My Honda City

The half black top caught my eye as I have not seen such a combination. Usually only the roof or bonet that is black but in this case, half the entire top is black. Quite a nice looking car and the mods made on this car is tremendous. The entire front seat sacrificed for the NOS, I love to zoom on this car…

Honda City/Fit Aria Dominator 2007, posted by a member of teamcity. The rear looked sharp, while the front is a little scoopy, looks like it could scoop up something. Nice front grille and side skirting..

Photo Credit: shane20m

I pick this up from the teamcity forum. A member from Johor have installed this and it looked smashing. The spoiler is Skyline R34 and the back bumper and BK is Mugen Civic Dominator. The price is around RM600-RM900 depending on which customs you go to.

This is one of the most perfectly made angle eyes for Honda City/Fit Aria. It was reported that this was made in China. For those who want to DIY, you can purchase the BMW angle eyes and install it onto your ride. The problem with the BMW angle eyes is that the size is too small for the City/Fit Aria head lamp and will look odd. Also, for DIY, you have to risk opening up the headlamp your self and some forum members complain imperfect sealing leading to water making its way into the lamp.

After months of anticipation, the Honda Plant Visit finally materialized. The event was organized by Temple Of Vtec Asia (TOVA), and there were more than 100 cars with 300 participants from various Honda Car Clubs, including our Singaporean neighbors too. The day was broken into 3 major event, first was a convoy from KL to Malacca, and then the official ceremony at the Afamosa event hall and finally the plant visit.

The event started with a Car Convoy from Bukit Jalil, KL to Afamosa Resort, Malacca. Participants gathered at Bkt Jalil as early as 5am and upon arrival, participants were arranged based on convoy teams. The convoy depart at about 6.20am and proceeded to Sg. Besi tol. There were a little confusion at the tol as participants went through the tol booth at different pace, and this is attributed to the different paying mode of the tol booths. We lost our Team Leader for a while and got sandwich to the size by other teams as everyone make their way through the tol booths. It was a beautiful morning sight at Sg. Besi tol as the entire area were blanket by a swam of Honda cars (City, Jazz, Civic, CRV, etc)

After some confusion we manage to find our team lead and proceeded to join back the convoy. As we catch-up to our convoy team, we pass a string of Jazz organized by colors, and we could imagined how other travelers might felt seeing the mega convoy. It was grand beyond descriptions. Soon after, we joined back the convoy team and proceeded towards the Afamosa Resort Malacca.

We arrived at the gate some 1.5 hour past departure and soon afterwards we made our way into the resort. This was the end of the Convoy event and we eagerly waited for the next event, which is the opening speech and souvenir exchange with Honda Mgmt. While waiting, we have the opportunity to mingle with other clubs and also viewed their cars and modifications.

Just before entering into the event hall, we were organized into group of busses, and there were a total of 8 busses. Each bus group entered the event hall on an orderly manner and soon after registered for the plant visit. We each get a lanyard with event card and a goodie bag. In the goodie bag, there was a Honda City thermos, one White Honda face towel, one ASIMO phone/key chain (imported from Japan), a bottle of water and a folder filled with all Honda Cars brochure and event notes. We were assigned to tables upon registration and refreshments were waiting for us there. Many of us did not have breakfast and so, the refreshments were a welcoming sight.

Soon afterwards, the VIP’s arrived and the second part of the event started. The VIP’s welcomed everyone to the event, shared the company vision and appreciated the Honda Consumers. Each Club got a nice plaque from Honda and in return, all the clubs pooled together to give Honda Management a nice miniature replica of all the Honda Cars. Soon after, we were graced with a Video compilation of videos made yearly on the people, projects and contribution.

I was particularly moved as the story of Honda speaks of passion for technology, passion for the nation and the passion of making dreams comes true. Hence, the company motto “The power of Dreams”. It all started with a dream, and the passion drive the dream to come true. Soichiro Honda dreamed of a race circuit in Japan, and created the famed Suzuka Circuit. A Japanese woman who did not have any hands who dreamed of driving. The Honda team made the dream come true for the lady and created cars for the physically challenged. I have new respect and appreciation for Honda as a company and my Honda City. Unfortunately, the video was short lived, and was abruptly stopped for Lunch. Lunch was the last item and the participants were prep for the plant visit.

40 minutes were allocated per bus for the plant visit. The plant visit is broken into a visit to the Training Center, a bus ride around the plant complex and the assembly line. The participants were given 10 minutes in the Training Center, which main purpose is for training employees, but also house new products and also the Malaysian Honda Racing Team cars. We were fortunate as Nov 18 was the day of Civic Modulo launch and there was one unit at the Training Center for our viewing. There will only be 90 Civics built with the Modulo Body Kit and out of the 90, only 40 will have the bronze Modulo Rims fully imported from Japan. The car is selling for Rm14x,xxx and each will have a numbered plate on the dashboard.

After 10 minutes of prowling over the new Civic, we all board the bus for a short ride around the plant. There was a circuit built for high speed drive test, and there were various terrain conditions simulating the type of terrains customers will put the car through. We spend about 30 minutes in the factory, which started on the assembly of the front shaft, then proceeded to the incoming material quality check section and subsequently to the car body assembly area. We get to see the robotic welding arm in action in a distance, and up close on the assembly of doors, and bonnets. The line had just been converted from City to Accord, so the body assembly were all Accords and the Back of Line assembly, where all the internal parts are populated are City’s. After the body assembly, there car goes for painting, which is done by two robotic arm operating like a two person synchronized swimming team.

The paint is allowed to dry and the interior and exterior assembly begins. From this point onwards, everything is done by hand, and done at the assembler’s pace. The time allowed is 8 minutes per operation, however, this is not forced upon by an automated conveyer, but rater up to the assemblers to push the car forward. This means if at one operation, the assembler is slow, the cars will pile up in his operation. This is unlike Naza which has a conveyer and forces each operation to a specific time, and if the assembler misses the time, the car goes on.

The last operation was all the quality checks, where each and every car operations are checked and tested before the car is allowed to leave the building. This includes ABS test, wiper, lights, etc.. Actually when we, the consumers receive the car, we do not really need to perform these checks again. Also, the car is ramp to high speed and then the brake is slam to test on the ABS. The only thing that I don’t see being tested is the air bag, which makes sense, as Air Bag inflation is a destructive test.

After the tour, everyone is given a pair of pen and survey form for feedbacks. The entire tour was interesting and I’ve learnt the most of Honda from the video than the factory tour. The tour was only 30 minutes, and for an Engineer like me, it is too short. There aren’t enough time to appreciate the operations and also to get my curiosity questions through. One thing for sure is that the factory main theme is quality, and there is quality checks at every operations. This explains why when I get my Honda City, everything was in order, of which I was greatly impressed, compared to my old Proton, where I regretted from the first day I bought it till I sold the car for the City.

Link to photos