Honda Amaze Petrol MT Long Term Review
Have been a Honda fan for long, and driving the Honda Amaze Petrol for a good three months was more than fulfilling for the Honda fan in me. So here is how the time was spent with the Honda Amaze Petrol Manual.
Read on to find out what the Amaze has to offer the buyer, with competitors like Maruti Dzire, Hyundai Xcent, Ford Aspire, VW Ameo and Tata Zest. The minuses and the pluses as well.
When you get a car as a long-term drive, it tends to seamlessly merge into your daily routine. So was it with the Amaze! Early morning school drops, the perpetually harried run for extra classes, fitting in trips to the gym, vegetable and grocery shopping over the weekends, vet visits, office meetings, mall runs, joyrides and long weekend drives to Lonavala with the doggo in tow! Plus the never-ending, daily to-do lists for us women! The Amaze was a part and parcel of all of the above, and some more….
Launched in 2013, Amaze was the game-changer for Honda, bringing the Japanese carmaker back into the race with this sub 4 meter compact sedan. Amaze is based on the Honda Brio platform. It was in 2016 that they decided to revamp it, and we think it will be pretty soon that all new Amaze that was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo will be announced. For now, the current Amaze surely does its job very well.
The only change in the exteriors is a bolder and wider face, thanks to the grill along with small changes to the front and tail end making the car appear a bit more sportier. The dual slat grill comes with a thick chrome finish in the middle and a thin lining at the bottom. The front bumper gets bolder and sharper with a broader air dam and a honeycomb mesh grill housing the oval shaped fog lamps. The headlights remain the same but look sportier due to the redesign in their reflectors. Except for the new electrically foldable wing mirrors with electric adjust and LED turn indicators on them, the side profile remains unchanged too.
Driving on the highway was a breeze with the new wing mirrors helping also in busy traffic in and around Dadar and Worli on my daily runs. Three bold character lines flow through the sides at a sharp angle, with angled door handles to match them.
This Amaze comes with 175/65 R14 spec Good Year Tubeless tyres on multi-spoke silver alloys. The tyres kept the car stable and planted even at high speeds on the expressway from Mumbai to Pune. The overall design revamp has given this car a younger and sportier look.
Get inside and you see an all new, superior quality dashboard in a dual tone with angular designing and neat metal inserts for a classier look. The instrument cluster matches that of the City and the Jazz. Instrumentation is easy to read even at night. The steering remains unchanged with multi-function control buttons for the audio unit, which comes with lesser buttons on it with Bluetooth connectivity and wireless audio streaming. The audio system was made full use of during our weekend sojourns, with my kiddo blasting out his numbers all the time. The climate control button has buttons instead of dials now.
The rear seats were comfortable enough for a teen and a big dog! The leg room available is very good overall with comfortable seating. The ergonomic cabin has better plastic inside everywhere and on the dash with lots of storage cubbyholes all over. The air con unit chills the cabin nicely, with Leo, our doggie feeling nice and cool inside, even when it was blazing hot outside. The boot proved to be spacious and accommodating for our many pieces of luggage on Airport drops, and of course our weekend trips outside Mumbai and also on our monthly grocery runs to the supermarket.
The Amaze continues to be powered by the same petrol and diesel engines. We had the Petrol version that gets its power from the 1.2 i-VTEC Petrol 4-cylinder engine with 88PS of power and 109Nm of torque on it. Power delivery on this engine is good and crisp, with our only grouse being a slight hitch while shifting from the first to the second gear in traffic. The gear knob is handy to use. The Amaze petrol feels sturdy at high speeds and is a charm to drive on busy roads too. The brakes feel secure and give a good balanced feedback. Reversing and parking in tight spaces wasn’t difficult at all, thanks to the car’s compact dimensions. The Amaze does drive really well with its well sorted suspension ironing out all the bad roads and undulations very nicely.
Our full review of the Honda Amaze can be read here.
What We Missed
Well the Honda Amaze does have all the bells and whistles, but a few more would make it still better. Push Button start stop, reverse parking sensors, Touch screen infotainment system and maybe a 6-speed transmission.
Mileage
The Honda guys do claim an overall mileage of 17.8kmpl, while we managed to get around 14kmpl overall, with 12kmpl being the lowest in traffic and the best of 16.5kmpl on our Mumbai Lonavala run.
Final Bit
Honda always had a winner in Amaze. The facelift just made it better to compete in the compact sedan segment as a really strong contender. Honda service was really commendable when it came to fixing small problems we had while the car was with us. We will miss the sporty family sedan. Yes, the Honda Amaze is a highly recommended car in its segment, if you are looking for a Compact Sedan which drives well.
Review & Pics – Vaishali Kowli
