New 2014 Honda City variants explained

To get that all important launch price as low as possible, manufacturers introduce new models with more variants than the fingers on your hand. The 2014 Honda City will be no different. Finding the right City then is going to be confusing, come January 7 when the car is launched. So we’ve decided to break it down for you with our analysis of this highly anticipated sedan’s variants.

The City will be launched with five trims for its petrol manual model, five for the diesel and at least two, if not three for the CVT equipped petrol car. These have been termed E, S, SV, V and VX with E being the entry trim and VX being the top-of-the-line variant. The CVT City is expected to be launched in V and VX variants and could also be made available in S trim if Honda foresees high demand for its automatic. 

The only common mechanical features among all Honda City variants will be a driver airbag, all four power windows and tilt function for the steering wheel. The petrol E trim City is as bare-bones as they come and we believe it is solely to get a headline making sticker price. For a car that makes 119PS of power, it will not have ABS or a passenger airbag. It will also not feature an entertainment system, AC vent for the rear passengers or turn indicators in the outside rear view mirrors. 

The entry-level diesel car though will get ABS with EBD as standard fitment which is possibly because Honda anticipates large queues for this variant among fleet and private cab operators. 

The S and SV variants get a standard entertainment system with four speakers and steering mounted controls. The V and VX trims get a 5-inch monitor with two more speakers and tweeters. While the E and S trims get manual air conditioning, the SV, V and VX models get climate control air-cons. 

The lower three variants have been formulated in a way that the higher variant has just about that little extra to push your budget a bit more. So the S has a music system, ABS and rear defogger over the E. The SV has rear AC vents, climate control air-con, passenger airbag and cruise control over the S. 

There is a considerable amount of extra kit on the V trim Honda City over the SV. It gets integrated turn indicators in the power foldable ORVMs, front fog lamps, alloy wheels, 5-inch touch-screen entertainment system with more speakers and tweeters and a rear parking camera. This is going to be the variant to buy. 

The top-end VX City comes with all the bells and whistles. It addition to what you get in the V, the VX will come with leather upholstery, push button start/stop and sunroof. While leather seats are definitely more comfortable and luxurious, you can do away with the other unnecessary extras that are going to be charged at a premium anyway.