The Honda City Petrol Automatic goes up against the Volkswagen Vento Automatic in a battle of the petrol automatics
Automatics are definitely catching on. With congested roads and insufferable traffic, automatic cars seem to be the answer for hassle free driving. And, the latest in the ever increasingly portfolio of automatic cars in India is the New Honda City AT. But to see how good it is, we have the Volkswagen Vento TSI for comparison - both good cars; both with modern, refined and fuel efficient drivetrains; but only one winner.
Efficient automatics, meanwhile, is a recent occurrence. Going back in time, the older generation automatic transmissions were a far cry from the new-age auto boxes, which struggled to cut a niche in India. This, of course, was also because the technology back then wasn’t up to the mark. Most old-school automatic gearboxes were slow and cumbersome; these guzzled fuel; were inefficient; and as a result were expensive to run compared to manuals. The only reason why anyone thought of buying an automatic car back then was because of their inability to let go of the clutch pedal, correctly.
