Are hatches still hot in the PH?

Despite the foul weather, the Honda City RS Hatchback handled city driving with aplomb.

The last two decades have seen a huge shift in the kind of vehicles that people buy globally.

Back then, you bought a sedan if you needed a regular commuter car and a sport-utility-vehicle (SUV) if you needed to tackle the rough stuff – many often had two-car garages with such a combination. But crossovers have exploded in popularity for combining an SUV’s size and practicality with the driving ease of a sedan.

Indeed, the rise of this “hybrid” has practically wiped out the 1.5-liter subcompact hatchback, especially in the Philippines. Aside from the MG3, only the Honda City Hatchback has stood the test of time by continuing the legacy started by the much-beloved Honda Jazz.

But what makes this little Honda distinct from similarly priced alternatives? We borrowed one again to get a second look at this charming five-door.

This top-spec RS variant gets full leather upholstery with red accents.

The appeal

Many would say that you could buy a decent subcompact crossover for the P1,199,000 pricetag of the City Hatchback.

But if we flip that reasoning, there are almost no hatchback alternatives for the price of a City Hatchback – the Suzuki Swift is only available with a 1.2-liter engine, the superb Ford Fiesta went the way of the dodo ages ago and the Vios-based Yaris has been succeeded in spirit, specification and price by the Yaris Cross crossover.

Thus, by virtue of practically having the market all to itself, Honda Cars Philippines Inc. can price the City Hatchback as it pleases. But happily, you get a whole lot of car for the money because this high-specification RS variant has black leather upholstery with red accents, aluminum pedals and a snazzy bodykit.

And this is where crossovers simply cannot compete – at the end of the day, they are still tall cars with considerable ground clearance to fulfill their need to be pseudo-SUVs. The City Hatchback has all the aggression of the City RS sedan, but with a pert rear end that makes the car cuter and far easier to park.

This little Honda is also the only hatchback in the market, as of press time, with the utterly brilliant Utility-Long-Tall rear seats. This means besides having split-folding seatbacks, the car’s rear bench can be flipped up to carry tall items (try that with a crossover).

The City Hatchback has various cargo arrangements, thanks to its Utility-Long-Tall rear seat.

The drive

And given that the City Hatchback isn’t super tall nor has a particularly high ground clearance, it is simply impossible for any crossover to drive as well as this clever Honda does.

On the road, the City Hatchback feels planted and perky at any speed, an experience helped greatly by the quick steering ratio and fairly planted suspension. Although the 15-inch alloy wheels with 185/55-series are rather small, you can always get a nice set of 16s with good tires to fully exploit this taut and agile chassis.

The City Hatchback also has a good power-to-weight ratio – with only 1,143 kilograms to lug around, the 1.5-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve, inline-4 gasoline engine doesn’t have to work its 119 horsepower and 145 Newton-meters of torque so hard. And the well-tuned continuously variable transmission means up to 13 kilometers per liter in the city and up to 23 kilometers per liter on the expressway.

Aside from the fabulous driving experience (something the MG3 really needs to work on), the City Hatchback is indisputably one of the safest cars on the road, hatchback or not. The brilliant Honda SENSING active-safety suite includes adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking that make journeys easier and less stressful.

But many of you ask – what about the floods? Well, I had this City Hatchback test car during the first of the country’s many monsoon periods this year and it handled torrential downpours and ankle-high water with ease and confidence (do you know how to drive your crossover through anything deeper?)

Tall items can be put inside with ease when the rear bench is folded up.

The future

Crossovers will undoubtedly remain a fixture in the global automotive market, especially with their huge sales.

But there is also growing movement back toward cheaper cars that are more pleasant to drive – this is why many automakers are exploring the reintroduction of non-crossover models, especially for entry-level segments. This could mean the return of various sedans, as well as hatchbacks and even wagons.

If you can’t wait that long, then rejoice at the Honda City RS Hatchback. A party of one isn’t always a bad thing, you know.

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