Review: 2022 Honda City Hatchback - X50 money for a 'small car', but it's big on value

It’s hard – perhaps nigh impossible – to replace Freddie Mercury. Just ask Adam Lambert, who probably heard the sharpening of pitchforks when he was named Queen’s frontman. Parallels can be drawn with the Honda Jazz and Honda City Hatchback in Malaysia, with the latter having to deal with raving fans, monumental expectations, and sales figures to worry about on top of that.

If our recent experience in Langkawi with the stubby City was anything to go by, then we think it’ll have no pressure growing out of the shadows cast by the Jazz.

Driving Experience: A fuller experience than the Yaris

On hand with us were the Honda City Hatchback 1.5 V (RM 87,856) and the City Hatchback RS e:HEV (RM 107,783), the range-topping hybrid variant. Both are SST-free prices, and only valid until 30-June 2022. Best join the queue fast if you want to lock in these prices.

Also read: SST-free prices ending in less than 2 months – which Japanese brand can deliver before June?

Digressions aside, either one you choose, Honda’s offering is a better drive than the Toyota Yaris. A big part of that comes from its suspension tuning that leans to the sportier edge compared to the latter’s softer, comfort-oriented setup.

But that’s not to say it’s teeth-chatteringly firm. The difference in how it drives is in its pliancy and stability in the bends – ‘confidence inspiring’, if you must – and with its shorter rump it is palpably nimbler than its sedan counterpart.

That said there's a difference between how the non-hybrid and RS e:HEV variants handle. The latter has a 0.86 kWh lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery sitting above its rear axle, and the extra heft lends in the RS having a more planted character than the regular, lighter variants.

Both petrol and RS variants may not exactly win prizes for driving engagement, but there's a well-weighted steering wheel that provides reasonably good feedback.

Also read: Choices in Malaysia's car market: should you spring for a sedan or get a hatchback?

But if outright comfort is what you're looking for, then the Yaris ought to take the cake. Its gentler suspension rides waftier, and its fabric seats (all variants) also feel plusher than the leather/fabric units in the City Hatchback.

Subjective hearing says the City Hatchback is a little noisier than the Yaris too, particularly in the tyre/road noise aspect. You can hear stones and sand kicking against the wheel wells, which somewhat cheapens the experience.

In the same vein it feels like it also lets in more wind noise at higher speeds, but we'll have to use our proper instruments in order to prove it.

With the same 1.5-litre 121 PS/145 Nm engine and CVT-type automatic transmission combo as it is in the 1.5 S, E, and V variants, the experience is pretty similar to the sedan. Nothing extraordinary, more than adequate for daily driving duties, as well being smooth and silent.

The RS e:HEV’s hybrid powertrain - the dual-motor Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive (i-MMD) setup – provides 98 PS and 127 Nm from its 1.5-litre Atkinson-cycle combustion engine, and 109 PS and 253 Nm from its electric motor.

In daily driving situations both options are smooth, with the crossover between electric to petrol power in the RS e:HEV being virtually indiscernible as it cycles through its various drive modes.

Also read: Review: 2021 Honda City RS e:HEV – Hybrid perfomance for the common man

A proper fuel consumption test will be done later, but Honda claims fuel consumption figures of 5.6 litres/100 km for the 1.5-litre petrol variants, and 3.6 litres/100 km for the RS e:HEV hybrid.

Cabin and features: One-ups competitors

Where the City Hatchback gains multiple points over the Yaris is in its cabin. Interior aesthetics and quality punches above its price tag, and with all the two-tone touches it instantly dates the Yaris' cabin.

There’s no real complaints about the pews in the City Hatchback. It probably isn’t the most bang-on seats – you get what you pay for – but there is good thigh, shoulder, and back support for a majority of buyers.

Space is what it does best. Legroom in the rear is outstanding for the price, and there's good enough headroom. Notably there isn't a centre armrest for those sitting at the back, as it makes way for the Ultra Seats to function.

Also read: Honda City Hatchback's ULTRA seats, as clever as the Jazz's, and still the segment's best

Boot capacity with the rear seats up is 289 litres, three litres more than the Yaris offers. But then again, Ultra Seats are a thing, and this is where the City Hatchback wipes the floor clean with competitors.

Part of this owes to the Honda-patented centre fuel tank layout, freeing up space at the rear. The fuel tank now sits under the front passenger seat (for all variants), resulting in a slightly janky raised indentation by the occupants right foot.

Also read: The Honda City Hatchback is smaller than the Sedan but has more space inside, how?

Most of the interior is faultless, but if there's something we feel could be improved, it'll be the rear air-cond vents. The angle of the vents are a little too low to be of any practical use, and it's not very powerful either.

Honda Sensing: Worth its weight

Good advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are worth investing in, and that’s what Honda Sensing is. Exclusive to the City Hatchback RS e:HEV, its Sensing suite is much like what you'd expect: well-calibrated and logically easy to use.

Also read: Perodua Myvi vs Honda City Hatchback – Do you really need the H badge?

Lane Keep Assist (LKAS) tends to be an ADAS pain point, but not necessarily here. It's the gentler type, with light warnings and slow guidance back into the lanes.

These are the features you'll get:

• 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)

An electric parking brake is exclusively available on the RS e:HEV variant, but note that its adaptive cruise control function does not have stop-and-go capability like the Civic and CR-V.

Passive Safety: Yaris edges it

But where Honda extends extensive ADAS functions to cars of this segment, price gets in the way. In this regard the Yaris is slightly safer, in terms of the amount of passive safety features one gets versus price.

For one, the Yaris comes with 7 airbags as standard across the range, while the City Hatchback gets a maximum of 6, and that too only on the pricier top variants (V, the newly-introduced V Sensing, and the RS e:HEV) which are much higher-priced than the Yaris.

The Yaris also gets a 3D-360 degree camera, as well as a Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (BSM, RCTA) which some would argue as more useful than Honda's left-side only LaneWatch.

Equalising things between both of them are the presence of anti-lock brakes (ABS) with electronic brake force distribution (EBD), brake assist (BA), stability control, hill-start assist, and ISOFIX tethers for child seats.

Conclusion: Cult status? Possible

While there were initial reservations, critics and old-time fans slowly warmed to new man helming Queen. Yes, he's different from what fans are accustomed to, and in his own way, injects a little character to what's already a well-loved formula.

Much the same with the City Hatchback. Yes, it has a long way to go before it achieves the Jazz's cult-stardom, but at least it's got the recipe right: it looks good, it's bigger than you think, and drives well enough to not make the daily commute a snoozefest.

And what a good point is it to start from.