Honda City Bloggers Drive: Putrajaya Marina & MAEPS Serdang

9.00am: Gather at Rail Canteen

It was an early Saturday morning for 8 of us bloggers. Coming from diverse backgrounds (food / beauty / lifestyle), we gathered at Rail Canteen, Sunway Nexis for breakfast and full planned day with Honda Malaysia.

This is my first ever Blogger Test Drive that I have engaged in and to be honest, I'm pretty ecstatic(!!!!) because I have been going to primarily beauty events all this while. The morning kickstarted with a lot of coffee(!!!), some local Malaysian breakfast tidbits and a opening remark by Honda PR reps.

Shortly after, we were introduced to the highlight of the day: the All-New City.

Honda Malaysia believes that the All-New City is the ideal entry sedan in the Malaysian market and the price will attract many Malaysian consumers. The All-New City was developed based on the Exciting H Design concept, in which the “H” represents the Human Center, emphasizing on the driver and passengers.

The front of the sedan features the solid wing face of the Exciting H Design with integrated grille and headlights. The All-New City rear exterior gives a wide stance with its premium class image and seamless motif of rear combination lamp with license garnish.

The All-New City are available in 5 colors: Modern steel metallic, Alabaster silver metallic, Taffeta white, Crystal black pearl and a new attractive color of Brilliant sporty blue metallic.

And comes in 4 variants: City S, City S+, City E and City V. All variants will be locally assembled at Honda Malaysia’s Malacca factory.

This is how the interior of the full spec car looks like from the front passenger's seat.

To further provide convenience and practicality, the All-New City is equipped with advanced features such as:

Smart Entry and Push Start button (E and V variant) Important especially for ladies who always have a hard time finding car keys from a huge handbag!
Rear Ventilation Air Conditioning (E and V variant)
3 Power Sockets (E and V variant) put your worries aside because now you can light up multiple devices!
Cruise Control (V variant)
7” Display Audio with MirrorLink function (V variant)
8 Speakers (the most in its segment) (V variant) for that ultimate audio experience
Multi Information Combination Meter
2 USB Jacks (V variant) sharing ports for charging? Not anymore!
8 Cup Holders and smart storage compartments. THIS IS AWESOME ESPECIALLY FOR FAMILY ROAD TRIPS!
Steering Wheel Hands Free Telephone Control (S+, E and V variant) Multitasking ability increases with eyes focused on the road
Steering Wheel Voice Recognition Control (V variant)

7” Display Audio with MirrorLink for that karaoke session!

Push Start button for easy ignition

ECON mode for optimizing fuel economy

The “Man Maximum, Machine Minimum” philosophy has been used as the core of the car’s development. By placing emphasis on premium comfort, the All-New City provides overwhelming cabin space especially in the rear space, for unrivalled comfort to both driver and passengers.

Rear Ventilation Air Conditioning, perfect for those who are always concerned with air flow at the back. And look at that leg room for a B Segment car! It also comes with USB jacks behind for ease of device charging ;)

The All-New City also offers TOP SAFETY FEATURES that prioritize driver and passengers with:

Class-leading 6 Airbags (V variant) (including Dual Front SRS Airbags, i-Side Airbags and Side Curtain Airbags)
Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) (E and V variant)
Hill Start Assist (E and V variant)
Emergency Stop Signal (E and V variant)
ISOFIX features - the international standard for attachment points of child safety seats in passenger cars.

The All-New City also offers the largest boot space in its class at 536L and is able to fit bulky items of up to 3 large suitcases or 4 small ones, golf bags and a baby pram, making it very convenient for road trips with friends or family.

This latest generation of City is powered by the improved 1.5L SOHC i-VTEC engine (maximum power 120PS @ 6,600 rpm and maximum torque 145Nm @ 4,600 rpm) coupled with the advanced new Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) that was developed under Honda’s Earth Dreams Technology to provide the perfect combination of driving performance and fuel economy.

10.20am: Depart to Putrajaya Marina Complex

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AND AWAY WE GO!!!

Miriam volunteered to be the first driver of the day and each car was given a Walkie-Talkie to accompany us throughout the convoy.

An emergency snack / tissues kit to keep us contented throughout the driving session!

When we reached Putrajaya Marina, we were taken to the Flyboard office to get a quick tutorial on how to conduct ourselves for the water sport activities. The instructor was in a laying stomach flat position to demo our 'default body position' for later on during the Flyboard sport.

This device will be strapped onto your legs and it weighs freaking 9 KILOGRAMS!!!!

However this will feel much lighter in the water and this will be the thing that will sustain our body weight throughout the activity.

Don't mind me while I selfie on ✩⃛( ͒ ु•·̫• ू ͒)

Paddleboat

Pretty simple activity, it is something like a canoe where you could either (a) stand straight; or (b) kneel down on the Paddleboat to just paddle with a stick leisurely around the lake. One paddleboat can only fit one person because the board is quite light and soft. To actually be able to stand on the paddleboat without overturning, you need to have good centre of gravity and body balancing skills.

Spotted a pink one and I ran towards it!

Notice how far away from the deck I was?

Paddleboat looks really not challenging but let me tell you that it's not as easy as it looks!!!

Because the lake water keeps moving constantly and you are not exactly standing on a stable surface. As the wind blows or when big waves (from a speedboat) come towards you, the board will be literally SHAKY!!!

Thus you have to balance your body weight well on the light paddleboat board because it can be overturned! (and not everyone wants their makeup/hair drenched in water unnecessarily!)

Also one thing to note, if you bring your camera or phone along with you in the waters without a protective case, be warned! You never know when it may just drop into the water *touchwood*

That group selfie you saw up there? It was difficult for us to get close and take a wefie because of the waves and we couldn't be on each other's paddleboats. It is literally almost impossible, especially without a selfie stick! However we managed to get ONE DECENT SHOT!

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Flyboarding

Gearing up for the most awaited water sport of the day!

This is a failed shot because I was already halfway falling down LOL

It took sometime to get used to this because (a) there is something heavy bounded on my feet (b) the water keeps overturning my body (c) if you are not good in swimming to begin with (aka me), you need some time to adjust your body in water because it is very different as the waves keep pushing you.

I never really got pass more than one meter off the ground. I think I successfully only stood up 3 times within the span of 20 minutes or less. If you are thinking of trying this sport for yourself, here's a price indication I grabbed from Groupon -

Introductory session for 1 person for RM348 instead of RM400 - 20 mins flyboard session
Regular session for 1 person for RM648 instead of RM750 - 20 mins x 2 flyboard session
Group session for 3 people for RM698 instead of RM850 (only RM232.67 per person) - shared 45 mins flyboard session, one person at a time

Here's a proper picture of how high you could go (as demonstrated by the trainer) -

Group pic!

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And here I am on the Electric Scooter!!

Looks something like what they use around Italy, yes? haha

1.30pm: Lunch at Dengkil Seafood Restaurant

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Jessy took over the wheels and off we go to Dengkil (which was about less than 20km away).

Not a big foodie but IDK why the food was so tantalizing here! (perhaps we used so much energy during our water sports activities thus needed to refuel lol!)

Every dish served was delish max and yes all of us finished everything on the table! :)

2.30pm: Depart to Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) Carpark

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Continue to our next stop to test the full limits of the Honda City!

2:50 pm Driving Exercises / Activity

Pic Credit: Wacky Becky

VSA:

The Vehicle Stability Assist system helps to stabilize the vehicle during cornering if the car turns more or less than desired.

HOW:

An example of when such a situation (side slip) may occur is when a driver turns a corner too quickly on a wet/sandy/slippery road.
When the cornering forces of a vehicle are greater than the available tire grip levels, side slip occurs. If the front wheels are slipping sideways, the car is understeering.
On the other hand, if the rear wheels are slipping, the car is oversteering.

The above shows during VSA OFF.

The VSA in Honda cars (not just the City) is best “On” (activated) at all times. To do so, just press the VSA button on the driver’s side. This feature will take care of the rest. In the event of unintentional skidding or if you lose control of your car under unforeseen circumstances, every little help counts in keeping you safe and alive.

Now this clip that shows the VSA ON:

The boot of a Honda City

The boot of a Toyota Vios

Boot so big can fit 3 of us girlies!

4:30 pm Back to Rail Canteen

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This time it's me behind the wheels! I was a little nervous, having the responsibility of driving the girls back and it would be a 50km ride back to Kota Damansara. So here's the part where I can finally give my honest verdict of the City driving experience -

Pro's

Lightweight steering wheel
Smooth transitions from accelerating to braking
Lightweight hand brake (easy for ladies)
Fuel efficient
Built-in sound system is awesome!
I like how spacious the rear seat was. Really spacious for a B Segment car.
Dual aircon at the rear allows me to adjust the temperature to my liking.

Cons

Absorption isn't that great. Car can get a little shaky when driving fast on the big highways.

Only one con! I can't seem to find more! Really! (Guess I'm not such a fussy driver?)

5:15 pm: Prize Giving Ceremony & Refreshments

Back to our starting point at Rail Canteen, us bloggers had a tea break (after the long journey) while the Honda team deliberate on the contest results.

Group 2 came in third!

THIS WAS THE POINT WHERE I WAS SO NERVOUS BECAUSE IT COULD BE MY GROUP OR THE OTHER GROUP TO BAG FIRST PLACE!!!

Group 1 was announced second place winner, which means automatically,

WE GOT FIRST PLACE!

We each won a hand held massager from OGAWA!

Thank You

HONDA MALAYSIA

for organizing such a fun-filled day with activities!

I may have taken the initiative to try out Flyboard for myself and thank you for the chance to try it out for myself!

By the way, Honda Malaysia offers 5-year warranty with unlimited mileage and service interval is 10,000km to provide further ease to customers to make the City the vehicle of their choice.

For more information on the All-New City or to book a test drive, you may --

visit any of the 82 dealers nationwide
call Honda’s Toll Free number at 1-800-88-2020
log onto Honda Malaysia website

Check out my fellow bloggers' experiences here!

Venue Recap

-   Rail Canteen: Unit D-GF-02, Sunway Nexis, Jalan PJU 5/2. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
-   Flyboard Malaysia: Marina Putrajaya, No.1, Jalan P5/5, Presint 5 Putrajaya 62200 Malaysia.
- Dengkil Seafood Restaurant: 20, Jalan Puchong Dengkil, Dengkil, 43800 Selangor, Malaysia.
-   MAEPS: MARDI Headquarters, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.