Upped the ante

The Honda Amaze has always been a dark horse, punching well above its weight in the sub-four-metre sedan space and challenging the status quo more often than its rivals would agree. Constant updates kept the Amaze fresh and ensured that even with the ever-increasing competition from SUVs, the car didn’t become irrelevant. The latest iteration of the Amaze follows the same ideology but makes prominent progress in terms of safety and design. We take the new Honda Amaze out for a drive to understand what it has to offer to the potential buyer, especially as the most affordable car to get ADAS (which is short for Advanced Driver Assistance System).

Styling refresh

Starting with its looks, away from the launch event’s stage, out in the real world, the Amaze retains its familiar profile but has undergone a thorough styling refresh. It’s slightly wider (by 38 mm) than before, which lends it a more confident stance. Its ground clearance has also been increased to 172 mm, which should prove helpful in everyday use. Its fresh appeal comes courtesy of the new Elevate-like front-end styling, which gives the car an imposing character. The new bumper, grille, and LED lights with DRLs make the Amaze look more sophisticated than before, bringing it closer to other new Hondas.

The cabin follows a dual-tone theme, the steering wheel is new, and there’s a new freestanding touchscreen infotainment system

At the rear, its City-like treatment for the taillights is noteworthy, too. Having said that, it’s not exactly a mini-me, since there’s still some scope for inclusion of sharp design elements, I feel. We might have come quite far with compact sedans, especially with cars like the Amaze and the recently launched Dzire, but with the limited overall length, the boot still feels abrupt from certain angles.

Large boot

Talking of the boot, this is where the Amaze presents an excellent case for itself. A 416-litre boot ensures that long weekend getaways won’t be an issue for the Amaze. The profile hasn’t changed, but with the new design at the front and rear, a more confident stance, and handsome wheels, the Amaze certainly leaves a more lasting impression than it did earlier.

The increase in width must have opened up some more space inside, too. Although space was never a concern for the Amaze, the earliest iterations fell a little short on appeal. The new Amaze faces no such issues. The cabin follows a dual-tone theme, the steering wheel is new, and there’s a new freestanding touchscreen infotainment system. There’s also wireless connectivity for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with wireless charging and physical buttons for both AC and media controls.

Honda hasn’t skipped adding rear AC vents, either. The overall quality is what you expect from a typical Honda cabin at this price point: reassuringly solid but not the most premium feeling. The seats are comfortable, and the rear passengers won’t complain about legroom or headroom on journeys both short and long. The absence of a sunroof might not look good when comparing Amaze to its rivals, but on the bright side, there’s an abundance of headroom. I would have also liked the screen to be slightly bigger, the front seats to offer better under-thigh support, and the plastics to feel a touch better, especially for the Amaze to outclass its rivals.

ADAS feature

The feature that stands out the most with the new Amaze has to be the newly included ADAS. Honda hasn’t just made the Amaze more appealing but also pretty much set the benchmark in the segment. The Amaze was previously commended for its decent crash-worthiness, and getting safety focussed features like adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking at this price point is big news in the segment. This is in addition to ABS with EBD, six airbags, reverse-parking camera and parking sensors.

At the rear, its City-like treatment for the taillights is noteworthy

The Amaze continues to be based on the same platform as before, and the same can be said about the engine. The trusted 1.2-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine makes 89 bhp and 11.21 kg-m. You can spec it with either a 5-speed manual gearbox or a more sophisticated CVT, both of which we sampled during our test drive of the car. We’ll start with the manual first.

The four-cylinder engine is smooth and responsive — unsurprising given it’s a Honda — but it needs to be revved to extract more useable performance. This does hamper the overall silence in the cabin. The manual gearbox isn’t a problem to use but like the engine, you’ll need to work through the gears to make the most of the power this setup offers. The CVT automatic, on the other hand, felt like a more natural choice thanks to its near-seamless ‘shifts’ and the overall ease of use. It seemed pleasant to use, especially in stop-go traffic, but not without the typical rubber-band effect that the transmission of this type tends to suffer from.

As is evident from the powertrain, the Amaze isn’t focussed on outright performance. The ride is tuned to offer more comfort, so naturally, the suspension absorbs bumps and imperfections without any issues. On the flip side, this tends to make the car exhibit some body roll and over uneven roads, the car tends to feel bouncy. Not for the enthusiast, then, but if you want an overall comfortable ride and don’t want sporty dynamics, the Amaze makes a lot of sense. In addition to that is the car’s claimed fuel economy of 19.4 km/l. This has the potential to be the commuter car of choice because even in our varied test conditions and heavy throttle use, the Amaze returned around 15 km/l. That figure is bound to improve with a more conservative use of throttle, although we can only confirm that when we have the car with us for a little longer.

The new Amaze feels more rounded than ever. At ₹7.99 lakh, ex-showroom, onwards, it offers excellent value for money without alienating its core buyer. It’s certainly not the car of choice for those who want a focussed sedan with dollops of performance or for enthusiasts who want the latest and greatest features in their car. For anyone who’s after a comfortable everyday sedan that doesn’t compromise on the basics, the Amaze is still very much an unmissable product.

With the inclusion of ADAS in a compact sedan, Honda has made a valid statement that safety tech doesn’t have to be limited to high-end vehicles only. Of course, it’ll be great to see Honda educate its buyers on the tech not just to ensure they aren’t taken by surprise but also to tell them how the Amaze is better than its rivals. Because, despite its shortcomings, it gets many things spot-on.