With all the hoo-haa surrounding the City’s launch on 18 Dec, the Honda showrooms all over the country braced themselves for what was going to be an extremely packed weekend, as car buffs and buyers flock to check the new car out. Traveling in disguise, I headed to the premises of Tenaga Setia Resources Sdn Bhd, better known as the ‘Honda Jalan 222 showroom’.

It is one of the more famous navigational landmarks around Petaling Jaya, and being prominently located right alongside one of the busiest roads of the city. As such, it’s one of the first Honda showrooms to cross people’s minds. This, together with the limited amount of space in and around its premises leads to cars of visitors parked by the road side becoming traffic hazards.

“You turn at Jalan 222, and then you see the Honda showroom there, bla bla bla…”

I arrived at the showroom at 3:30pm on Sunday, and it still had a very healthy crowd. There were two display cars in the showroom, both being the Grade S variant. It was not the smartest setup, as this deprived visitors of the opportunity to compare both spec variants live. As a result, the salespeople were seen escorting people outside to view the Grade E test car between test drives. The test car was also decked in the Modulo bodykit and sport rims, that would add over RM7k to the retail price – think properly before ticking these options!

Plenty of visitors even at 3:30pm. Had to wait for over an hour for my test drive.

Only Grade S City on display.

A customer gets ready to take the City for a spin.

Due to the sheer number of customers present, it was over an hour before I got a chance to take the car out for a quick spin. This gave me plenty of time to examine the car in much closer detail, observe the actions of other visitors and also put some of the salespeople to test with their product knowledge.

Having pored through the entire press and technical release kit I picked up from the launch, I also have a reasonable degree of familiarity with the City’s features and technical bits. However, most people (me included) still have no idea of what the gear ratios are, as this piece of information was not available anywhere in the sales catalogs or press kits.

I am not looking for accuracy of each ratio to four decimal places, but I was curious whether the fourth gear was a 1.000 or an overdrive ratio. When quizzed about this, the salesperson I asked told me that there was ‘no overdrive, only got paddle shift.’ Well, I saw no point proceeding further, and I was none the wiser.

While the salespeople were not expecting to face someone secretly armed with info from Honda’s press release, they seemed more than ready to face the rest of the masses, as I saw all of them talking customers into nods. How many of those nods translated into bookings, only they would know, but we could see the Malaysian car inspection culture at its meticulous best – anything that can move was tested to its full range of motion. Every panel was felt to its entire length. The doors, and the boot were opened and closed more times in that one day than what most cars get in a year.

“Engine powerful or not? Save petrol or not?”

With the brighter lighting in the showroom compared to during the launch at Mandarin Oriental, I was able to get a better look at some of the smaller things in the car. The gadget-happy folks will be glad to know that their iPODs will dock with the audio units of both variants. And, as highlighted in the brochures, there were plenty of storage spaces for small objects, though the centre console box is shockingly tiny, being definitely smaller than even those found in a Wira.

iPOD dock available even in Grade S trim.

I had a bigger centre console box in my Wira.

In what was definitely the most shocking omission from a car’s spec sheet of all time, good old UMW Toyota actually specified the Vios J without intermittent wipers. Thankfully, Honda did not go down that route in the cost-cutting stakes, and kindly included intermittent wipers as standard. However, with the Grade S, you don’t get variable speed adjustment, and you have a stalk that so obviously blanked out that feature.

You at least get intermittent wipers, but no variable speed though.

Fortunately, for the rest of the car, there didn’t appear to be many obvious cost-cutting measures that can be deemed unreasonable at this part of the market. However, the rear shelf panel does appear to be rather cheap being made of a rough grade of hard plastic, and for the Grade S, there was just empty space which made me wonder how much would the underseat tray specified for the Grade E variant have cost.

Honda claimed that they have shifted the pedals of the new City 15mm to the right from the outgoing one, though I am not sure why they even bothered. The reason for this shift was to accomodate a footrest for the left foot, but having did all the hardwork redesigning the geometry of the linkages, all Honda did was slap a rubber piece which almost blends into the floor. It really didn’t feel like it was even there.

You call that a footrest?

For the rest of the interior, I have few complaints, though it seems that the rear headroom has been reduced, with my head now just touching the roof when sitting upright. Reduced practicality aside, this is still a well-designed and well-built interior – definitely superior in quality and equipment compared to the Toyota Vios even in the RM89k 1.5S trim.

In case you didn’t know, the new City’s bootspace increased from the outgoing model by a total of six litres, bringing it to 506 litres of bootspace. Access to those 506 litres is facilitated by opening a bootlid that has an inverted Y-shape shutline, and a C-shaped type hinge. In order to avert interference between the bootlid and taillights when opening, the geometry of the bootlid’s opening motion was engineered to come slightly outwards before going up. The C-shaped hinges also do not intrude too much into the bootspace, which is a problem I trust Proton Waja owners will definitely be familiar with.

“Upside-down Y” shutline consumed many engineering hours.

Finally, time to hit the road. As I reversed the car out of the parking spot, and maneuvered to exit the showroom premises, I immediately noticed that the steering is weightier and had more feel than the previous City. Thumbs up to Honda for addressing that one. I remember when testing the old City, I almost ‘over-steered’ the car onto the kerb, being not used to the degree of assist from the electric power steering (EPS).

The new 1.5 i-VTEC engine packs sufficient punch when pressed. The engine does roar a bit past 4,000rpm, which might not be to everyone’s taste, though it’s not as gruff as, say, the Waja/Lancer 4G18. The response of the paddle shifts were quick enough under hard acceleration, with only a very minor delay in shifting time. There wasn’t sufficient time to draw a proper conclusion, but the powertrain’s performance is adequate for most city and even PLUS highway driving conditions.

Whether this City is an improvement to the old is a matter of debate. Some argue it is, some argue it isn’t, both for, amazingly, very same reasons. Some like the sportier edge of the new model, others moan the sacrifice of the old model’s renowned practicality. Some think dropping the CVT for a 5A/T is a great idea, while others think the opposite. The outgoing City was more practical, and had a lot of clever and thoughtful ideas. The new one drops a few of these ideas and embraces a more outgoing image – more conventional, yet more aggressive. It’s hardly a better car, though in the eyes of many, it’s probably more likeable.

The Honda Accord has been put through the stringent EuroNCAP crash tests, and has emerged as the best performer in the Large Family Cars category – which, for this year, included the Audi A4, Citroen C5, Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, Lancia Delta & Skoda Superb. For the record, EuroNCAP also classified the Waja as a Large Family Car when they crash tested it in 2002.

“We are delighted with the EuroNCAP result, which confirms the new Accord as the leader for combined adult, child and pedestrian safety in the large family car class. Add to this the advanced active safety features of the Accord and customers can experience the most effective safety technologies put into practice with our goal of providing safety for everyone,” said Ken Keir, Senior Vice President of Honda Motor Europe.

EuroNCAP 2008 scores for Large Family Cars category.

Mr Keir is rightly proud of the Accord’s impressive showing, but in his delight, he also neglected to tell us that the Accord actually isn’t leading the competition by a huge margin, with only its strong performance in the area of pedestrian protection (and let’s give Honda credit for that), giving the Accord its edge in the tests. For adult and child protection, all the cars compared in the category fared rather close. In fact, I would say the Skoda Superb ran it rather close.

According to the official results, the Accord even scored maximum points for child protection for infants below 3 years-old in an impact, but was (presumably) penalised because the label to warn drivers of the dangers of using a rear-facing child seat at the front without having the airbag disabled was not available in all European languages. Go and scratch your head on that one.

The Honda press release trumpeting this achievement also went on to list down the safety features available in the Accord, which included Vehicle Stability Assist, Motion Adaptive EPS, and the Advanced Compatibility Engineering Body Structure. There was also the impressive sounding Advanced Driving Assist System (ADAS) which is a combination of three systems working in tandem: Lane Keeping Assist System, Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Mitigating Brake System, all available either optional or standard on board the 2.2 i-DTEC version of the Accord Euro tested by EuroNCAP.

That was certainly an impressive list of terms, but judging how unfamiliar they seem, it’s highly unlikely that most of these are available in our Asian-spec version. It’s too bad we don’t have a similar body in this part of the world to crash test cars that are relevant to us.

Nothing to stop you crashing your Accord, though chances are, you’ll walk out of it unhurt.

Don’t try it with this one yet though.

Read more: Accord’s EuroNCAP results, EuroNCAP home

On Saturday afternoon, I managed to make time for a brief visit to Proton’s Centre of Excellence to visit the Proton Health Carnival. Promoting a concept of a ‘healthy & safe lifestyle’, there were booths by PUSPAKOM, MAKNA, and the Department of Environment, besides a range of other family oriented activities.

Walking deeper inside, there was a rock-climbing setup – which seemed to cater only for the kids – and a cordoned off section with cones arranged all around and a couple of Proton Sagas parked inside. It was a defensive driving circuit, but I skipped it because I was told that we would only be riding as passengers.

On my way out, I walked past a tent setup to conduct sales activities for Proton cars, with a Gen.2 CPS, Saga 1.3 and a Persona IAFM on display. My request for a test drive for the CPS variant of either the Gen.2 or Waja was turned down because the Centre of Excellence only has test cars for the Saga and Persona.

I don’t hold the salesman to blame, but the headquarters of Proton’s sales arm does not have an excuse for not having a complete lineup of test cars available. The omission is more glaring when one considers that the Waja and Gen.2 CPS are essentially flagship models of Proton’s current lineup.

Due to personal commitments, I did not get to stay too long here. However, from my brief observations, I do praise Proton Edar for organising a health-themed car event. It was a creative idea at the very least, and considering the size of the crowd it attracted, PE ought to be very pleased.

Proton Health Carnival

The PUSPAKOM Booth.

Exhibits by MAKNA

A message against our ‘tidak-apa’ attitude

A spokesperson delivering a health talk

Rock climbing also available.

Circuit for defensive driving session – but you don’t get to drive.

Sales booth for Proton cars.

Armed with a pair of media passes, this writer and his companion were given free access to the paddock and pits for the 5th round of the 2008 Sepang Drag Battle.

For Round 5, participating cars were divided into seven categories, labelled A to F. Category A was defined as the Open Category (read: no-holds barred) where teams are not restricted in terms of the modifications they perform to the car. Cars playing in this category are the meanest of the lot, with extensive powertrain and chassis modifications.

Some cars in Category A were observed to have had their complicated multi-link rear axles stripped and replaced by a solid axle in the name of weight saving. The winner of the category was Lai Wee Sing of Team R-Engineering in his Proton Satria. With this victory, Wee Sing was crowned overall winner of the Sepang Drag Battle season for 2008.

It was the same story in Category B – 2WD Forced Induction, with Wee Sing’s Team R teammate, Mohd Zamri Ahmad, who won both the round and the season, though unlike Wee Sing, Zamri had sealed his crown much earlier in the season. Category B cars are limited to 3,000cc engine capacity and can only have one of either turbocharging, supercharging or NOS.

In Category C – 2WD Natural Aspirated, cars with engines up to 2,000cc are allowed. The engines can be equipped with variable valve timing systems, but must not be fitted with NOS or forced induction systems. The title in this category went to Mohd Maziz Ahmad, who could afford to skip the round and make way for Ahmad Firdaus Ahmad to win the race on the night.

The regulations are further tightened in Category D – 2WD Limited, with maximum engine capacity shrunk to 1,600cc and variable valve timing prohibited altogether. Ismail Mutalib won it for this category and thus sealing the Category D title for himself.

Category E – K-Car was the playground of all the souped up Kancils and Kelisas. These are Peroduas that you don’t want to mess with, as I personally timed a couple of them to have clocked 12 – 13 seconds during their practice lap. To put that figure into perspective, that’s the territory of cars like the BMW M5, Ferrari 612 and Mercedes “55 AMG” variants.

It should be noted that, these cars were given the option of turbocharging or supercharging, with minimum weights of 650kg (NA) or 750kg (forced induction) invoked on the cars. The Category E winner on the night was Azlee Awang, who came in ahead of season champion Azery Mohd Norazli.

Category F – Avantech On The Road Class was a playground filled mainly by Hondas and Satrias. Split into VTEC and non-VTEC subcategories, cars in this category battle it out only as a one-off, with no season titles at stake. The technical restrictions are almost identical to that for Category C in addition to the cars needing to be road legal and having their exteriors and interiors intact. Zainal Abidin Abdul Rashed and Kamarul Azeman Arshad won it for the VTEC and non-VTEC categories respectively.

The final category was Category G – Campro, where, you guessed it, Campro-powered cars contest amongst each other in yet another one-off. This category was originally opened to 4G18 and 4G92 powered Protons before the organisers changed their minds and renamed this category to be the Campro Drag Battle.

Participants in this category see far more technical restrictions than the rest. For a start, the cars must be powered by Campro engines displacing no more than 1,601cc. Participants are free to modify their transmissions, brakes, suspension and ECU, but the car must weigh more than 1,500kg (excluding driver). It was even stipulated that the front and rear passenger seats were to be in place – not that I saw there were any.

Indeed, it made me wonder if the engine capacity restrictions were adhered to. The stock Campro already displaces 1,597cc and a simple reboring or restroking by just half a millimetre would already increase the engine capacity to 1,618cc or 1,606cc respectively - that’s just half a millimetre. I know for a fact that there are tuners who have rebored and restroked Campros up to nearly 1,700cc.

Winning the Campro Drag Battle, was Mark Darwin, who drove the only Proton Waja on the day, beating a score of Gen.2s and Neos. Further down the pecking order are a couple of Proton Personas who participated under the banner of the The Persona Club.

With the end of Round 5, the Sepang Drag Battle 2008 concludes. However, the action at Sepang did not end there, as there is the A1 GP this coming weekend to look forward to!

Reference:  News | Sepang Circuit

Pictures courtesy of Mr. H.C. Gui.

This is one mean Satria.

Solid rear axle, with drum brakes!

The VTEC army ready to take on Cat F

Cat G participants pit here – for Campro Drag Battle.

Poor Gen.2 stripped to bits.

Stock-standard looking Persona

The Kancils mean business too. Many of them clocked 12-13 secs for the quarter mile.

Cars lining for the first practice.

…and off they go!

It all went past us in a blur.

The sun sets, but the action goes on.

All the Hondas jockeying for positions.

Beauty shot of the grandstand.

Malaysian dragsters

Check out those massive tyres…

Visitors from Singapore also present.

Crouching camera, hidden power.

Crowd and cars together.