Honda City vs Verna vs Ciaz vs Virtus vs Slavia: Price faceoff

Honda City facelift has bee officially launched in the Indian car market, complete with new updates to the exterior profile ans the addition of ADAS. The Japanese carmaker launched the City 2023 at a starting price of ₹11.49 lakh (ex-showroom). With the strong hybrid model also available, it is now the most expensive player in the mid-size sedan segment despite Honda withdrawing the more popular diesel engine from the City lineup in its latest avatar.

Offered with only the 1.5-litre petrol unit, Honda City is set to renew its rivalry with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Volkswagen Virtus, Skoda Slavia and the upcoming new generation Hyundai Verna. Here is a quick comparison between Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Maruti Ciaz, Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia in terms of prices.

Honda Cars has offered the new City in four trims and seven variants for the petrol-only version. There is now a new base variant called the SV, which is offered with a manual gearbox mated to the petrol engine. It is priced at ₹11.49 lakh (ex-showroom) and is more expensive than the previous base version of the fifth generation City. The fifth generation City was launched in 2020 at less than ₹11 lakh.

Among the existing compact sedans, Honda City is more expensive than even the Volkswagen Virtus, which starts from ₹11.32 lakh (ex-showroom). However, the price of Virtus and its Czech sibling Skoda Slavia comparable with the new Honda City are powered by a 1.0-litre petrol engine. The price of the more powerful 1.5-litre variants of Virtus and Slavia, which are sold as the GT versions, are more expensive than the top-end of the petrol-only Honda City variant. The Honda City ZX automatic tops out the petrol-only variants at ₹15.97 lakh (ex-showroom). The price of 1.5-litre Virtus and Slavia starts from ₹17 lakh onwards.

Compact sedans (petrol-only)	Starting price (in ₹ex-showroom)	Top-end price (in ₹ex-showroom)
Honda City 2023	11.49 lakh	15.97 lakh
Hyundai Verna (5th gen)	9.64 lakh	15.72 lakh
Maruti Suzuki Ciaz	9.20 lakh	12.19 lakh
Volkswagen Virtus	11.32 lakh	18.42 lakh
Skoda Slavia	11.29 lakh	18.40 lakh

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is the only model which also offers a 1.5-litre petrol unit. However, the Honda City rival is the most affordable among all its competitors in the segment, starting from ₹9.20 lakh and topping out at ₹12.19 lakh (ex-showroom). City and Ciaz are the two top-selling models in the segment.

The only other model which will rival the Honda City is Hyundai Verna. The Korean carmaker will launch the new generation Verna on March 21. It will be offered with a 1.5-litre petrol unit along with a turbo version too. The price of the previous generation Verna started at ₹9.64 lakh and went up to ₹15.72 lakh. Expect the prices of the new Verna to be about ₹one lakh more than existing variants. It could still be more affordable than the Honda City facelift. Though it remains to be seen how it matches its rivals in terms of features and performance.

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