Honda Amaze Review: Still One of the Best Sedans Under ₹10 Lakh?

Honda Amaze Review: Buyers, when planning for a new car under ₹10 lakh, have various options available to choose from. You have premium hatchbacks, sub-4m compact SUVs, and you also get entry-level sedans in this price range. Though the sub-4m compact SUVs and the premium hatchback segment are mostly opted for among new car buyers, you have some decent options in the sedan segment as well. Some of the popular choices available are the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Hyundai Aura, Tata Tigor, and Honda Amaze.

Honda Cars India first launched the Amaze in 2013, and currently, it is offered in its third generation. It has bold exteriors, decent features, and is the most affordable car to come with Level-2 ADAS and has scored a five-star safety rating in the Bharat NCAP. However, it continues to come with a 1.2L petrol engine.

Recently, we drove the Honda Amaze in the city and on highways and tested out its comfort, features, and other parameters. Here are our thoughts on whether you should consider the Honda Amaze or not:

What’s Good

Comfort

The Honda Amaze offers a comfortable cabin space. The front seats have good space, and the cabin has decent width, and the shoulders don’t rub with the co-passenger’s shoulder. Since Honda offers the cabin with beige upholstery, it has a sense of airiness and space.

The rear seats in the Amaze offer a comfortable experience and have good space on offer. There is ample knee and leg room, and the rear centre armrest enhances the overall comfort. For tall passengers, the headroom may be less, but overall, it is a pleasant space to be in. For added comfort, you get rear AC vents and charging ports, thus elevating the comfort levels.

The ride quality of the Amaze is comfortable and plush in city traffic conditions. The suspension is tuned on the softer side, and it helps in providing a comfy ride at slow speeds. However, on triple-digit speeds, the ride becomes very bouncy, and especially on expansion joints, the vertical movement is present.

Features

With the third generation of the Amaze, Honda offered more features in the sedan, and thus added some segment-first features as well. Some of the features include a blind-spot camera, a reverse parking camera with parking sensors, and others.

It gets an 8-inch infotainment system with wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 7-inch semi-digital instrument cluster, and a similar layout to other Honda cars in the lineup. The infotainment system is slick to use and has a responsive touch. However, for music lovers, it offers decent music output. 

If you want a better sound quality, you may wish to get it upgraded after-market. One thing that we liked about the Amaze is its reverse parking camera quality. The camera was clear at night, and it offered a better display compared to other sedans in its segment.

Safety Features

The Honda Amaze is a safe sedan in its segment. Some of the key safety features in the Amaze are Level-2 ADAS, six airbags, ABS with EBD, traction control, and others. 

We enjoyed using its ADAS features. It comes with a blind spot camera, adaptive cruise control, adaptive lane keep assist, driver attention warning, and others. The ADAS features worked effortlessly and helped us in dense fog situations. Moreover, as we have mentioned earlier, the Amaze has scored a five-star safety rating in the Bharat NCAP.

Engine Performance

The Honda Amaze comes equipped with a 1.2L naturally aspirated inline four-cylinder petrol engine, which makes 89 bhp and 113 Nm of torque, paired with a five-speed manual or a CVT gearbox.

The performance of the engine is decent in its segment and has a smooth output. The gearshifts are slick to use, and the clutch has a minimal biting point, giving you a relaxed driving feel. Though it is not punchy, the gearing is tall and has true Japanese characteristics. Despite Honda mentions iVtec badge at the rear and on the engine block, it misses out on the true Vtec power and the kick which is present in the City.

What’s Bad

Fuel Efficiency

Since the Honda Amaze has a 1.2L NA petrol engine, it has decent fuel efficiency. As per ARAI, it has a claimed fuel efficiency of 18.65km/L. 

Though the fuel efficiency varies on your driving style, during our drive experience, we got a real-world fuel efficiency of 13.4 km/L in mixed driving conditions.

Features

Though Honda has added multiple safety and comfort features in the Amaze, it still misses out on some features that could have been offered in it. 

For starters, it misses out on a sunroof, front ventilated seats, a 360-degree parking camera, and some other important features, which could be a deal-breaker to some buyers.

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Design

The design of the new Honda Amaze is polarising and has a mixed vibe of Elevate and City. The front design has a black grille with a chrome bar on the top, LED projector headlamps, which have a good throw at night, and LED foglamps placed lower down on the bumper.

Coming to the side, since it is a sub-4m compact sedan, it is the longest in its segment. It runs on 16-inch alloy wheels, and the chrome door handles enhance the overall premiumness.

At the rear, the Honda Amaze has a similar design of the LED tail lamps to the City. For once, you may even get confused whether it is the City or the Amaze. Though it comes with LED tail lamps, Honda has cut corners by offering halogen units for the reverse lamps and indicators, which could have been LED units to make it look more premium in the segment.

What is the price of the Honda Amaze?

The price of the Honda Amaze starts at ₹8.54 lakh (on-road, Noida) for the base variant and it goes to ₹11.32 lakh (on-road, Noida) for the top-spec variant. However, the price of the top-spec manual variant is ₹10.51 lakh (on-road, Noida).

Conclusion

Now the main concern is -- should you consider the Honda Amaze in its segment or not? Our answer is Yes. Though the exteriors of the Amaze are similar to bigger Honda Cars in the lineup, and have a good headlight throw at night, the interior comes with a premium appearance. However, it misses out on some key features, which could be a deal breaker for some buyers at its price. Moreover, the Honda Amaze has a smooth engine with tall gearing, and the clutch bite is decent and easy to adapt to. The ride quality is comfortable, but Honda could have tuned the suspension better for more interior comfort.

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