Honda City petrol CVT falls short of claimed mileage in real-world test

The Honda City is a popular premium sedan in the Indian market, known for its attractive design, spacious cabin and comfortable ride. A real-road test was carried out on the petrol CVT variant to check how much mileage it actually delivers in everyday use compared to the company's claimed figures.

The Honda City is powered by a 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder i-VTEC petrol engine that generates 119bhp and 145Nm of torque. The car used in the test had a CVT automatic gearbox. The City is also available with a manual gearbox, which comes with a 6-speed transmission. The company claims a mileage of 17.97kmpl for the CVT model and 17.77kmpl for the manual variant.

In the real-world test, the Honda City petrol CVT returned a mileage of 10.49kmpl during city driving. The car's MID showed a reading of 12kmpl at the time. The lower real-world mileage in the city compared to the company's claim is being attributed to traffic, frequent braking, stopping at signals and use of the air conditioner.

On the highway, the picture was different, with the City returning a mileage of 19.21kmpl. The MID showed a reading of 21.3kmpl during this run. This shows that the petrol sedan performs considerably better on journeys with steady speed and fewer stops compared to city driving.

Combining both city and highway use, the Honda City petrol CVT's overall real-world mileage came to 12.66kmpl, well below the company's claimed figure of 17.97kmpl. For those considering buying this car for daily mixed use, this figure can help estimate fuel costs. The CVT gearbox makes driving in traffic easier, but driving style matters just as much in achieving good mileage.