2026 Honda City Facelift First Drive Review: Familiar Soul, Fresh Look

Honda Cars India has finally introduced the much-awaited facelift for one of India's most iconic and longest-running sedans, the Honda City. The updated model brings a refreshed exterior design, a handful of new features inside the cabin, and a new exterior colour option, while retaining its proven platform and existing powertrain options. With its sharper styling and sportier stance, the new City takes inspiration from Honda's latest global design language. I recently spent some time behind the wheel of the facelifted sedan, and here's everything you need to know about how it performs and whether the updates are enough to keep it relevant in an increasingly competitive segment. Meanwhile, join the 91wheels WhatsApp Community, specifically curated for petrolheads like us to keep up with the latest news and automotive updates.

Also Read: 2026 Tata Tiago Variants Explained: Which Variant Should You Buy?

Design - Sharper & Sportier

The new City receives a significant design update that makes it look both sharper and more stylish. At the front, the sedan now sports a sleeker fascia, highlighted by a new set of bi-LED headlamps that strike a fine balance between elegance and sportiness. Honda has also integrated a connected LED DRL setup, which enhances the car's visual appeal, especially at night.

Furthermore, the front grille now features a honeycomb pattern, while the bumper has been redesigned to complement the new look. With the 2026 update, Honda has removed the fog lamps, and it now offers functional air dams integrated into the bumper. Overall, the front profile looks far more modern and appealing than before.

In profile, the new 16-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels add a touch of sportiness and help freshen up the City's side silhouette. Honda has also done away with chrome detailing, opting for a cleaner and more understated design approach. Changes at the rear are less extensive but still noticeable. The taillamps now feature a smoked finish, while the revised bumper boast a honeycomb-pattern element that ties in neatly with the front-end design.

Interior & Features

The Honda City is known for its plush and comfortable interior, and the new facelift carries forward that legacy well. The brand has introduced a new interior theme called Luxurious Ivory & Black Two-Tone. The seats are now upholstered in ivory-coloured leatherette, while the dashboard gets a blacked-out treatment, creating a premium dual-tone look. Additionally, the door pads feature the same two-tone theme, further enhancing the cabin's ambience. In my opinion, the light-coloured interior could be difficult to maintain over time, which may be a drawback for several buyers.

On the features front, the City largely remains unchanged, apart from a new 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment display, a 360-degree camera, and ventilated front seats. Starting with the new screen, its placement seems like an afterthought and looks somewhat awkward, as it slightly obstructs the centre AC vents. Moreover, the positioning of the display results in significant glare under bright sunlight, making it difficult to read at times. The UI also seems laggy and too basic compared to the modern units we are seeing in other cars even a segment below. Talking about the 360-degree camera, it is there to do the job but don't expect a great quality out of it, it is a mediocre camera the resolution is not that great and again Honda could've done a good job with it.

The UI has been slightly revamped and remains easy to use. The screen also features shortcut buttons for functions such as volume control, track selection, and audio mute. Apart from these additions, the City continues to offer automatic climate control with physical buttons and knobs, something many buyers will appreciate. The ventilated seat controls are neatly integrated into the climate control panel, and the cooling function works effectively. Other features include an electric sunroof, steering mounted control, wireless charging, electric parking brake (Hybrid only), digital instrument console among other features.

Rear Row Comfort & Convenience

The City remains unchanged in terms of the comfort it offers to rear-seat occupants. The rear seats are well-cushioned and provide excellent comfort, while legroom continues to be generous and headroom remains adequate. To help keep the cabin cooler, Honda has now added a rear windshield sunblind. However, the absence of rear window sunblinds feels like a missed opportunity, as they would have been a more practical addition.

Another drawback is the lack of adjustable rear headrests, which is disappointing considering the segment the City competes in and the features offered by some of its rivals. For the convenience of rear-seat passengers, the City offers two Type-C charging ports, dedicated rear AC vents, seatback pockets, and a foldable centre armrest with integrated cup holders.

Also Read: 2026 Honda City vs Hyundai Verna: Which Facelift Is More Impressive?

Engine & Performance

Now comes the main part, the drive experience, although everything under the hood is same and no mechanical changes has been made to the new City, it offers the same driving experience. I drove the hybrid version that comes with a 1.5-litre hybrid petrol engine producing 126 bhp and 253 Nm of peak torque. This is mated with an e-CVT gearbox. The engine offers great torque and the electric motor helps in offering a good efficiency the brand claims nearly 27.5 kmpl with this engine and if you are a light foot driver you can easily achieve this number.

The intelligent hybrid system automatically adjust the modes and switches between the engine and the battery power depending on the vehicle speed and driving conditions. As long as you have a charged battery the system will remain in EV mode to save fuel once you press the pedal hard, it will go back to the engine mode to give you all the power.

In EV mode, the large lithium-ion battery housed in the boot powers the traction motor, which drives the wheels. As you demand more performance, the system switches to Hybrid mode, where the petrol engine acts as a generator, supplying power to the motor while also charging the battery. The battery and generator work together to power the traction motor, ensuring smooth and seamless power delivery to the wheels.

Ride & Handling

The Honda City facelift continues to impress when it comes to ride and handling. It feels planted over broken roads and keeps the occupants comfortable, whether you're sitting in the front or the rear seat. The steering has a nice amount of weight to it and inspires confidence behind the wheel. Be it a winding road or a sudden lane change, the City feels predictable and easy to place.

The cabin also remains quite, with NVH levels being well controlled. However, if you really push the accelerator and ask for quick performance, the engine can get a bit vocal and the noise does filter into the cabin. Braking performance is reassuring too. The Hybrid variant gets disc brakes on all four wheels and offers strong stopping power. The ICE version, however, comes with front disc brakes only, which is an area where some rivals have a slight advantage.

Also Read: 2026 Tata Tiago EV Variants Explained: Which Variant Should You Buy?