Honda PH officially launches the 5th-gen City with sporty RS variant

Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI), Honda’s automobile business unit in the Philippines officially launched the fifth generation All-New Honda City Thursday evening via a virtual event streamed on HCPI’s official Facebook and YouTube pages.

Through the launch of the All-New City, with its stylish exterior design, outstanding interior space, and advanced technology, the brand asserts its 2030 vision of leading the advancement of mobility and enabling people around the world to improve their daily lives.

Moreover, the launch reaffirms HCPI’s commitment to providing mobility to Filipinos especially on its 30th year in the Philippines, and continues to expand its presence in the market. Introduced in the Philippine market in 1996, the Honda City was first launched as an exclusive model for the Asian region and has become HCPI’s best-selling model over the years.

With over 131,000 units sold since its arrival in 1996, the City consistently reflected its core values of smart style, outstanding interior space, and strong commanding presence through its sportier exterior, and a comfortable and spacious interior that surpasses other subcompact sedans in the market.

Now on its 5th generation, the All-New City was developed under the grand concept of “Ambitious Sedan”.

The All-New City’s exterior boasts a cutting-edge sleek design. With its thick long nose, lowered full height, and widened full width, the fifth generation All-New City is now longer by 111 mm, wider by 54 mm, and lowered by 10mm, compared to the fourth generation City.

It sports a new Chrome Front Grille that is paired with a new Front Bumper. The front fascia is even more stylish now with its new LED Daytime Running Lights across all variants that express its integrated solid wing face, and presents Halogen Projector Headlights for other variants. At the back, rear LED Tail Lamp is also now standard across all variants.

On the side, sharp horizontal character lines inspired by the Katana Blade In Motion is visible for a more commanding road presence.

For a more convenient driving experience, the All-New City maintains its Power Adjustable Door Mirrors across all variants, and Power Folding Door Mirrors with Integrated Side Turn Signals for the 1.5 RS CVT and 1.5 V CVT variants.

The interior styling of the All-New City emphasizes high-quality textures and functional approach to achieve sophistication and comfort for both driver and passengers. Inside, it features a spacious cabin with soft pads and polished textures, plus accents to further enhance its high-class sedan feel.

Adding to the comfort and advanced features, the All-New City gets an upgrade with its new One Push Start System across all variants, specifically Smart Entry Keyless Entry System for 1.5 RS CVT and 1.5 V CVT, and Keyless Entry for 1.5 S CVT and 1.5 S MT variants.

Furthermore, the All-New City is now equipped with an 8-inch Advanced Touchscreen Display Audio with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto & WebLink, that is now available in 1.5 RS CVT, 1.5 V CVT and 1.5 S CVT variants.

Elevating comfort further, it is also inclusive of a new Air Conditioning Design with Rotary Knobs, Digital Display & Illumination. The center console offers an ergonomic design that allows passengers to have their essentials within reach. On the other hand, the 1.5 V CVT emphasizes a posh and sophisticated interior with Ivory accents and a high quality full black interior for the 1.5 S CVT variant.

Rear passengers also get to enjoy additional comfort through the expanded leg room and knee clearance. On top of that, the 1.5 RS and 1.5 V CVT variants now include new Rear Ventilation to further enhance the comfort provided for rear passengers.

The fifth-generation All-New City also inherits and embodies Honda’s sporty DNA through its new RS variant. For the first time in the Philippine market, the All-New Honda City is available in a 1.5 RS CVT variant that gives it a sportier and more premium look. The RS variant comes with a complete set of sporty upgrades including a High Gloss Black front grille with RS logo emblem, sporty front bumper and grille, full LED Headlights with LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL), LED Fog Lights, Sporty Black Power Folding Door Mirror with Integrated Side Turn Signals, Gloss Black Trunk Spoiler with RS logo, and a newly designed sporty 16-inch Alloy Wheels.

Watch: 2021 Honda City and CR-V First Look

The cabin is fully equipped to reflect a complete look of sportiness with a combination of newly designed leather and suede seat material with Black and Red stitching interior trims, new Sport Pedals, 8 (4 + 4 Tweeters) Speakers, and a Multi-information Display with red illumination that are exclusively available for the 1.5 RS CVT variant.

It is also now equipped with a new Remote Engine Start, which is a first-time feature for the City, while Paddle Shifters are also offered for an engaging driving experience. For added protection, a Side Curtain Airbag is available to enhance the safety of the passengers. All of these added features give the All-New City RS an even more enhanced sporty image.

The All-New City is powered by a new 1.5-Liter 4 Cylinder DOHC i-VTEC engine to provide an ideal balance of performance and fuel efficiency. Coupled with Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT), this powertrain is able to produce up to a maximum power output of 121ps at 6,600 rpm and a maximum of 145 Nm of torque at 4,300 rpm.

For those who prefer driving a Manual Transmission, a wide-range 6-Speed Manual Transmission option is available for the 1.5 S MT variant. Similar to recent Honda City models, Honda’s Eco Assist System, which consists of the ECON mode and Eco-Coaching Ambient Light is still available to help encourage drivers to drive efficiently. In addition, all passengers can enjoy their conversations inside the car with the All-New City’s lessened noise and vibration.

Moreover, this is the first City to adopt spray polyurethane foam insulation at the bottom ends of the pillars, and the amount of sound absorber adopted for the engine undercover is 3.5 times more compared to the previous model. The thickness of the body is increased and stiffeners to suppress vibration is placed in each position to provide a quiet vibration-less cabin with a high-quality feeling.

As Honda continues to strengthen its “safety for everyone” global campaign, the All-New City continuously prioritizes safety through Honda’s G-force Control (G-CON) Collision Safety Body that enhances impact absorption for the added protection of passengers in the event a collision occurs.

To add to this, customers may expect top-notch collision safety performance on the All-New City through its advanced safety features that are now available across all variants. This includes 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 Power Door Locks with Speed Sensing Auto Lock.

Moreover, the 1.5 RS CVT and 1.5 V CVT variants are equipped with a Multi-view Rear Camera with dynamic guidelines. Aside from the maintained Front Driver and Passenger Airbags, the All-New City further leveled up its safety feature as Side Airbags are applied across all variants. With these superior safety features, the All-New City boasts a 5-star ASEAN NCAP safety rating as it gives customers better safety and peace of mind on the road.

The All-New City is now available at all 34 Honda dealerships nationwide and comes in six colors:

  • Ignite Red Metallic (New color; 1.5 RS CVT, 1.5 V CVT, and 1.5 S CVT)
  • Platinum White Pearl (New color; 1.5 RS CVT and 1.5 V CVT only)
  • Modern Steel Metallic
  • Taffeta White (1.5 S CVT and 1.5 S MT only)
  • Lunar Silver Metallic (1.5 V CVT and 1.5 S CVT only)
  • Crystal Black Pearl

*Platinum White Pearl- Additional PHP 20,000

As a treat to our customers, Honda will be offering the All-New City at the following Special Introductory Suggested Retail Prices from October 22, 2020, until December 31, 2020.

  • All-New City 1.5 RS CVT – PhP 1,048,000
  • All-New City 1.5 V CVT – PhP 968,000
  • All-New City 1.5 S CVT – PhP 878,000
  • All-New City 1.5 S MT – PhP 838,000
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Hacks review: A sharp comedy about making comedy

11/24/2021

If you’re looking for something fresh, unique, and satisfyingly clever to watch, then Hacks is a series you’ll eat right up.

It’s hard to pull off a show about showbiz to begin with but doing one about making comedy is an even harder act to do.

However, with the winner combo that is the brilliant Jean Smart and her booming young stand-up comic co-star Hannah Einbinder, not only do they pull it off, but they also knock it out of the park.

The premise is simple: Smart plays Deborah Vance, a veteran comic with a successful long-running show in Las Vegas who recently is told to give up her weekend slots so that venue owner, Marty, played by Christopher McDonald (Into Thin Air, Happy Gilmore), can book a new singing group to attract a younger demographic.

While Vance acknowledges her show regulars are people “who come up from Florida”, she is livid by having to give up her weekend shows to make way for a lip-synching singing group.

Meanwhile, Einbinder plays young Ava who has recently been canceled by a now very woke LA due to an insensitive tweet and is having difficulty booking writing gigs despite previously having lucrative enough prospects to be able to afford to purchase a townhouse for herself.

Hollywood has now turned its back on her just as the city has and has found herself ostracized from the industry with no one wanting to work with her.

Serendipitously handled by the same agent, Ava is sent to Vance in Las Vegas to work for her as a writer in hopes of freshening up her act to keep her weekend show slots.

Thus, the equally skeptical working relationship begins.

More importantly, the show also tackles the great generational divide between Smart and Einbinder’s characters. Coming from the tail end of the disillusioned Gen X myself, where we are taught that soldiering on in a job you don’t enjoy is just a part of life you need to live with, it’s easy to find Ava’s idealistic take on unemployment very annoying.

She will likely be judged by the viewer initially as an entitled slacker who does not really know what hard work means.

Ava is someone who likes to complain about everything and somehow manages to logically justify it to be a violation of her rights and does a lot of this throughout the show.

That is why it is also equally enjoyable to watch Vance not give any importance to these complaints and oftentimes make her do grunt work fit for a personal assistant than a hired writer who is employed to better your comedy.

As much as it is satisfying to see the entitled Ava disgruntled by donkey tasks, this dynamic does not last as the two eventually find a way to work together through circumstances that present itself when forced to work together.

This is where the show tackles the real essence of the generational divide and where both Smart and Ava open up their characters quite beautifully.

You are immediately drawn by the many layers of Deborah Vance’s character, toughened by years and years of shit-eating she had to do as a pioneering woman in the world of comedy.

Just as we are drawn to it, so is Ava, and her resentment easily turns into admiration as she first realizes that Vance was probably a major player in kicking down the door that opened opportunities for women of her generation today.

But the show also reveals, albeit very subtly, that Ava does have a unique point of view as a writer and is not as entitled as she makes out to be. Rather, she is a smart female in her twenties who has real talent, empowered without hesitations to stand up for what she thinks is rightfully hers for the taking.

As the two characters learn from each other and try to make each other better, it is not hard to root for them.

The show makes you hope that the two can sort out their issues and work together because you almost positively know for sure that when they do, it will be magic. We have yet to find out.

In the meantime, you will find Hacks truly engaging and surprisingly addicting as you find yourself caring deeply about its characters.

It’s not a surprise that the show has bagged a few Emmys just in its first season. It is brilliantly written and the two women who carry the lead roles are astounding in it.

You can catch Hacks on HBO, which has been airing since October 11, 2021.

REVIEWS