Spec comparo: 2020 Honda City vs 2020 Hyundai Verna vs Maruti Suzuki Ciaz vs Skoda Rapid

Honda Cars India has teased the fifth-generation City in the country and has confirmed that the sedan will be launched in July 2020. The company says that the new City is the longest and widest sedan in its segment. And a comparison with its bold rivals could be interesting. Let's see how the bout looks on paper.

Dimensions

The new-gen Honda City measures 4,549mm in length, 1,748mm in width, 1,489mm in height and has a wheelbase of 2,600mm. The Verna is 4440mm long, 1729mm wide and 1475mm tall with a wheelbase of 2600mm. And the Ciaz is 4490mm long, 1730mm wide, 1485mm tall and has a wheelbase of 2650mm. The new-gen City is the longest, widest and tallest car in the class, but the Ciaz has the longest wheelbase. This means that the  legroom for rear bench passengers is far superior to rivals. The Skoda Rapid is 4413mm long, 1699mm wide, 1466mm tall and has a wheelbase of 2552mm. When it comes to dimensions, the Skoda Rapid is the smallest car in the class. 

Features

The new gen-Honda City features an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity along with a 7-inch colour TFT instrumentation. It also gets an electric sunroof, remote engine start, automatic headlights and a boot capacity of 506 litres. The Verna gets features like 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, wireless phone charger, rear USB charger, Arkamys sound system, front ventilated seats, paddle shifter, smart trunk and sliding centre console armrest with storage. Along with that here are 45 Blue link features that cater to safety, security, remote operations, vehicle relationship management, geographic information, alerts and voice recognition services. On the other hand, the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz gets automatic climate control, all-four power windows and electrically adjustable and foldable wing mirror, but it misses out on telescopic steering adjustment and gets only tilt along with rain-sensing wipers and a remote-operated boot lid opening as against the Verna and the City. It also misses out on the electric sunroof. The Verna gets brownie points for ventilated front seats which can be really useful considering the Indian summers. And if we talk about safety, the Verna gets ESP, hill-hold assist, active cornering headlamps and the tyre pressure monitoring system. The 2020 Honda City features six airbags, ABS, EBD, ISOFIX seats, Pedestrian Injury Mitigation Technology, Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA). The Skoda Rapid gets a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with auto climate control, a 12-volt power socket at the front and rear, cruise control and steering mounted audio controls.

Performance

The fifth-generation Honda City houses a 1.5L i-VTEC engine that makes 121PS of power at 6,600 rpm and generates 145Nm of torque at 4,300rpm. This engine can be coupled with either a 6-speed manual transmission or a 7-speed CVT. And the 1.5 diesel engine comes mated to a 6-speed transmission that makes 100PS of power and 200Nm of torque. The Hyundai Verna is offered with two petrol and one diesel engine, the 1.5 litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine produces 115PS of power and 144Nm of torque and comes with six-speed manual and CVT gearbox options. The 1.0-litre turbo petrol is offered only with the dual-clutch automatic transmission that makes 120PS of power and 172Nm of torque. The 1.5-litre diesel engine generates 115PS of power and 250Nm of torque and comes mated to either a six-speed manual or a six-speed torque-converter automatic. The Ciaz comes with a petrol engine only, a 1.5-litre K-Series engine develops 105PS of power and 138Nm of torque. While the manual gearbox is a five-speed transmission, the automatic is a four-speed torque converter. The Skoda Rapid is powered by a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine that pushes 109PS of power and 175Nm of torque. 

Price

The Hyundai Verna starts at a price point of Rs 9.30 lakh and the top variant costs Rs 15.11 lakh. The top model of the BSIV Honda City is for Rs Rs 14.53 lakhs ex-showroom and matches the Verna in terms of specs, more or less. The Skoda Rapid starts at Rs 7.49 lakh and the top variant costs Rs 11.79 lakh. And the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz starts at Rs 8.32 lakh and goes all the way up to Rs 11.1 lakh. The new 2020 Honda City will be launched next month, only then we will know the price of the fifth-generation sedan. And we can expect the new model to be priced between Rs 10-15 lakh ex-showroom for the 2020 version.