With the BS6 norms being effective already, Honda has discontinued the diesel variants of the City in India. However, a diesel engine will be reintroduced with the new-gen City.
With the coming in of the BS6 era, Honda has now discontinued the diesel variants of the City sedan. The 1.5L diesel engine that powered the Honda City was BS4 and the carmaker has gone ahead and removed the diesel variants of the City from their website. The City is now available with a sole petrol engine. Honda launched the BS6 City petrol late last year, with its price ranging between Rs 9.91 lakh and Rs 14.31 lakh (ex-showroom).
The diesel variants of the City was powered by a 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine that made 100bhp of power and 200Nm of torque. The engine came paired only with a 6-speed manual transmission and there was no automatic gearbox option offer. Interestingly, Honda offers this same engine in BS6 guise on the Amaze sub-4m sedan with both manual and continuously variable (CVT) transmissions options.
Currently, the BS6 petrol City is a available with a 1.5L i-VTEC engine that produces 119bhp and 145Nm of torque. The engine comes mated to either a 5-speed manual or 7-step CVT gearbox with steering mounted paddle shifters. When Honda launched the BS6 City petrol in December last year, they had hikes the prices of all variants by Rs 5,000 except for the base diesel variant. That was on account of an updated Digipad 2.0 infotainment system that came with navigation, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
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That said, a brand new generation of the City is almost on its way to India. The new sedan would have been launched very soon but its unclear right now as to when Honda will launch the new City due to ongoing coronavirus crisis. The new 2020 Honda City comes with brand new styling and the interiors have been completely redone as well. The new City promises to be even more premium than the car it replaces.
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The bigger news is that with the new-gen City, Honda will bring back the diesel engine on the City. The new City will come with 1.5L petrol and diesel engine options and they will of course be BS6 complaint. The engines will either come mated to a manual or CVT automatic gearbox. Honda even offers a 1.0L turbo-petrol engine with the new City internationally and although its rival – the Hyundai Verna – already has a turbo-petrol engine option up its sleeve, there’s no news of Honda offering the same in India. In India, the current-generation Honda City competes with the Skoda Rapid, Volkswagen Vento, and the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.
