Honda City: A Work of Art!

Since the launch of the third generation Honda City in the local market in 2009, HCPI‘s (Honda Cars Philippines Inc.) sales in the sub-compact category has increased dramatically. In its first year, the Honda City managed to reach 8,882 unit sales, the highest ever annual City sales to date.

Fast forward to 2010, Honda’s 3rd generation sub-compact sedan has reached over 10,000 sales in the country. So In celebration to that milestone, Honda invited the motoring media to take part in a unique media test drive event to relive Honda City’s winning features that obviously the Philippine market has embraced.

The itinerary of the test drive was designed to appreciate the modern art design of the City through art-rich locations in the Philippines.

First Drive!

My first Honda City test drive day started in Ortigas with the white Honda City powered by a 1.5 Liter i-VTEC Engine. Mr. Tito Hermoso of “Business World” and DJ Matt of “Stoplight TV” were with me while Mr. Ron delos Reyes of “Auto Review” was joined by Angel Rivero in the 3rd car, a 1.3 S AT variant. The lead car was for the HCPI crew and for the camera men as well.

The City’s engine was put into the test as I drove it along South Luzon Expressway. The i-VTEC engine has no problem cruising through the roads of C5 and SLEX. Overtaking other cars is very easy because even in a compact package, the City with its reliable VTEC engine, has max power of 120/6600 ps/rpm. The City comes with a 5-speed automatic transmission which is very convenient to use. It also has a paddle shifters (only 1.5 E) which can be used to trigger manual type transmission for more control and adds a more sporty feeling.

Mr. Potter

Our first stop was the place of Mr. Ugu Bigyan, a renowned potter based in Tiaong, Quezon. He is one of the country’s best ceramic artists and to our surprise, a self taught chef. Ugu prepared a tasty lunch for us and even demonstrated his pottery skills after.

Thunderbird Resort

After Tiaong, Quezon, we then headed to Rizal province, the art capital of the Philippines. This time, it was Tito on the steering wheel. We traversed roads via the Laguna loop to reach Thunderbird Resort in Angono, Rizal where we had our dinner, the “after dinner sessions” (wink!) and a much needed rest in our hotel rooms.

Angono Petroglyphs

The second day started with a pictorial and then the day tour around the province of Rizal. Our tour started with the viewing of the Angono Petroglyphs in Binangonan. To go to our destination, we had to pass through a tight man-made tunnel only a subcompact could pass (I think). Good thing we are testing the City and not the Civic or worse an Accord for that particular obstacle.

It was only a quick stop to see the oldest work of art in the Philippines. There you can see human and animal figures engraved on the rock wall. Our local guide said that the drawings was dated 3000 B.C. and was discovered by National Artist, Carlos “Botong” Francisco. At the site, all you can see are drawings of animals and whatever stuff this stone people drew there. But the sad thing was you can also see “modern art” like “Jenny 2001” or something like that. I even joked at Sheryl of HCPI that I saw “Sheryl was here“, since it’s her second time to visit the place.

Yab Design

Our next stop was a visit to “YAB Design”, maker of life size figures using “polyester resin” as their primary material. When I say life size, it’s really life size. If you look at the photo above, you will see the huge dinosaur and the dragon that will very much awaken the cam-whore side of you if you see it.

Inside the Yab Design warehouse, you can see a lot of action figures from pirates, animals, super heroes, and Santa Claus. I was excited to see these life size works of art but eventually died down when I failed to see Star Wars characters. I was willing to buy a life size Yoda and shove it into the trunk of the City but the girl whom we talked to said they don’t have Star Wars collection.

A life size action figure costs around Php 15,000. Hmmm… good thing they don’t have Master Yoda in their collection.

Spend, I must not!

After that, we ate our lunch at the Crescent Moon Cafe in Antipolo, owned by another potter, Mrs. Lanelle Abueve-Fernando, grandchild of national artist Napoleon Abueva. The food was good and the place is nice. They have this fish pond with humongous kois about the size of my leg.  The biggest carps I’ve seen in my life.

Blanco Family Museun

Our last pit stop before we headed back to Ortigas was a visit to the Blanco Family Museun. The museum is the house to a big collection of great paintings from the Blanco family, headed by the late Jose “Pitok” Blanco. We were all surprised that Mr. Blanco and his wife and 7 children are all painters, and very good in their own craft.

Overall, the test drive was a unique experience, It’s like hitting two birds in one stone on my part as I get to appreciate local art places and experience the 3rd genereation Honda City for the first time through out the course of the trip.

The Art that is Honda City

The Honda City is really a “work of art” I must say, with its modern styling and good performance, it would appeal to a young professional living in the Metro who wants a fuel efficient car with good looks or to a family man who needs enough cargo space (506 liter trunk capacity) for family trips without giving up comfort.

Exterior wise, the City is above in its class with its beautifully designed front grille and body contours,  but its interior will also not disappoint. I mean, it’s priced at sub 1M (1.5E is at 816K) and you wouldn’t expect leather seats right? The sport fabric seats are comfortable enough for me.

If you want music, the center of the dashboard has AM/FM/CD/MP3 stereo unit which has an aux-in port. It also has USB connectivity and is iPod compatible.

It is also a plus that the instrument panels are in front of the driver not like the Vios’ middle panel dashboard design but the amber/orange lighting is not very appealing to me. A blue and white themed panel could have been better.

The Honda City has 4 variants: 1.3 A MT, 1.3 S MT, 1.3S AT and the 1.3 E AT. If you ask me, the top-of-the-line model is the one to get. It has more features than the rest of the gang plus you get a bigger engine, fog lamps, and paddle shifters. If you are hunting for a sub-compact sedan, then you should definitely test drive the 2010 Honda City.

Honda City Pricelist:

City 1.3 A MT PHP 686,000.00
City 1.3 S MT PHP 726,000.00
City 1.3 S AT PHP 766,000.00
City 1.5 E AT PHP 816,000.00

Photos: Randy Marasigan

Tags: featured HCPI honda honda city