2026 Honda City Facelift vs Outgoing Honda City: Evolution Done Right?

Interested in buying the Honda City? Here is our Ultimate Buying Guide!

The Honda City’s update back in 2023 didn’t do much for the sedan, but the latest facelift brings proper revisions to its exterior design, while adding a few new features that were previously missing from the Japanese sedan. It has been launched at introductory prices which remain the same as the outgoing model for the entry-level variants, but the top-spec model has gotten slightly dearer.

If you were looking for a new sedan to bring home, particularly the Honda City, here’s how it has evolved over the outgoing model:

Design

The Honda City was always a handsome-looking sedan, but with these updates, it looks even more premium.

Front

The design philosophy of the Honda City hasn’t changed, and the sedan continues to look sleek and sharp at the front. However, with slightly more aggressive air inlets in the bumper and sleeker headlights, it now looks sharper and a tad more aggressive than before. 

The thick chrome bar connecting the headlights has been given a delete and replaced with a sleek LED DRL that has enabled people to draw comparisons with the Hyundai Verna. Honda has also changed the LED headlight cluster of the City, which doesn't look as intricate as the outgoing model, but the carmaker says that the performance will be better in low-light conditions, considering it’s a projector unit.

The honey comb pattern for the grille and air dam below are similar in design but have a larger impact as they now cover more of the nose. The fog lights of the outgoing model have been removed and overall, the City now has a more prominent European touch in its styling at the front.

Side

In profile, the silhouette of the car remains the same, but owing to its styling changes, the City has slightly grown in length by 20 mm, taking the total length to 4,594mm. Just like the front, Honda has removed the chrome inserts on the door handles, and has opted for a body-coloured finish only. 

The size of the 16-inch alloy wheels is the same, but the styling of the new rims feel sportier rather than classy. That being said, we do wish Honda offered the option of slightly bigger wheels or a thicker side wall, which would’ve helped fill the wheel arches better, and even possibly give the sedan a better stance than it currently has.

Rear

The styling changes at the rear are less apparent than they were at the front. The shape of the LED tail lights remains the same, but Honda has now given them a clear lens treatment with some individual LEDs towards the side, which gives it a fancier look than before. 

But it's the changes to the bumper that make the most significant impact. Previously, the City had a pretty simple body-colored bumper design finished off with a sporty diffuser-like element that also housed the horizontal reflector strips.

Now, the approach is a lot more aggressive with a contrasting piano black outline in the centre, sitting above the mesh opening and body-coloured slat. The reflector strips are now placed in a vertical orientation within a piano black insert, and these changes come together to give the Honda City a much bolder look at the rear.

The placement of the badges, bootlip spoiler and the sharkfin antenna remains the same as before.

Colour Options

The number of colour options with the 2026 Honda City facelift is consistent as the outgoing model with 6 monotone shades. However, you don’t get the option of the Golden Brown Metallic, which has been replaced by a more sinister-looking Crystal Black Pearl shade. The other colour options are: Obsidian Blue Pearl, Radiant Red Metallic, Platinum White Pearl, Meteoroid Gray Metallic, and Lunar Silver Metallic.

Interior

Contrary to what the expectations were, Honda didn’t make any changes to the styling of the City’s cabin. The good thing here is that the design doesn’t look aged, and the dual-tone theme actually looks classy. Instead of the beige or off-white dual tone upholstery and leatherette wrap, you now get an Ivory White finish, which is likely going to be even more difficult to maintain in our dusty conditions.

But apart from that, and the new touchscreen system which protrudes outwards instead of being part of the dashboard, the quality of the cabin is still top notch. We appreciate Honda retaining the physical knobs for the AC controls which continue to have a satisfying tactile feel to them, and even the new features like the 360-degree camera and ventilated seats have dedicated physical buttons. 

Practicality continues to be a strong point for the City, but we do wish Honda had incorporated the wireless charging pad a bit better in the non-hybrid variants. It still is a separate accessory unit that sits over and above the front cupholders, which render them useless. In the hybrid variant, you get a better execution with a dedicated space behind the gear lever.

The space at the rear is unchanged, but to add some privacy and protection from the harsh sun, the rear windshield now gets a manual cover. We do wish that these sunshades were also provided on the side glasses. 

Features

With rivals like the Hyundai Verna pushing segment boundaries when it comes to features, the Honda City was far behind its competition when it came to its features list. And while those critical missing features like a 360-degree camera and ventilated seats have now been added, the Honda City still isn’t the best in its class with missing features like powered front seats, a fully-digital driver’s display, branded audio system and rear window sunshades.

Rest of the features like push button start/stop, keyless entry, single-pane electric sunroof, auto AC with rear AC vents, auto dimming IRVM, and electrically adjustable ORVMs have been carried over.

There’s also a new 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system which replaces the outgoing 8-inch infotainment system. But the placement and overall execution of this screen makes it feel like an aftermarket accessory. The user interface might be easy to use but feels dull, and the response times are not on-par with what the segment offers. It still gets wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and you can play music via the 8-speaker sound system.

Safety

The standard safety equipment of the Honda City is still the same with 6 airbags, ABS with EBD, electronic stability control (ESC), hill start assist, rear parking sensors, ISOFIX child seat anchors, tyre pressure monitoring system, and a rear-view camera.

It continues to get Level-2 ADAS features (uses both camera and radar) like adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, high beam assist, and auto emergency braking. The only new addition to the safety kit is the 360-degree camera.

Powertrains

There have been no changes on the powertrain options, and the Honda City continues to be available with a 1.5-litre NA petrol engine and a 1.5-litre NA petrol strong-hybrid setup. There have been no changes to their tune or outputs too, and here are the specifications:

Buyer advice: Pick the strong hybrid powertrain of the Honda City if you have a really high usage. It is a unique offering in the segment, and with its combination of electrification and petrol combustion, it’ll deliver you a real-world fuel efficiency of more than 20kmpl without trying too hard. It also offers slightly better performance than the NA petrol powertrain, making highway overtakes slightly easier. 

Price and Rivals

While the introductory starting prices for the Honda City are similar, the top-spec Hybrid pricing has seen a bump of Rs 1 lakh.

The Honda City continues to fight with rivals like the Volkswagen Virtus, Skoda Slavia and Hyundai Verna.

Here’s why you can consider its rivals:

• Volkswagen Virtus: A great enthusiast sedan with turbo-petrol only options that’s also family-friendly with its space and practicality which is good for four adults (City vs Virtus comparison report).

• Skoda Slavia: Same traits as the Volkswagen Virtus with fun to drive dynamics, turbo-petrol engines and a good balance of comfort, features, space and practicality for a family of four (City vs Slavia comparison report).

• Hyundai Verna: A segment benchmark in terms of features, the Hyundai Verna is a very tech heavy offering. Pick it if you don’t want to compromise on anything, be it features, performance, comfort or safety. (City vs Verna comparison report)