And why you shouldn’t take these base variants for granted
Are cars truly still cars? Or are they rolling gadget hubs? PHOTO BY SAM SURLA
Can modern vehicles still be considered just “vehicles”? We’ve come to a point where it seems that these metal boxes on wheels that we use to get around from A to B have more tech inside than your average condominium unit. I could go on and ramble about how modern drivers should drive an old car at least once, but my colleague has written an excellent article on that.
I won’t deny that my job has allowed me to drive some cars that I would’ve never imagined driving, like those that can steer themselves (when the conditions are right), have rocketship-like acceleration, or are even more luxurious than some hotel rooms. My current daily driver packs a good amount of tech, which is a far cry from the “bare necessities” car I started out with.
It's an unassuming-looking sedan, isn't it? PHOTO BY SAM SURLA
That brings me to this Honda City. This is the 1.5 S, and it’s the base trim in the lineup. It costs P938,000, and you lose a lot of creature comforts to reach this price tag.
One thing I noticed is how similar the car feels to drive compared to its top-of-the-line RS sibling, which is a great thing because you know that the automaker really focused on the driving dynamics before tacking on additional features.
It's a peppy-driving car, only hampered by its CVT. PHOTO BY SAM SURLA
It has the same 1.5-liter naturally aspirated i-VTEC motor under the hood with 119hp and 145Nm, with the same peppy initial acceleration that plateaus after because of the CVT’s gearing in favor of being frugal—netting me an average of 7.8km/L in horrible city traffic over five days. It’s light and easy to throw around town and in the corners, especially with its 5m turning radius.
I could end the review here, but daily-driving this car for errands and as a commuter brought back this feeling of nostalgia, a sense of familiarity that I’ve come to miss from my first car.
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