Honda City vs Volkswagen Vento - Petrol-Manual Acceleration Comparison

While 2020 may have been a year for the SUVs in India, the mid-size sedan segment did make sort of a comeback with a couple of very important new launches and updates to the existing ones. One of the biggest launches of this year, let alone the sedan segment, was the new-gen Honda City. Several other mid-size sedans like the Volkswagen Vento, the Skoda Rapid and the Hyundai Verna too received some healthy updates with new powertrain options or a facelift.

The Honda City however remains a legend and a benchmark in this segment. The 2020 Honda City gets an all-new 1.5L petrol engine and like every other iVTEC engine before this, the new engine lives up the standards of performance and refinement we have come to expect from Honda. Speaking of performance, the true benchmark in this segment is probably VW Group's 1.0L TSI engine that's found in the Vento and Rapid. So here we have a good old drag race of the Honda City vs Volkswagen Vento, testing their 0-100kph sprint time. And for fun's sake, we had both of them in their manual guises. But first, the specifications..

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Honda City vs Volkswagen Vento - Specifications

The Honda City and Volkswagen Vento use completely different specs of engines. While Volkswagen takes the modern, downsized turbo-petrol approach with a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine, the Honda City adopts a good old 1.5L, naturally aspirated, 4-cylinder engine. While the Honda has the advantage of power with 10hp more, the VW has 30Nm more torque. That could really come handy in acceleration. Both cars get a 6-speed manual gearbox and their weights are very comparable as well.

Honda City vs Volkswagen Vento - Acceleration Test

Seems like a modern turbo-petrol engine clearly outshines a good old naturally aspirated engine here. The VW Vento managed a sub-10 second time in each of the three sprints with a best of 9.12 seconds. The Honda City on the other hand managed a best time of 10.16 seconds, not going below 10 seconds in any of the three runs. The Vento manages to maintain at least a gap of 1 second in each of those three runs. There's nothing quite beating the torque boost from the TSI engine as its truly exhilarating. The Honda City on the other hand delivers its power more linearly when compared to the Vento.

Both engines however are quite refined and have a rev-happy nature. You'd really enjoy pushing both the cars to their limits. Where the Honda City truly has an upper hand over the Vento is that it is a much newer car. While styling may still be subjective, the Honda City is significantly better appointed on the inside with a genuinely premium feeling cabin. The Volkswagen too is quite premium but it does not match the Honda and feels a little dated. It however still remains one of the best driver's car in this segment along with the Skoda Rapid. For everything else, the Honda City is simply great.

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