Honda City Hatchback

Honda City Hatchback – Exterior

On the outside, the City Hatchback range gets the same 15- and 16-inch wheels as the sedan, LED headlights on the upper variants (halogen projectors for the 1.5 S), while LED tail lights are standard issue.

The RS gains some extra visual spice by way of fog light covers, carbon-fibre-look front and rear diffusers, gloss black grille, and black side mirror caps.

Rounding of the changes are two new colours, while the rest of the palette is similar to the City Sedan's.

Honda City Hatchback – Interior

Speaking of the sedan, the front half of the City Hatchback is essentially a mirror image of that – from the exterior fascia and all the way to the interior's upholstery and details.

Even the differences are the same: where the 1.5 S and 1.5 E variants get an urethane steering wheel and fabric upholstery, the higher-end 1.5 V and RS gains a leatherette steering wheel and leather seats in place.

Honda City Hatchback – Features

Honda Sensing is available

Here's the array of Honda Sensing features available exclusively on the City Hatchback RS:

• Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
• Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS)
• Forward Collision Warning (FCW)
• Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS)
• Road Departure Mitigation (RDM)
• Lane Departure Warning (LDW)
• Auto High Beam (AHB)

In addition to these Sensing features, the City Hatchback RS also gets the Honda Connect telematics system, with core functions encapsulating vehicle diagnostics, remote applications, security applications, vehicle tracking, and support services.

The lower-end variants of the City Hatchback get 4 airbags while hill start assist (HSA), vehicle stability assist (VSA), and reverse sensors are standard. Going up the price scale, the V and RS gets 6 airbags, and Honda LaneWatch too.

Two flavours of the City Hatchback are offered: the S, E, and V variants have a conventional petrol engine, while the RS is a petrol-electric hybrid.

Total output from the 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated DOHC i-VTEC mill in the normal variants is 121 PS and 145 Nm, with power sent to the front wheels via a CVT automatic.

The City Hatchback RS e:HEV meanwhile gets the two-motor Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive (i-MMD) petrol-electric hybrid powertrain, pairing its 1.5-litre Atkinson cycle i-VTEC engine (98 PS & 127 Nm) to an electric motor (108 PS and 253 Nm).

Also read: Review: 2022 Honda City Hatchback in Malaysia – Jazz won’t be missed, Yaris should be afraid

Handles more playfully than the sedan

An edge we immediately noticed the City Hatchback poses over the sedan is it’s sharper handling. Its shorter rear-end lends the car a nimbler character compared to its three-box stablemate, and body roll is less tangible in the corners.

Aside from that, the City Hatchback’s is about 7kg lighter than the sedan, which will be appreciated by those looking to do a spot of spirited driving in their City Hatchback.

Logically, you would expect the smaller hatchback with a smaller boot to have less space inside, with a proportionately tighter legroom, especially in the rear, except that it’s not true. At least not for the City Hatchback.

Rei Sakamoto, Large Project Leader (Honda’s equivalent for Executive Chief Engineer) for the fifth generation Honda City explained that between the Sedan and the Hatchback, it is the latter than has more rear legroom.

Sakamoto explained that since the City Hatchback was conceived as a replacement for the Jazz in this region, one of the most important part of the product brief was to match / exceed the outgoing Jazz’s cabin space, a very tall order because the Jazz has a best-in-class practicality, and is able to swallow volumes of cargo than even SUVs from one segment above it will struggle.

Honda City Hatchback – Conclusion

The City Hatchback 1.5 V has left a strong impression on us, offering a plenty fun drive, rich features, and the ever-endearing ULTRA seats.