What is it?
Honda's first compact saloon, powered by its first diesel engine.
Price from: $10, 000 (P), $13, 000 (D)
(estimated, ex-showroom, Delhi)
0-100kph:13.27sec (P), 15.81sec (P A/T),
12.38sec (D)
The Amaze is a landmark car for Honda in
India. The company’s first compact saloon and first diesel car rolled into one.
This is a car that, even just on paper, has massive appeal. This is also a car
Honda just has to get right. The question is, have they done it?
The
Amaze is a landmark car for Honda in India.
The design and engineering of the car is
clearly up there with Honda’s highest standards. Built around the same
mechanical bits as the successful Brio hatchback, the new Amaze is also nothing
less than a custom-made car for India. Engineered to be less than four meters
long so as to allow it to be classified as a small car, the Amaze is also
powered by a set of engines that allow it to avail of the excise (tax on
manufacturing) sops handed out to small cars. Its petrol engine is smaller than
1200cc and the diesel displaces less than 1500cc. So the Amaze satisfies all
the necessary conditions, meaning Honda pays less excise and you end up spending
less on the car too.
Diesel
engine tuned to driving style
What sets this sub-four-meter car apart
from the rest is the cohesiveness of the design. Unlike the Maruti Dzire, which
is the best seller in this class, the Amaze does not look severely truncated or
chopped from the rear. The lines of the car flow smoothly over the Brio’s nose,
onto the elongated roof and down over what is a very traditional looking boot.
One of the Honda’s greatest strengths in fact is that it looks absolutely
normal; you just can’t tell that this is a sub-four-meter saloon. And the
reason it doesn’t look like an afterthought is because it isn’t one. Honda
planned this Brio-based saloon from day one, and it shows. In fact it looks
positively attractive, with the two slashes across the side of the car and the
nicely styled tail-lights. What allows the Amaze to keep this regular saloon
profile is the fact that, unlike the Swift Dzire, it has a very short and
compact nose. If only Honda had the budget to change the styling of the nose,
this car would have been all but unrecognizable.
So
the Amaze satisfies all the necessary conditions, meaning Honda pays less
excise and you end up spending less on the car too.
Where Honda has spent money is in
lengthening the wheelbase. More space between the wheels, of course, means
greater space inside the cabin, and in this area the Amaze is an absolute
delight. You can easily fit four large adults inside, with enough head-,
shoulder- and legroom for all. The fifth passenger, sat in the middle on the
rear bench, has less shoulder room, but the seat is still useable for short
journeys. There’s not as much thigh support as we would have liked at the back,
but otherwise comfort is really good. The front seats are similar to those on
the Brio, and though they are slender, they are comfortable on long journeys as
well. The driver of the Amaze gets seat height adjustment (not available on the
Brio)and rear-seat passengers get a new fold-away elbow rest as well.
The
dashboard, however, looks similar to that of the Brio, and while this works
well on the hatchback, it does look a bit low-spec here.
The dashboard, however, looks similar to
that of the Brio, and while this works well on the hatchback, it does look a
bit low-spec here. Quality isn’t really the issue – the plastics are pretty
good and there’s no issue with functionality either, it’s just the design
that’s a bit ordinary. The vents, center console and instrument panel don’t
‘line up’ in the traditional sense and then there are plenty of odd looking
bits, like the joint of the glove box that stands out like an upturned lip. The
reason Honda has gone for a dash like this is packaging and space efficiency.
This compact dashboard has been packed as tightly as possible to the front of
the cabin and, as a result, takes up less space than a traditional one. This,
combined with the slender seats, means there is more space for passengers.
Compared to the Brio, the Amaze gets longer rear armrests and additional door
pockets (that can hold one-liter bottles) for rear-seat passengers, the rear
speakers have been moved to the parcel tray and the rear seat cushioning is
thicker too. Otherwise the audio system, sans CD player, the manual air-con
control and three-spoke steering wheel remain the same. Also, importantly, this
car has a real boot which, at 400 liters, is pretty huge. It looks like it can
easily swallow more than a couple of pieces of full-size luggage.
