Honda PH officially announces City Hatchback RS

Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI), Honda’s automobile business unit in the Philippines, officially launched the All-New Honda City Hatchback through a virtual event streamed via HCPI’s Facebook page. With the introduction of the All-New Honda City Hatchback, Honda is expanding its renowned City model line-up serving as the brand’s newest offering in the B-Segment hatchback category.

Compared to the Sedan’s grand concept of “Ambitious Sedan”, the All-New City Hatchback was derived from the grand concept of “Energetic hatchback” which aims to exude a more active and energetic character.  While sharing values in terms of comfort, premium, and high quality with the sedan, the All-New City Hatchback aims to provide a sporty yet versatile and cool vehicle that would complement the diverse needs of customers based on their active lifestyle.

The exterior design in the All-New City hatchback was developed with a concept of “Energetic” by adding strength and the activeness of the sedan resulting in a “cutting edge” and “sporty” combination.  Given this concept, the All-New City Hatchback further emphasizes its sportiness by embodying a sleek exterior design combined with a low height and widened width presenting an energetic feel with solid power.

The All-New City Hatchback retains the same 2600mm wheelbase similar to that of the City sedan. However, given its hatchback body style, the All-New City Hatchback is 21mm taller and 204mm shorter than its sedan counterpart. This is due to the removal of its rear overhang giving it a sporty exterior look while maintaining the capability of diverse cargo capacity.

Available only with a lone RS variant, the All-New City Hatchback shares some RS design elements together with the sedan, giving a stronger impression of its sporty characteristics.

Upfront, The All-New City Hatchback comes with its RS Design Front Bumper and RS Design High Gloss Black front grille with RS Emblem, complemented by full LED headlights and LED Daytime Running Lights that expresses an integrated solid wing face similar to that of the RS sedan.

At the side, the High Gloss Black Power Folding Mirrors and 16-inch Two-Tone Berlina Black Aluminum Alloy Wheels further contribute to the All-New City Hatchback’s strong side profile character design.

For the rear, sporty styling cues such as the RS Design Rear Bumper with a sophisticated diffuser, High Gloss Black Tailgate spoiler and Full LED taillights give the All-New City Hatchback an impression of being more active and young complementing its distinct sporty hatchback look.

On the inside, the All-New City Hatchback continues its “Energetic” concept with the vehicle’s interior. The All-New City Hatchback features a spacious cabin complemented by high quality materials similar to the sedan.

Comprised noticeably of its suede and leather seats, black interior trims with red stitching and accents, leather-wrapped shift knob and steering wheel with audio controls, front and rear center armrests, sports pedals and Multi-information Display with red illumination, the All-New City Hatchback embodies an overall premium interior complementing its sporty RS design exterior.

Given its hatchback styling and configuration, the All-New City Hatchback comes equipped with Honda’s signature Ultra Seats (ULTR) which allows the rear seats to be folded flat or flipped up giving the All-New City Hatchback the versatility to quickly adapt to a wide variety of passenger lifestyle and cargo hauling needs. The All-New City Hatchback features four ULTR adjustable modes namely:

  • Utility Mode: with the two rear seats folded flat, the vehicle can carry two passengers and accommodate large cargo items in the rear storage area.
  • Long Mode: with the front passenger seat fully reclined and rear passenger seat folded flat, the vehicle can carry two passengers and accommodate long cargo items such as surfboards.
  • Tall Mode: with the rear seats folded upward, the vehicle can accommodate tall items that need to remain upright, such as a large plant or tall luggage.
  • Refresh Mode: When removing the front-seat head restraints, moving the seats all the way forward and tilting the seatbacks all the way back, the Refresh Mode allows the front and rear seats to be connected providing a comfortable place for two people to relax.

On top of its premium yet sporty and versatile interior, the All-New City Hatchback also boasts an array of various technology features such as an 8-inch Advanced Touchscreen Display Audio with Apple CarPlay Android Auto & WebLink connectivity, an 8 (4 + 4 Tweeters) Speaker system, and a new Air Conditioning System with Rotary Knobs, Digital Display, and Illumination.

Adding to the comfort and advanced features, the All-New City Hatchback also features a One Push Start System with Smart Entry Keyless Entry System and Remote Engine Start, which provides added convenience and ease of access.

Powering the All-New City Hatchback is a 1.5-Liter 4 Cylinder DOHC i-VTEC engine that produces a maximum power output of 121ps at 6,600 rpm and 145 Nm of torque at 4,300 rpm. The engine is mated to Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) that delivers a smooth, refined, powerful yet fuel-efficient driving performance while allowing for an engaging driving experience through the use of paddle shifters. Honda’s Eco Assist System, which consists of the ECON mode and Eco-Coaching Ambient Light is still available to help promote fuel-efficient driving.

Together with its driving performance, fuel efficiency, and versatile interior, Honda also gave utmost priority to safety. As standard, the All-New City Hatchback is equipped with G-Force Control (G-CON) body structure that helps to protect the vehicle’s cabin during collisions from any direction,  Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with Agile Handling Assist (AHA), Emergency Stop Signal (ESS), Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), Hill Start Assist (HSA) and Multi-view Rear Camera with dynamic guidelines.

To add to this, the All-New City Hatchback also comes standard with Six Airbags consisting of dual front airbags, front driver and passenger-side airbags and side curtain airbags. Given the array of safety features available, customers may expect top-notch collision safety performance with the All-New City Hatchback as it boasts a 5-star ASEAN NCAP safety rating, thus giving customers better safety and peace of mind on the road.

The All-New City Hatchback is now available at all 38 Honda dealerships nationwide with a suggested retail price of PhP 1,115,000 (exclusive of Php 13,000 Safeguard Duty Cash deposit) and comes in four colors:

  • Ignite Red Metallic
  • Meteoroid Gray Metallic (New Color)
  • Platinum White Pearl* (Additional Php 20,000)
  • Brilliant Sporty Blue Metallic (by June 2021)
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5 reasons why Ghostwire: Tokyo is a blast on PS5

There’s a new game in town and we’re enjoying it! Karate meets magic in Ghostwire: Tokyo from developer Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softwares. A supernatural game with some unique elements.

We’re close to finishing the game, but before we dive deep, here are five good reasons why this game is more enjoyable to play on PlayStation 5!

DualSense’s Adaptive Triggers is next-level immersion

The DualSense is PS5’s most unique accessory and Ghostwire: Tokyo knows how to use it to its advantage.

To be honest, when I first saw the gameplay preview of this game, I didn’t pay much attention at first. But with its first-person POV and a lot of hand movements on screen, I realized the exclusive Adaptive Triggers is going to be an integral experience for this game — and it is!

With all the fast-paced movements in the game, feeling the tension from the triggers make me believe I am controlling Akito — the game’s protagonist.

Every spell, every attack, and every finishing move is immersive. Some might want to turn it off during a long fight with one of the bosses, especially if you have the gameplay difficulty turned up.

Haptic feedback is like the cherry on top

To add to the immersiveness of the game, the upgraded haptic feedback of the DualSense delivers distinct vibrations to let you know of your actions and surroundings.

I have played the game with no audio for a few minutes (because my wireless headset died on me in the middle of the game) and, to my surprise, it felt like I am still in the game fighting off the spirits and monsters of Japanese folklore.

Being able to differentiate where the haptics is coming from made me feel like a superhero that lacks hearing but is much more sensitive to the presence of anyone around.

Kinda like reverse Daredevil (or not?).

6 graphic settings with raytracing goodness

There’s not one, not two, but SIX graphical settings available in the game: Quality Mode, Performance Mode, High Framerate Quality, High Framerate Performance, High Framerate Quality (VSync), and High Framerate Performance (Vsync)

My default setting is Performance Mode which targets 60fps while still maintaining clarity, but I sometimes shift to Quality Mode when I want to visually please myself with raytracing and a slightly sharper image.

If you’d ask me, while the open world Tokyo map of the game looks so nice with raytracing on, I’d sacrifice that for a higher framerate. I need to fight off spirits in fluid motion.

3D audio scares add so much to experience

The horror elements of the game are what drew me in. While the story (So far! I’m still finishing it for a full review) is pretty straightforward for me, the jump scares and creepy sound design let me enjoy the game and its lore better.

The small details in the game’s audio also help you progress faster as you get familiar with the enemies of this game’s version of Tokyo.

Tokyo feels alive yet desolated in the game

As the game’s title implies, the setting is in Tokyo — particularly in Shibuya.

Lights from billboards and street lighting still light up the map close to real life, but instead of people rushing on the crossing, we have spirits and monsters trying to kill you. Tango and Bethesda are onto something good here.

There is room for improvements in character modeling, but at least we got detailed shops and convenience stores manned by a floating cat.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is now out on PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for our full thoughts on the game!

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