the soft, sofa-like cushioning. It has a centre armrest with cupholders, dedicated AC vents, Type-C charging ports and a sunshade for the rear windscreen.
The City’s safety features include the lane-watch camera, hill-start assist, 6 airbags and an ADAS suite, which includes lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and collision avoidance.
The Drive Experience
The Honda City continues with the tried-and-tested 121hp, 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine that can be had with either a 6-speed manual or a CVT automatic.
While these two variants have their own strength, driving the strong hybrid e: HEV variant, a self-charging electric car, is a class apart. At low speeds, it moves on electric power but when you accelerate, the petrol engine and electric motor work in tandem to drive the car. When you lift off and brake, the regenerative braking captures kinetic energy to top up the battery. It is very efficient and while the automaker claimed a fuel efficiency of 27.26 km/litre but journalists driving in the city traffic said it almost delivered 30 km/litre because frequent braking kept on charging the battery.
Driving the new City on highways and city roads is comfortable and smooth even on potholed roads and rough terrains. At high speed, the car is stable and there is hardly any noise, providing a great driving experience.
Should I Buy One?
With a Rs 10-21 lakh price bracket, the new Honda City, with a host of features such as ventilated seats, 360-degree camera, a modern touchscreen system, and a reliable, efficient, comfortable machine, remains an indisputable option and value for your money.
