Honda City, without any doubt, is one of the best sedans that has ever been launched in India, if not the best. Launched for the first time even before the beginning of the new millennium, City has been Honda’s flagship model in the country. This year, in 2014, Honda launched the diesel version of City in the country and it has got a rave response from both critics and customers. The fourth generation Honda City was being awaited by a large number of people, critics and media. Usually, the main competitors of Honda City are said to be Hyundai Verna, Volkswagen Vento and Skoda Rapid. However, a model that not many people know that competes with Honda City is Nissan Sunny, another sedan produced by a Japanese car maker. Let’s take a look at how these two cars fare against each other.
The moment fourth-generation Honda City was launched in India in January 2014, there was a unanimous buzz and level of excitement created. Yoshiyuki Matsumoto, Managing Officer of Honda Motor Company, spoke about how the model is going to perform exceptionally well across the globe and what the launching of a diesel variant meant.
“City has been a high performing product for Honda with over 2.2 million customers across 55 countries. The 4th Generation Honda City is poised for a great response from Indian customers amongst which the car enjoys a very high aspirational value. With the 4th Generation City now available in Diesel in India, Honda Cars is shifting gears to significantly expand its operating universe in the Indian market. The new launch will be a very important facet in this process as the car has witnessed an exceptional success ever since it was launched here,” he said.
The new Honda City has been developed at the firm’s Research and Development centre in the Tochigi, Japan. City’s core concept is called Stunner, which is a combination of sophistication, vigour and a striking appearance. One of the highlights of this car is the application of “man maximum machine minimum” philosophy, which has helped increase the space inside the cabin of Honda City. Other features of this car include self-protection enhancing Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body, pedestrian injury mitigation technology, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) and front SRS airbags.
This car comes in both petrol and diesel versions, which are powered by i-VTEC and i-DTEC engines. Petrol variant of fourth generation Honda City is powered by a 1.5-litre engine that produces an output of 117 BHP and helps the car to render a mileage of 18 kmpl. The diesel version, on the other hand, develops 98 BHP due to the 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine and delivers a mileage of 26 kmpl, which is quite impressive.
Nissan Sunny has a much lesser fancy design than the new Honda City, featuring a chrome grille, boomerang headlights, sculpted tail lights, integrated turn signals in side mirrors, chrome trunk and 15-inch 12 spoke alloy wheels. Technology is the hallmark of all Japanese brands and Nissan Sunny is no different with features like intelligent key with push button start, key-less entry, drive computer, rear-view camera park assist and follow me home headlights.
There are plenty of safety features in this car that maintain high level protection of the driver and passengers. Front and side airbags, engine immobilizer, Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) and Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) form the safety part of Nissan Sunny.
Nissan Sunny, like the Honda City, comes in both petrol and diesel versions, thereby giving customer choices. Petrol variant of Nissan Sunny comes in three trim levels, XE, XL and XL CVT, which are powered by 1.5-litre engines, producing output levels of 98 BHP, 98 BHP and 100 BHP. Diesel version of Nissan Sunny is divided into four trim levels XL, XV, XV Premium (Leather) and XV Premium (Safety), all developing 85 BHP of power.
Looking at the figures, one will obviously go for Honda City due to its style, features and performance. However, Nissan Sunny is a fantastic vehicle and offers more space along with a lot of safety features, thereby the choice totally depends on the consumer.
