Following the opening of the order books for it at the end of last month, the 2026 Honda City facelift is now on the ground in Malaysia, with the B-segment offering making its first public appearance in the Klang Valley in its sedan form at a series of pop-up previews, which runs until Sunday. On show at the one-day showcase today at Alamanda, Putrajaya, was a RS petrol sedan example.
First unveiled in India in May before making its Southeast Asian debut in Thailand a month later, it’s the second facelift for the fifth-generation version of the sedan, which arrived here in October 2020 before it was replaced by its first facelift, in August 2023.
The exterior rework for the GN2 this round brings about a sharper front end, with slimmer headlights (bi-LED projectors, as shown by the RS) and a new bumper, with different lower profiles depending on model grades – on the RS, the central air intake has a sharper, upturned design, while the non-RS variants will come with a less edgier downturned styling, flanked by aggressive-looking air curtain elements finished in black.
The honeycomb grille has also been slimmed down, with the Honda logo now relocated from the grille to the upper part of the body-coloured ‘unibrow’ element. On the RS, there’s a light bar running across the width of the grille, which presumably won’t be seen on the lower grade models.
Meanwhile, the logo itself continues with the old rectangular badge, not the automaker’s new ‘H’ mark, and interestingly, the unit on the e:HEV (shown at another pop-up display) doesn’t have the blue outline element that the company usually uses to distinguish its hybrids, the unit on the car having a full black background.
At the back, the shape is a bit more familiar, but some changes dress up the car in a sportier manner, at least in the case of the RS. The trapezoidal tail light design has been carried over, but the unit on the RS now gets an ‘albino’ look, its internal design elements presented in a mix of clear and black, with in red when the lights are on).
Elsewhere, there’s a redesigned rear bumper, that on the RS dressed with a black grille-like “mesh” centre, a diffuser-like insert, twin “tusks” and vertical reflectors. With plenty of black elements, in this case a trunk spoiler extension, door handles, shark fin antenna and side mirror covers, the RS mimics the Civic RS in visual approach.
The RS also gets new wheels, in this case turbine-style 16-inch alloys – finished in Berlina Black with a darkened machined face, they are wrapped with 185/55 profile Toyo Proxes R57 rubbers.
Unlike the exterior, there aren’t that many changes on the inside, but some upgrades have come about. The dashboard trim on the RS moves away from the all-red finish previously to a more textured silver finish (with a red accent line), and it also gains ambient lighting.
There is also a new, larger 10-inch Display Audio infotainment touchscreen, which we have been told will be found in the V variant onward, with the existing 8.0-inch DA continuing on elsewhere. The new 10-inch screen comes with the 360-degree camera system that was added to the City earlier this year and has now been updated with a multi-view angle and moving object detection interface.
A switch has been added to the tip of the left steering column stalk to provide users with the ability to cycle through all the angles. Some observations about the floating touchscreen, as noted during the preview – visual clarity of the unit is good, but its angling does feel a tad too slanted.
Meanwhile, the seat upholstery on the RS has also been revised in terms of presentation – the central stitching on the previous facelift’s front seats has been ditched, the unit now plain, and the reddish contrast perforation surface on the spine seen previously has been relocated, now placed on the sides.
Elsewhere, the e:HEV RS gets a new wireless mobile charger located on the forward part of the centre console. However, the sports pedals on the new RS versions move to a two-piece set-up, losing the alloy footrest seen previously. Speaking of omissions, the Malaysian-spec City will not get the ventilated seats or sunroof seen in other markets.
Safety-wise, the City facelift will continue to come equipped with Honda Sensing as standard. The driver assist suite includes autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with (e:HEV RS-exclusive) stop and go, lane centring assist, road departure mitigation, front departure alert and auto high beam.
New to the 2026 car is blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert, and this works with the existing LaneWatch camera – still accessible from the right steering column stalk – to now provide alerts to the driver on both sides (camera for left side, blind spot monitor for right side).
There are no mechanical changes, and so powertrain options continue as they are from before. Petrol models will feature the familiar L15Z 1.5 litre DOHC i-VTEC four-cylinder offering 121 PS at 6,600 rpm and 145 Nm at 4,300 rpm, paired with an Earth Dreams CVT.
Likewise, the i-MMD system on the e:HEV hybrid is unchanged. The system consists of a primary electric traction motor with 109 PS and 253 Nm providing drive through a single-speed transmission, with an Atkinson-cycle version of the 1.5 litre mill acting as a generator to recharge the battery. The engine, which has 98 PS from 5,600 to 6,400 rpm and 127 Nm between 4,500 and 5,000 rpm, can also clutch in to provide mechanical drive at higher running speeds.
Some final notes about model grades. The current City facelift is available in five variants (petrol S, E, V and RS, and hybrid e:HEV RS), but word on the grapevine indicates that the range for the new car is set to be trimmed to four. With both RS petrol and e:HEV variants being shown at the pop-up previews, this likely means that one of the petrol variants won’t make the cut.
As for pricing, nothing has yet been suggested, but for reference, that for the outgoing car starts from RM84,900 for the S grade, moving up to RM89,900 for the E and RM94,900 for the V, with the petrol RS going for RM99,900. The City sedan range tops out with the e:HEV RS, which retails for RM111,900..
Anoraks will have noted that the ASEAN debut of the City facelift saw the hatchback being launched alongside the sedan. The refreshed City Hatchback is set to make its way here, but it will get its own launch when the time comes.
GALLERY: 2026 Honda City sedan facelift, petrol RS
GALLERY: 2026 Honda City sedan facelift, e:HEV RS
