Honda Malaysia has launched the City Hatchback earlier this month. The car, which replaces the Jazz in the Southeast Asian region, brings some of its predecessor’s practicality to the more conventional City shape. The Honda City Hatchback comes in four variants RS e:HEV, namely the 1.5L S priced at RM75,670, the 1.5L E which comes for a price of RM83,080 and the 1.5L V at RM87,860.

Dimensions for Length, Width, Height in (mm) are 4,349 x 1,748 x 1,470. Wheelbase is 2,600 mm. 

On the outside, the City Hatchback is very similar to the sedan, sharing the entire front end (all hatch models get the RS’ honeycomb grille) and four of its doors. It has unique taillights (still with LED light guides and in a trapezoidal shape) and bumper (also with vertical reflectors).

All variants have Auto Headlamps LED Reflector

Taillamps for the Hatch is LED combination tail lights

The new City hatchback has electrically adjusted side mirrors with a 360-degree camera, heated function, turn indicator and blind spot warning indicator on it.

The hatch comes with ventilated disc brakes in front, while the rear is equipped with drum brakes.

The e:HEV RS is fitted with a 16-inch two-tone alloys

The premium dashboard surrounds you in high-quality materials and intuitive ergonomic design. The layout is user friendly, with buttons and switches easily accessible. (with gloss black air vent trim as standard, just like the RS sedan)

The hatch receives an eight-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and a reverse camera.

4-Modes ULTRA Seats. This practical and versatile first in its class feature allows the rear seats to be folded flat or flipped up in four configuration modes.

Compared to the outgoing Jazz, the City Hatch is longer and wider, but less tall with the rear passengers gain additional headroom space, thanks to a flatter and longer roof profile.

The sporty, leather-wrapped steering wheel features a variety of intuitive controls. Select your music, take phone calls, change information displays and adjust the cruise control, all while keeping your hands on the steering wheel.

The new Honda City Hatchback comes with a regular size glove compartment that can fit in your service booklet and a few packets of wet tissues with extra space left for other items. It also has a small armrest storage compartment that can hide your handphones, a small tablet, and smart tag. On top of that there are also some open space storage areas near the gear lever and at the bottom of the centre console near the driver and front passenger leg.

There are four cup holders available in the City Hatchback.

Two of the cup holders are located at the front while the other two are situated at the rear.

1 Front, 2 Rear, 2 Front USB; The new City Hatchback receives two front USB, one power socket at the rear and another one at the front.

It has boot volume of 289 litres with the rear seats up (identical to RS e:HEV too, 841 litres with the rear seats down), versus the City Sedan's 519 litres (409 litres for RS e:HEV variant)

The City Hatchback comes with stability control, with the V adding the LaneWatch blind spot camera and curtain airbags (six airbags in total). The e:HEV RS is the only model to get the Honda Sensing suite of driver assistance systems, including autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist and oncoming vehicle detection, adaptive cruise control, lane centring assist, lane keeping assist and automatic high beam.

The hatchback is equipped with four airbags while the RS gets a total of six, ISOFIX I-Size type and G-Force Control (G-CON). while Electric Parking Brake (EPB) is exclusively available for the RS e:HEV.

Hatchback is the first in its segment to offer the most complete package of Next Generation Advanced Safety Technology – the Honda SENSING. Its advanced safety system utilizes a front wide view camera to better recognize road boundaries during day and night driving conditions. The Honda SENSING driver assistance safety systems in the All-New City Hatchback RS e:HEV are Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS),  Road Departure Mitigation (RDM), Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Auto High Beam (AHB)

An eight-inch touchscreen display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto mobile connectivity to link to your smartphone. 

Standard 6 speaker audio system. 

The All-New City Hatchback will be offered in two powertrains – e:HEV and Petrol. The All-New City Hatchback RS e:HEV is powered by 1.5L Sports intelligent Multi-Mode Drive (i-MMD) powertrain that delivers a powerful and immediate response through two electric motors for effortless drivability and efficiency. The e:HEV features Honda’s unique hybrid system, that functions seamlessly combining the benefits of petrol engines and electric motors to provide fuel efficiency and power. This advanced powertrain delivers 109PS and segment revolutionary 253Nm torque equivalent to a D-segment engine torque performance. Meanwhile, the All-New City Hatchback Petrol is equipped with 1.5L DOHC i-VTEC powertrain producing highest in its class with 121PS, and a maximum torque of 145Nm.

The new hatchback is paired with a CVT transmission.

Power is sent to all four wheels.

Response has been positive in terms of ride comfort. It drives and rides pretty much the same with the City sedan, and is almost European-like in its ride quality. Its combination of MacPherson struts and torsion beam is par for the course in the segment, but Honda’s engineers have managed to set it up sweetly.

The City Hatchback is a reasonably good-handling car, with a rather well-weighted steering that’s not at all dull. There’s enough feedback, and drivers have a better idea of what the front wheels are doing.

Additional sound deadening mats have been used within the engine bay and under the bonnet to dampen noise