In today’s era people have stopped buying cars that just flag the common typecast and social status. They instead pick the once that boom from their need and mix it up with a little class. The two cars which seem to do this perfectly are Skoda Octavia and Honda’s much celebrated city. But out of these let us see which car seems to rise off from subjectivity and truly triumph.
Price
Honda City is available in the price range of Rs 7.29 – 10.62 Lakhs whereas Skoda Octavia starts from 13.95 lakhs. The cost of the 2nd highest model of City is equivalent to that of the lowest model of Octavia.
Brand
Honda is definitely more trusted and known to the Indian audience. Skoda is a new setup in comparison but due to its global name, it seems to be of more brand value than Honda.
Exteriors
The new Octavia is the unprecedented car to hold new brand logo ‘Laurin and Klement’ on its Grill. The base model offers latest halogen headlights while the top variant has the state of art bi-xenon headlamps with daytime LED lights and Full LED tail lamps. On the other had Honda City features the same old look with the exception of the premium front grille, 10 spoke alloy wheel, sporty bumper and rear bumper with reflections. Both cars offer first in class electric sunroofs. In totality City’s simple yet elegant look seems to overshadow Octavia.
Interiors
City offers cruise control and paddle shift on a single touch. It also boasts interactive intelligent system for music, Bluetooth, rear view camera and audio visual navigation system. It seems spacious enough but offers only dual airbags and lacks rear AC vents. The new Octavia not only posses the above mentioned features of City but also dual zone air conditioners, CD/MP3 with Infrared remote controller, appealing wood finish, much more impressive leather upholstery, parking assist and 6 airbag that makes driving a cherish able experience. Also Octavia endorses the fact that it offers slots for almost everything from bottles to goggles. Both cars have ABS with EBD but safety features like parking sensors with sound, automatic lane guidance, emergency City braking system give Skoda the edge.
Engine
The new Octavia will offer both petrol and diesel engines and 3 variants namely Ambiente, Elegance and Active. The 1.8 petrol engine is expected to offer 110 KW of power and diesel 2.0 TDi engine is expected to offer 105 KW of power. Elegance and Active will available in both the versions i.e. diesel and petrol with 2.0 TDi engines which should offer 105KW of power. These all offer manual as well as automatic transmission and their mileage can be estimated around 19kmpl. City on the other hand offers both manual and automatic transmission to its 1.5l (SOHC) 4 cylinder 16 valve petrol engine which is available in 5 variants. It works on electronic fuel injection system and offers a displacement of 1496cc giving a maximum power of 118/6600 PS/rpm and a torque of 146 nm on 4800 rpm. City provides a fuel efficiency of 16.8kmpl. Engine wise Octavia seems superior.
On The Road
The car is build to offer comfort at slow and medium speeds but the speed increases ride seems a little jerky and sounds of roads and hauling wind seem to gush past the window glass. All in all, City seems good enough but certainly gives space to need of improvements in quite a few areas which most likely will be erased off by the new Octavia.
The verdict hence forth is in support of Octavia; however it is not prudent to say anything explicitly before the launch of Octavia in India and the buyers’ response.
