2009 Honda Citty(3)

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd finally brought us the 2009 Honda City. For those that already know pretty much everything about the car thanks to this blog’s detailed coverage in the past, let’s quickly get down to what’s important, the price!

The 2009 Honda City comes in 2 variants, the Honda City 1.5S and the Honda City 1.5E. The 1.5S is the lower end variant, priced at RM84,980 OTR with insurance while the top of the line is the Honda City 1.5E priced at RM89,980 and includes full specs such as larger wheels and paddle shifters.

The City comes with a 3 year warranty and 6 months free servicing. For the full scoop on the Honda City for the Malaysian market, continue reading this story after the jump.



Interior

Firstly, the doors open 80 degrees for easy access to the interior. In the interior, you get an instrument panel that is traditionally positioned behind the steering wheel. Good for those who dislike centrally-mounted instrument panels.

There are two colour schemes - one beige and one black. Both will likely be used by Honda Malaysia, with the black for a high-spec or sports-specced version of the car and a beige one for the other. The black interior uses black for all the plastic parts while the fabric is in a purplish-black colour. The beige interior uses a grayish-beige tone for the plastic parts while the fabrics are done in beige with yellow overtones.

To reduce the previous City’s odd looks, Honda has made the car 45mm lower, but to maintain a good amount amount of headroom, they’ve changed the seat rail design and reduced cushion thickness (though they claim comfort is maintained) to reduce the driving position by 15mm. This allows a lower roofline for a sleeker shape while keeping a decent amount of headroom.

The front quarter window has been removed and the A-pillars have been made thinner by 14mm for better visibility. In addition, the mirror area for the wing mirrors have been made taller but slightly slimmer for a more square shape, compared to the previous generation’s more rectangular side mirrors. This results in an increased mirror size by about 15 percent for better rear visibility. The front wipers have also been repositioned to have reduced front windscreen protrusion by 20mm.

The air-conditioning system is available with both manual and automatic controls, and the center dash area looks significantly better with the automatic controls are the design of the manual controls end up making the dash look cheap.

The air conditioning blowers have their noise reduced by 4dB while increasing airflow capacity by 10%. Honda has added better filter to reduce outside odors from entering the cabin. In addition to the front air outlets, Honda has attempted to design the airflow to hit the rear bench via the bottom blowers which travel under the front seat to cool the rear passenger area.

The rear seats have a little storage space underneath it and Honda has suggested you store your umbrella there in the product photos they have shot. The rear bench splits and folds 60:40 and has an armrest integrated into the center with two cupholders in it. The Ultraseats feature seems to be gone now - these are probably just regular split-fold rear seats, though there is an option for a version with a 2-position recline system.

The driver’s seat features a ratchet-operated seat height adjuster to adjust seat height by up to 50mm. Something that is quite rare for a B-segment sedan is the ability to adjust the reach of a steering wheel in addition to the usual tilt. This means the steering wheel can move towards and away from you as well as having its tilt adjusted up or down.

However, there is also a tilt-only steering wheel option for the City, which means each country’s product planners will have to decide which spec level gets the tilt-and-telescope (rake-and-reach) and which one gets the tilt-only.

Safety

Thanks to the European homologation processes, the new Honda City has increased safety, especially for pedestrians. The engine hood, hood hinges, front fenders, front bumper, front windshield support structure and even the wipers are designed to absorb energy easily and bend out of the way whenever possible for better pedestrian crash safety. All of this also helps the passengers in the cabin as all the energy is absorbed instead of being channeled into the cabin into the legs of the front passengers.

The brake discs at the front are of a larger diameter compared to the outgoing model and the brake master cylinder has been made longer but with a smaller diameter. Honda says this allows a more powerful brake booster performance while offering a lower pedal ratio for a more linear brake pedal feel.

Other safety features include SRS airbags, active headrests to prevent whiplash injuries for the front passenger and driver, and the usual combination of ABS and EBD. There is still no traction control offered though, not even on the European model as far as I can tell.

So there you have it, the new 2009 Honda City explained to you in-depth together with comparisons with its rival the Toyota Vios and the previous generation Honda City.

Next up: a test drive review of the new Honda City!