30 years of Honda Cars India: Celebrating what made Hondas great!

No matter how old you get, and no matter how many fast cars you’ve driven, there’s one car that each and every petrolhead holds an absolute respect for – their dad’s car. Like most Indians, my dad’s first car was a dinky little Maruti 800, which was followed by a string of Hyundais, and later a Toyota. And while I do get nostalgic about the cars that my family had throughout the course of my childhood, there’s one that stands a little higher above the rest – the Honda City. Apart from the affinity I have for my dad’s car, the City went on to gain its fair share of fans in India. It helped establish the Honda brand in the country, to such an extent that the City nameplate is as strong as Honda itself. The brand still has a strong fanbase in India, especially amongst enthusiasts. And with this year marking 30 years of Honda in India, I borrowed the keys to my dad’s City and headed out for a drive to celebrate all the things that made Honda great.

My port of call for this drive was Arya Honda, one of the oldest Honda dealerships in Mumbai, who had put together a drive to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the carmaker in India. Arya Honda itself was celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the turnout of cars when I pulled up to the dealership was fairly impressive. Different generations of the City were present, which was expected since the sedan has always been Honda’s bread, butter and jam in our market.

Complementing the line-up of Citys were a bunch of Honda Brios, many of them done up tastefully with cosmetic modifications, and even competition-spec examples belonging to Fahad Kutty of Game Over Motorsports and Manan Patel – who races a Brio in the Indian National Car Racing Championship! There was a Honda Civic lurking in the mix, along with a Honda Amaze, which sums up the appeal of a Honda really. Nowadays you do have fast, fun to drive cars on sale in India and you also have practical, family-oriented rides. But with a Honda, you didn’t have to choose between the two and make a compromise. Hondas were bought by both uncles and enthusiasts, and this dual-purpose nature has been the trump card of the carmaker’s offerings.

After a short briefing at the dealership, our motley crew of Hondas was flagged off and proceeded towards South Mumbai via the lovely Coastal Road, which isn’t just a great driving route but it also provided us with a great opportunity to get some pictures of the cars. There’s nothing out of the ordinary to see a Honda driving about in Mumbai, but akin to a sleeper car, it is only when you are behind the ’wheel and are caning the engine that you discover the joys of an eager to rev, naturally-aspirated petrol engine, something which the current crop of turbo-petrols simply cannot match.

There was a time when road tests were peppered with the phrase, “Honda – the maker of the world’s best engines,” and even by current standards, everything from the tiny Brio to the larger Honda sedans packed in a gem of an engine under the bonnet. I was running behind the convoy in my dad’s fourth-generation City in a bid to let the shutterbugs bag more photos of the other cars, and when it was time to catch up with the rest, all I needed was to flex my right foot a little to revel in the greatness of Honda’s engines.

The original VTEC was famous for its manic acceleration when it came on song, and it made us fanboys coin the phrase ‘VTEC kicked in yo!’ as we caned our Hondas with glee. With the pace of progress however, the 1.5-litre iVTEC powering the car I was driving is geared more towards smoothness and fuel efficiency, but that’s not to say it lacks the Honda magic. It still pulls hard and is eager to rev, and if you blip the throttle like a hooligan, it still has a sporty engine note that defies the plain Jane design characteristics. A manual gearbox is definitely more engaging, with Hondas getting some of the slickest shifting ’boxes in the business, and while the CVT does rob you of thrills, the convenience and smoothness offered by it make it a very sensible choice in our traffic-stricken cities. It’s not like the Honda owners on this drive were worried about being too sensible on this drive though, because it was all about celebrating the greatness of Honda cars, and the drive to Fort in South Mumbai was dispatched quickly and with ease, with us pulling up to Cafe Nur for a quick bite before heading off our own ways.

I mentioned at the beginning of this story that I hold a soft spot for my dad’s City, and it was our ownership experience that made me appreciate the qualities that are Honda’s strengths. They are enthusiastic cars to drive should you fancy that, but they are also incredibly comfortable and competent family cars. Then there’s the reliability. I spoke to multiple owners during this drive – both young guns who had picked up used examples to fulfil their boy-racer fantasies but also older folk, who used them as daily drivers and had turned up to the drive with their families in tow – and none of them had a single complaint with their cars. Think about it, when was the last time you heard someone complain about their Honda breaking down?

And the final card in Honda’s deck has to be the prestigious image that the brand carries even today. For buyers like my dad who were driving around in M800s, getting home a Honda was a huge deal. A Honda in your driveway meant your neighbours looked at you with envy, and more importantly, respect. It was a symbol of you having ‘made it’ in life, and even today, amongst a sea of other brands, you cannot go wrong by putting your money down on a Honda.

Of course, you might argue that the glory days of Honda in India are now in the rear view, but the carmaker has not given up on India. Not too long ago, Honda announced its plans to launch 10 new cars in India by 2030, and even if some of them promise to continue in the sporty vein which helped the carmaker build its reputation in India, I’m sure the fanboys won’t be disappointed.