Although most of us grew up or around Suzuki manufactured vehicles but ever since other Japanese carmakers (Honda, Toyota & Nissan) set-up their car-assembly units we have come to look down upon Suzuki vehicles with a high degree of disdain.

Suzuki has never tried to allay this impression and we have made it out into some sort of a firm belief. Now with new inductions and elimination of ‘failed’ brands Suzuki maybe out to set things right but is it too late, only time will tell.

Let us examine what it calls Life In A New Age (or LIANA for short). Suzuki’s Liana is the shortest of all sedans with a length of 4.35m from bumper-to-bumper slightly shorter even than Honda’s CITY (4.395m) and comes in three variants: The basic RXI, slightly luxuries LXI & top-of-the-line EMINENT.

Suzuki knowing well their ‘thrift-conscious’ clientele have factory fitted the RXI & LXI with CNG which are available as an option only. With EMINENT SUzuki appears to be attempting to play ‘cach-up’ with the CITY since even their prices have a less than Rs.0.100million difference (some might say its a ‘wannabe’ CITY).

Shiny, metallic interior is complimented by the new chrome front-grill & alloy tyre-rims which are again an option only. With new fog lamps added to suit the needs of up-country Pakistani clients & a new ‘sparkling’ tail-light Liana seems to scream ‘look at me, I am a sedan too’.

The only feature other than the factory-fit 60L CNG cylinder (Petrol tank holds max. 50L fuel) that I really like is the key-less entry buttons (placed on the key itself they may look tachy but are functional to say the least). Here Suzuki has taken a leaf out of the Mitsubishi Lancer’s manual which has the same option in all its new models.

This is all there is to a Liana so now Suzuki Liana ke na Liana “Bring it (home) or don’t” is up to you and your pocket’s liking.

Although the sales figures suggest that Accord has been outselling Camry looking at their specs the reason isn’t clear. Both have identical 70-litre fuel tanks, near-identical engine displacements (Accord:2354cc & Camry:2362cc) and similar Torque Ratios: 226Nm/4300rpm for Accord while for Camry it is 224Nm/6000rpm.

Top speed of Camry is listed on Toyota Indus Motors (www.indus-motors.com.pk) as 211kph for Manual Transmission version and 204kph for Automatic Transmission. Honda Pakistan (www.honda.com.pk) being more concerned with Safety & Environment hasn’t listed a top speed instead it focuses on the safety / environment-friendly features of the car.

Finally as always it all boils down to the physical ‘looks’ of the car & price of both cars. In that department Accord having a more sleek/elegant & less ‘bulky’ design that Camry (see photos for evidence) wins’ hearts & minds’ of the customer hands-down.

The other factor helping customers decide in favour of Accord is the price tag Rs.4.699M (for A/T) while Camry retails for Rs.5.999M (M/T) to Rs.6.199M (A/T).

Although it may not be virtually unknown outside its ‘native’ Japan it won the 2007 Car of the Year award from the Japanese Automotive Researchers and Journalists Conference (RJC), and two other “Car of the Year” awards, from the Carview Corporation website and the Consumer’s Choice.

It also won the “Most Advanced Technology” Special Achievement Award at the 2006–07 Japan Car of the Year awards, where it was nominated unsuccessfully in the overall Car of the Year category, and ranked first in the Japan Mini-Car APEAL Study published by J.D. Power Asia Pacific in October 2006, with a higher score than any previous winner. Aside from the 2006 Good Design Grand Prix, its style won Design Awards from the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame (JAHFA), and the magazines Popeye and Car Styling.

Even the 2008 Car of the year 2008 Toyota’s iQ although better performance wise & designed by Toyota’s design studio in France pales in comparison to the sleek shape & georgeous look of the “i”. Agreed that microcars or ‘kei’ cars as they are known in Japan are made generally for the ladies &/or ‘sissies’ but offlate the modified versions of Smart Cars having superbike engines have been known to pack quite a muscle (0-100kph in under 3.5seconds.

“i”s breakthrough success with the said market came after a “Hello Kitty” customized “i” was put on display in a large Japanese Department Store for a week in 2007. Other close rivals include Smart Mortor’s fortow & K models, ZAP (zero air pollution), Toyota iQ the proposed Aston Martin-Toyota joint venture Cygnet & Honda’s Insight.

Suzuki has also marketed its own budget version of the smart car known as Suzuki Twin while rounding off the European competition are Mercedes-Benz’s Motsy & Subaru’s R2.

There are some 17 pictures in the following albums of the new Honda City 2009 (due in Feb 09):

[Show as slideshow]

So now it is confirmed, Honda City 2009 is being launched in Pakistan in February of 2009.

A review of Honda cars in Pakistan in general, and Honda City in particular is coming up here at CarAdvice.pk, and if it is anything like the Suzuki Mehran review, you guys better stay tuned.

You can book the new Honda City for PKR 1,052,000. The engine size (and the engine technology) seems to remain at 1300 CC. (As opposed to the anticipated 1500 CC only).

Honda City 2009 is definitely more pleasing to look at as compared to the current City that you see on the road nowadays. The backside of a bus looks more pleasing than the current City, but let us leave that for another post .

If your internet connection permits, check out this video of the new Honda City at YouTube.

When it comes to cars, CNG stands for Compressed Natural Gas.

CNG could also mean saving worth thousands of rupees per month. It can also mean that you have something to show for after watching An Inconvenient Truth . Although not many (hardly any!) people here in Pakistan are concerned about their carbon foot print, there are many who would love to save. This little article gives you the low down on CNG for your car, answering questions about CNG safety (exploding cars?!?!) and engine life.

Fuel Savings: It is by all means a great way to save on fuel, given that the fuel prices in Pakistan are rising. A friend of mine, living in Gujranwala, has a Toyota Vitz 2002 on CNG; he is getting Rs 2 to a liter. That is unheard of for petrol as anyone who has done the calculations would know. Would know by heart!

CNG and car performance: Yes, your car will not have the same pick with CNG that it has with Petrol. I used to own a Suzuki Mehran with CNG and the car would actually refuse to go above 90 Kmh when on CNG. On petrol, the car would be flying at 120 (for a Mehran, 120 is definitely ‘flying’!). A friend has a CNG fitted Honda Civic 2001, and the difference in the car’s acceleration is actually quite insignificant; I had to ask him that if the car is on CNG or not, I could not tell while we drove around Lahore. A car engine above 1300 CC will not let you feel the difference between CNG and Petrol, whereas for below 1300 CC, the difference is more in top speed than in pick/acceleration. If you do face drawn out acceleration when on CNG, it is probably because your engine needs some cleanup; oil change, oil and/or air filter replacement etc.

CNG and Engine Life: Getting CNG for your car does NOT affect your engine and does NOT reduce its life in a worrisome way.  People in opposition of CNG, do say that ‘Engine life gets reduced from 20 to 15 years after putting in CNG,’ as if they have done the calculations. I would save enough in those 15 years to buy two more cars, and that is the main point of getting CNG; cost savings.

CNG and types of cars: CNG can be fitted in any car that is being driven on the roads of Lahore. I have seen Toyota Land Cruisers on CNG and do plan to put up pictures of a Cruiser that I saw with four cylinders fitted at the back. Mostly people are of the opinion that only Petrol cars can be kitted out with CNG; a modified diesel engine can be converted to CNG. Although I have not heard of such a ‘conversion’, in theory at least CNG and Diesel go good together.

The CNG ‘threat’:There has been incidents of car CNG cylinders exploding. Now this is dangerous. But how real is the threat? As long as your CNG tank is inspected at least after every 5 years (look for an approval stamp sticker), you are good to go. The problem of exploding CNG tanks is due to cheap material being used while fabricating the tank. CNG tanks that do not pass quality standards is not a ‘good-thing-to-have’, it is a must. Make sure you ask for a quality stamp from the workshop, and also know that CNG tanks do not explode; it is so rare that God willing, it will probably never happen if you take the above mentioned precautions.

As the gas, inherently, is compressed, that automatically poses a greater risk than Petrol, which just ‘lies’ in the car petrol tank. So the quality of the car’s CNG tank can not be overstressed; make sure you get the best.

For the nitty-gritty on CNG technology, please check out the CNG page at caradvice.pk’s technology pages. (as per plan, this is where different car technologies will be explained, God willing ).

Couple that with the news item that Corolla is now only coming out as a 1.6, this leaves the middle class market totally empty for Honda to eat up! The new design is much better than the horror that roams our streets. If this is what the new Honda City looks like, then all is goood.

Images courtesy of pakwheels.