Honda City

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Honda City ZX

Manufacturer:	Honda Thailand/Malaysia
Production:	2005–present
Predecessor:	Honda City
Class:	Subcompact car
Body style:	4-door sedan
Similar:	Toyota Vios Chevrolet Aveo

The Honda City is a subcompact car manufactured by the Japanese manufacturer Honda since 1981 for the Asian market.

1 First generation (1981-1986)
- 1.1 City Turbo
2 Second generation (1986-1994)
3 Third generation
4 Fourth generation
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] First generation (1981-1986)

The first Honda City was launched in 1981 as a three-door hatchback. It was one of the first "tall" hatchbacks: to maximize interior room without occupying more road space, the body was taller than usual. At the 1981 Tokyo Motor Show, one gimmick was a folding motorcycle that could fit into the City's boot. A turbocharged version was added to the range in 1982 and a cabriolet version soon after.

In 1983, the Honda City replaced the Mini in New Zealand Motor Corporation's local assembly line-up. In that same year the car was also released in Australia, although only in a two-seater van variant, to get around that country's import taxes.

Honda exported the City as the Honda Jazz in Europe, the City name being owned by Opel at the time.

[edit] City Turbo

In 1982, Mugen developed their first modified car, the Honda City Turbo, a turbocharged sport compact version of the City.

[edit] Second generation (1986-1994)

Honda replaced the original City with a low hatchback in 1986 (GA1), with an update in 1989 (GA2). This model was produced until 1994. The Fit name appeared as a trim variant on this generation of City. There was no cabriolet model. In most European and Australasian markets, the City Mk II's market position was filled by the Honda Logo (GA3) in 1999.

In April 1996, the Honda City familiar to many Asian markets was released in Bangkok. This City, still a subcompact slotting beneath the Honda Civic, is a four-door sedan model for the developing markets in Asia, and is built in Ayutthaya (Thailand), Delhi (India) and Lahore (Pakistan). In Japan, the same model is called the Honda Fit Aria; the Aria tag was not used in the People's Republic of China.

[edit] Third generation

A revised, facelifted third-generation City was released in 2000 and included sports sedan models powered by Honda's 1.5 L VTEC engines.

[edit] Fourth generation

In November 2002, the City Mk IV was released and included an four-wheel drive version. Like the contemporary Honda Jazz, the Mk IV City is actually a rebadged Honda Fit, in the City's case a rebadged Fit Aria.

In September 2005, a facelifted version of Honda City had been launched in Thailand and followed by Malaysia in October 2005, it is known as Honda City ZX in Thailand and New City in Malaysia. The most significant changes are the new design of the exterior (new front grille, new headlamps, new fog lights, new taillights and bumpers). The front end has been extended forward by 65mm while the rear has been extended by 15mm. The side mirror is electronically foldable. Both the i-DSI and VTEC specs are having 15" alloy rims as standard equipment. The interior changes are minor but it does include an arm rest for the driver and additional map lights are added.

The engine remains the same but the intake manifold had been modified, resulting a 10% temperature drop in the intake air temperature (ITA), the suspension has been upgraded as well.

[edit] Trivia

The music group Madness appeared in a Japanese TV ad campaign for the Honda City. The jingle was written by the entire band, which also appeared in the TV ad, doing its famous "nutty walk". The band apparently liked the jingle so much that they expanded it into a 3-minute pop song and released it as a b-side (B/W "Cardiac Arrest") that reached #14 in the UK charts. It was also included on Complete Madness, the band's best-selling greatest hits compilation from 1982. The track version of "In The City" replaced the repeated brand name "Honda Honda Honda..." with the more generic "doomba doomba doomba".