After alot of carefull thought i have finally decided to get a Facelifted aspire 1.5 city. The search for a car went from a 05 civic to reborn to city reason being of the main reason of fuel economy, the aforementioned cars do not give a good fuel economy.
Alhamdullilahh already own a 2012 city and a 2013 city and apart from the hard suspension, it is a great car. Before that i owned a 04 city and treated me very loyally. So have a few experience of owning cities so know their negative aspects etc. Plus i really wanted a change from owning cities but thinking logically city again came as the best all rounder car.
I considered Gli too but dil nahi mana kuch Gli per. I drove a the previous gen Xli 32k on the odo and honestly my 80k city drove much better than the Xli. IMO driving a Xli was like driving a truck with its big gear and the hard clutch whereas city has a really soft feeling clutch, good for urban driving.
The reason i chose the city is:
1) Compared to Gli it has a low theft rate, so a peace of mind for me and my dad.
2) Seriously 84HP on Gli, just seems too underpowered for me, and Gli isnt particularly a fuel efficent car either whereas city 1.3 is i think nicely powered car only downfall being that city is sluggish on lower rpms and it is also quite fuel efficient too.
3) Considered buying a 9th gen civic too but discontinued it because of my usage, sometimes due to errands i have to go to the innards of Rawalpindi and taking a 2.5 mil car there is seriously heart wrenching. City is compact, has a shorter turning radius, has good overall visibility so its not a big problem to maneuverer through the traffic. Civic as a 2nd car would be great.
4) The price/feature ratio. A manual registered 1.5 aspire city with the optional accesories package and tyres changed would still cost less than the price of Gli. If you get a gli, you would have to get keyless entry, insurance, tyres etc and that would increase the price tag significantly.
I agree that the city has downfalls, like hard suspension(that can be minimized by changing the tyres) and a old shape. On the matter of shape wise, we cant be so choosy in the Pakistani market, for a budget buyer he has to look at all the factors before buying a car.