Honda Amaze

The Honda Amaze in this next-generation guise is only offered with one petrol engine which in this case is the automaker’s 1.2-lite i-VTEC four-pot producing 88bhp/114Nm and can be had with either a five-speed manual or a CVT which is what we have driven for our review today.

The engine paired with this CVT box gets the job done but you have to work it quite a bit and at times feels short of breath especially if you are pulling heavy loads with the CVT rubber band effect quite strong. You will need to plan overtakes well in advance and move past vehicles using momentum rather than outright grunt. However, because this is an automatic gearbox, you don’t have issues of stalling and in stop-and-go traffic, the creep function is very effective. The steering is light and easy to use but devoid of any feel. It does a good job of masking the car’s size and this is especially evident when you need to make U-turns or Parallel Park the car.

In terms of ride, it is on the softer side aimed more at comfort than handling and that’s always been a characteristic of the Honda Amaze right from the beginning and has carried on into this third-generation car. One place where Honda has really done its bit for the Amaze is in terms of NVH insulation. The automaker said it used better materials than the ones from the previous vehicle and a significant difference is evident in the way the outside noises get filtered out in the cabin.

One of the places the Amaze falls behind its competition is that it doesn’t come with a factory fitted CNG option. However, with the demand so strong, the automaker is offering it as a dealer-fitted option. This is covered under all of Honda’s warranty programmes and can be serviced pan-India. At the time of writing this review, the CNG kit was priced at Rs. 1 lakh above the cost of the car (excluding service charges).

One of the new things that Honda has brought to this third-gen Amaze is level-2 ADAS. This is the first compact sedan to get the driver assistance systems and is the same one being offered on the Elevate and City. It’s officially called Honda Sensing.

In this CVT version that we drove, the ADAS works very well with the best performance coming from the adaptive cruise control. As has been the case from the beginning, it is able to judge objects of various sizes and speed up and slow down the car in a seamless manner allowing you to focus on the larger task at hand. It’s a similar story with the lane departure warning that’s effective but can be overly intrusive especially if you have to compensate for another motorist cutting lanes. Finally, the lane keep assist works only above 70kmph and in general city conditions plays a very minor role. All said and done the ADAS package is effective but with this fast becoming the ‘next big thing’ Honda needs to update the ADAs suite with more features if it wants to stay ahead of the game.

New generation, new design, well sort of.. Honda has done exactly what we had expected which was take design elements from the City and Elevate to give the Amaze its new identity. The face is gets a new black chrome grille with slim LED rectangular headlamps (standard across the range) while in profile you can clearly see the Amaze’s sub-4 metre orgins thanks to the stubby boot. Honda has also fitted the car with new alloy wheels which are 15-inch units on the top-spec ZX variant (featured in our photos).

They are diamond cut wheels but with a rather conservative design. Finally at the rear, Honda has fitted this new Amaze with its wrap around rectangular tail lamps and has removed variant badging that was on the right side.

Honda has taken a safe route with the Amaze’s cabin and kept the overall design and layout the same but with some new elements to uplift the cabin from the second generation to the third generation. Up front, the dashboard has been revised with some new design elements on the passenger side as well as new climate control interface. They have also taken the semi-digital instrument and floating display cluster from the Elevate and it adds a nice touch, especially in this top-spec variant.

The overall space is unchanged and you get decent headroom and shoulder room but the front occupants will be a bit shortchanged in terms of under-thigh support as the seats are low and the seat base is short. It is a similar story for the second-row occupants but it is more or less a space for two with the central padding being slightly thicker and also the central occupant would have to contend with the rear AC vents.

Honda’s overall effort is commendable but we do have to point out that they have used the same shade of beige in their cabin as the Honda City. In fact, this has been Honda’s preferred shade for the cabin for well over a decade now and is the same shade that debuted with the car when it launched in 2013. It’s a pleasant shade and gives the cabin an airy feel but does tend to get soiled pretty quickly and that’s something you have to look out for when considering this third-gen Amaze.

The feature list is segment standard with things like climate control with rear AC vents, connected car technology, height adjustment for the driver’s seat semi-digital instrument cluster, LED light package and for the top-spec model level-2 ADAS a.k.a Honda Sensing. The ADAS is the Amaze’s USP feature and does give it an advantage over its rivals.

Should you buy the Honda Amaze in this third generation? Yes and No. Yes because it’s a safe bet with segment standard features and a rather well-known powertrain option that’s completed over a decade in India. It’s also a handsome car with decent space for four occupants and its USP feature- Level-2 ADAS is a first in the segment giving it a unique advantage over not just its sedan rivals but also some of the hatchbacks and sub-4 SUVs. Lastly, there is a comprehensive warranty package going up to 10 years making it one of the most extensive in the segment.

On the flip side, working against it is the lack of certain feel-good features like a 360-degree camera, sunroof, ambient lighting and USB-C charging ports at the rear (you do get a 12V socket though). Then there is the big one which is that you don’t have factory-fitted CNG something that most of the car around the Amaze have in at least one variant. It’s only available as a company-approved dealer fitment that’s covered under Honda’s comprehensive warranty programme.

Photography: Kaustubh Gandhi