Honda built a fold-up 50cc scooter that lived in the City's trunk — and literally invented a new word for it, "trabai," a portmanteau of "trunk" and "bike."
Lead trim: City Pro (VF) van (61 PS) · up to 66 hp
Honda City AA / VF / FAAA/VF/FA · 1981–1986
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Honda City AA / VF / FA yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactHonda built a fold-up 50cc scooter that lived in the City's trunk — and literally invented a new word for it, "trabai," a portmanteau of "trunk" and "bike."
The first Honda City (AA for the standard cars, VF for vans and FA for the wide-track Turbo II and Cabriolet), introduced in November 1981 with the innovative "Tall Boy" design whose height let four adults sit comfortably in a car under 3.4 m long, was Honda's smallest car at the time but not a kei car: 385 mm longer than the N360 and 171 mm shorter than the first Civic. It came as a 3-door hatchback and van with the 1,231 cc CVCC-II ER four-cylinder (12-valve SOHC, single two-barrel Keihin carburettor) and, in Japan, could be ordered with the Motocompo, a 50 cc folding "trunk bike" scooter designed to fit in its luggage area. The range began with the economical E (higher-geared transmissions and trip computer), the sportier R and two Pro commercial vans (the Pro T with two seats and Pro F with five, with a manual choke and no brake boost until the 1985 facelift), later adding an "R Manhattan Roof" with a 10 cm taller roof, an "R Manhattan Sound" with Bodysonic seat-vibration audio and, from August 1984, the Pininfarina-designed Cabriolet (the first car of its kind built in Japan) on the wider Turbo II body. The March 1985 facelift added a new asymmetrical grille, replaced the E and E II with the E III (an electronically variable lean-burn engine) and gave the naturally aspirated engines fibre-reinforced metal cylinder liners, a world first in series production; the R gained the four-speed "Hypershift" (effectively a 7-speed) a month later. It was sold in Europe from 1982 to 1986 as the Jazz because Opel held the City name (45 or 56 PS), in Australia as a two-seat van to circumvent import restrictions, and in New Zealand as a locally assembled car; at home it was narrowly beaten to the Japanese Car of the Year by the Toyota Soarer. Madness's "In the City" began as a jingle for its 1981 Japanese TV advertisement. The Turbo and Turbo II are catalogued as their own generation.
Collectors Spotted in the Honda City Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Honda City yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
4 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Cabriolet (FA) (67 PS) | 1984–1986 | 1.2 L Inline-4 | 66 hp | 72 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| City E / U / R with A/T (63 PS) | 1981–1986 | 1.2 L Inline-4 | 62 hp | 72 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| City Pro (VF) van (61 PS) | 1981–1986 | 1.2 L Inline-4 | 60 hp | 71 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| City R / R Manhattan Roof (67 PS) | 1981–1986 | 1.2 L Inline-4 | 66 hp | 72 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
This City grew so much that it's now roughly the same size as a ninth-generation Civic sedan, despite still being sold and priced as Honda's entry-level car.
This City generation moved the fuel tank from the middle of the car to the back — a quiet packaging change that let Honda drop the seats and the roofline for a sportier stance.
This City generation made history off the showroom floor too: when Honda opened a factory in Argentina in 2011, this was the car built there — the first Honda, and the first Japanese passenger car, ever made in the country.
In Japan this City was sold as the Fit Aria, named for an operatic melody, continuing Honda's habit of naming cars after music (Prelude, Accord, Ballade, Concerto).
This City was built for Southeast Asia from day one — made in an all-new Thai plant with over 70% local content, and its bumpers split into three pieces just to make shipping parts from Japan easier.
Before Fit became one of Honda's best-selling global nameplates, it was just a trim badge on the second-generation City — the name's whole career started as an economy option.
Hirotoshi Honda later founded the tuning company Mugen, which remains closely linked to Honda's motorsport programs.
Honda built a fold-up 50cc scooter that lived in the City's trunk — and literally invented a new word for it, "trabai," a portmanteau of "trunk" and "bike."
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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