1. Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd finally brought us the 2009 Honda City. Before, we are just reading the coverage of Honda City 2009 at the other countries like India, China and Thailand, details of New Honda City and Honda postings can be found HERE. Now the Honda car that we are all waiting for is just arriving on the Malaysia market. Let's see the price, colors and specs of new Honda City 2009, according to my blog resource, Paul Tan.
2. 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.
3. The City 1.5E and the City 1.5S are both powered by the new 1.5 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine producing 120 PS at 6,600rpm and 145Nm of torque at 4,800rpm. No manual option is available. The sole transmission is a 5-speed automatic with two overdrive ratios. Strangely, the Japanese engineers at the Honda City launch claims only one overdrive gear with no specific gear ratio data available, but a quick check from the specs in other countries shows the following gear ratios for the City: 1st - 2.995, 2nd - 1.678, 3rd - 1.066, 4th - 0.760, 5th - 0551. Perhaps they have a different definition of overdrive, or they’ve re-geared it for the Malaysian market.
4. Anyway, if the data I obtained is correct, the City has two overdrive ratios with an additional one designed to lower engine RPM at highway for a quieter and more economical cruise. This transmission is equipped with a paddle shift feature for the 1.5 E model which allows you to swap gears using the left side paddle for downshifts and the right side paddle for upshifts.
5. The City 1.5 S base model’s interior lacks some nice features that the 1.5 E has, such as the compartment under the rear seats (which Honda constantly suggests you put your umbrella there), 60:40 split rear seats with a reclining feature, a rear armrest with cupholder, and it only has fixed rear headrest. Both models have water repellent seats.
6. The meter panel is designed with a triple-gauge design and features a multi-information display that show various “vital statistics” of the car. The two most important features would be distance to empty, which shows you how many km more you can travel on the fuel remaining in your fuel tank, and real-time fuel consumption which shows you how many km you can go per liter of fuel according to your current driving style. You can use this meter to control your driving behavior as it shows you whether your current style is fuel economical or not in real time.
7. The exterior between the two models can easily be differentiated by the front bumper and the alloy wheels. The 1.5 S has smaller 15 inch alloy wheels with 175/65R15 tyres while the 1.5 E has larger 16 inch alloy wheels with 185/55R16 tyres. The front bumper of the 1.5 E model has fog lamps while the 1.5 S does not. The 1.5 E also gains power retractable door mirrors (though both are electronically adjustable).
8. I believe that one of the City’s best advantages over its competitors is the telescopic feature of the steering wheel that is available on both the Honda City models in Malaysia. This allows the driving position to be optimum for tall people. I have always had a problem with finding a comfortable driving position in the City’s competitors. I am relatively tall but what makes it worse is that most of the height is thanks to long legs. Some B-segment sedans and even one C-segment sedan won’t even allow me to push the seat far back enough for me to reach the pedals comfortably. I had no problems in the City.
9. The telescopic steering allowed me to pull the steering towards me until my wrist could touch the top of the steering wheel, I was taught that if I could do this, the steering wheel was near enough to me for the best steering control. In another B-segment car, I was either stretching my arm out to the maximum to hold the steering wheel, or adjusting the backrest angle to a very straight and uncomfortable angle to get close enough to the steering wheel. A comfortable driving position will allow you to control the car properly, and avoiding accidents is always better than relying on airbags and your seatbelt to save you when accidents happen.
10. Coming to the safety features point, both the models are equally equipped. Both the 1.5 E and the 1.5 S has dual SRS airbags for the front passenger and driver, ABS brakes, EBD, Brake Assist, and a driver’s window that automatically stops when something is in its path while it is winding up.
11. Only five colours are available, but sadly no white or red! I asked Honda why did they omit these colours as the red seems to be the new City’s flagship colour while white seems to be quite a popular choice lately, but they said according to customer surveys and the past Honda cars sales colour mix, red wasn’t very popular so they decided to leave it out. The five colours are: Deep Lapis Blue Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Polished Metal Metallic, Alabaster Silver Metallic, and Bold Beige Metallic.
12. I’ve only covered the equipment and prices of the Malaysian Honda City in this story, but there’s just so much that has gone on under the skin of the City compared to the outgoing model. For more information please read my previous detailed technical brief of the 2009 Honda City. That’s pretty much all I can cover right now, stay tuned next year for a test drive report!
2. 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.
3. The City 1.5E and the City 1.5S are both powered by the new 1.5 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine producing 120 PS at 6,600rpm and 145Nm of torque at 4,800rpm. No manual option is available. The sole transmission is a 5-speed automatic with two overdrive ratios. Strangely, the Japanese engineers at the Honda City launch claims only one overdrive gear with no specific gear ratio data available, but a quick check from the specs in other countries shows the following gear ratios for the City: 1st - 2.995, 2nd - 1.678, 3rd - 1.066, 4th - 0.760, 5th - 0551. Perhaps they have a different definition of overdrive, or they’ve re-geared it for the Malaysian market.
4. Anyway, if the data I obtained is correct, the City has two overdrive ratios with an additional one designed to lower engine RPM at highway for a quieter and more economical cruise. This transmission is equipped with a paddle shift feature for the 1.5 E model which allows you to swap gears using the left side paddle for downshifts and the right side paddle for upshifts.5. The City 1.5 S base model’s interior lacks some nice features that the 1.5 E has, such as the compartment under the rear seats (which Honda constantly suggests you put your umbrella there), 60:40 split rear seats with a reclining feature, a rear armrest with cupholder, and it only has fixed rear headrest. Both models have water repellent seats.
6. The meter panel is designed with a triple-gauge design and features a multi-information display that show various “vital statistics” of the car. The two most important features would be distance to empty, which shows you how many km more you can travel on the fuel remaining in your fuel tank, and real-time fuel consumption which shows you how many km you can go per liter of fuel according to your current driving style. You can use this meter to control your driving behavior as it shows you whether your current style is fuel economical or not in real time.
7. The exterior between the two models can easily be differentiated by the front bumper and the alloy wheels. The 1.5 S has smaller 15 inch alloy wheels with 175/65R15 tyres while the 1.5 E has larger 16 inch alloy wheels with 185/55R16 tyres. The front bumper of the 1.5 E model has fog lamps while the 1.5 S does not. The 1.5 E also gains power retractable door mirrors (though both are electronically adjustable).
8. I believe that one of the City’s best advantages over its competitors is the telescopic feature of the steering wheel that is available on both the Honda City models in Malaysia. This allows the driving position to be optimum for tall people. I have always had a problem with finding a comfortable driving position in the City’s competitors. I am relatively tall but what makes it worse is that most of the height is thanks to long legs. Some B-segment sedans and even one C-segment sedan won’t even allow me to push the seat far back enough for me to reach the pedals comfortably. I had no problems in the City.
9. The telescopic steering allowed me to pull the steering towards me until my wrist could touch the top of the steering wheel, I was taught that if I could do this, the steering wheel was near enough to me for the best steering control. In another B-segment car, I was either stretching my arm out to the maximum to hold the steering wheel, or adjusting the backrest angle to a very straight and uncomfortable angle to get close enough to the steering wheel. A comfortable driving position will allow you to control the car properly, and avoiding accidents is always better than relying on airbags and your seatbelt to save you when accidents happen.
10. Coming to the safety features point, both the models are equally equipped. Both the 1.5 E and the 1.5 S has dual SRS airbags for the front passenger and driver, ABS brakes, EBD, Brake Assist, and a driver’s window that automatically stops when something is in its path while it is winding up.
11. Only five colours are available, but sadly no white or red! I asked Honda why did they omit these colours as the red seems to be the new City’s flagship colour while white seems to be quite a popular choice lately, but they said according to customer surveys and the past Honda cars sales colour mix, red wasn’t very popular so they decided to leave it out. The five colours are: Deep Lapis Blue Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Polished Metal Metallic, Alabaster Silver Metallic, and Bold Beige Metallic.12. I’ve only covered the equipment and prices of the Malaysian Honda City in this story, but there’s just so much that has gone on under the skin of the City compared to the outgoing model. For more information please read my previous detailed technical brief of the 2009 Honda City. That’s pretty much all I can cover right now, stay tuned next year for a test drive report!
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