New Honda Amaze First Drive review: Next generation or facelift?

Honda may be the last major carmaker in India to enter the compact SUV segment with the Elevate. They’ve launched a very impressive product, but their late entry means they’ve lost much of the market share to rival brands that have been in the compact SUV market for almost a decade. The subcompact sedan segment, on the other hand, tells a different story. The Honda Amaze has been around for a while now and is doing quite well. It is the company’s best-selling model and has helped drive steady sales for Honda Cars India. The problem now is that the growing trend of SUVs, outside of commercial (taxi) sales, is pulling compact car buyers away from sedans and toward taller, more rugged-looking models. That’s probably why we don’t see many updates in the compact sedan category. Thankfully, after the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, the Honda Amaze finally gets a major update. The company calls it the next (third) all-new model, but before we drove the new Amaze, we were a little skeptical. Let’s take a look at what exactly has changed and see if it’s all new or just a facelift.

Also read: New Honda Amaze Basic, Signature and Utility Pack explained: What’s the difference

Best-looking subcompact sedan?

First and foremost, the new Amaze (which the company calls the third generation) is based on the outgoing second-generation model with some additional structural reinforcements. The wheelbase remains unchanged and the car’s side profile looks almost identical to its predecessor. The only noticeable changes are at the front and rear. The wheels have been updated to a mechanical design, but this doesn’t significantly change the overall side appearance of the car. The most substantial exterior changes are evident at the front and rear of the new Amaze.

The front has been completely redesigned, inspired by the Elevate. Features such as the flat-design mesh front grille and headlight clusters show clear SUV influence. Additionally, a revised bumper accommodates these changes and includes redesigned fog light housings. Moving to the rear, you might be surprised to see how similar it is to the Honda City, especially with the new 3D LED taillight cluster. In fact, if you drove behind the new Amaze at night, you could easily mistake it for the City. The tail design is kept clean and neat, with no superfluous elements.

Overall, while the third-generation Honda Amaze is similar to the second-generation model, it combines the front styling of the Elevate with the rear appearance of the City. Despite its limited appeal in the subcompact sedan segment, it’s still arguably India’s best-looking option, offering the right kind of three-box design that truly defines a sedan.

A better internal experience?

When you step into the new Honda Amaze, you may not immediately notice the changes as the cabin layout looks familiar. However, there are still quite a few updates, such as a newly designed dashboard with an 8-inch floating touchscreen infotainment system. This setup fully supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which is pretty cool. Just below that, you get the HVAC controls from the Elevate, and it’s nice that everything has proper physical buttons, especially the infotainment shortcuts.

I really like this because it means I don’t have to take my eyes off the road while driving. The dashboard design also gets a new look, with a stylish two-tone look and aluminum strips that add a nice touch. While the beige part may feel soft to the touch, it’s actually hard plastic. The cabin is mostly made of hard plastics, but overall looks and feels good. The flimsy center console was a big annoyance in older versions of the Amaze, but that’s been fixed in the new version. The touchscreen works well and easily connects to your smart devices via Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Plus, the interface is simple and user-friendly. For charging devices, the Amaze has two USB ports on the front, a 12V socket on the front and back, and a handy wireless charging pad. A nice feature of the charging pad is that you can turn it off using a dedicated button. It would be great if Honda offers a Type-C port as well, since most new smartphones use Type-C cables these days.

The steering wheel looks like it’s from a Honda City, but doesn’t have that leatherette feel. Still, it feels very city-like with infotainment controls, ADAS features, and information displays on the new dashboard. The instrument panel has a 7-inch TFT display that displays all important information, as well as a traditional speed needle. The seats have been revamped a bit to offer better support, but the cushioning and fabric remain the same as before, even in higher trims. However, they are comfortable. Space management remains a highlight of the Honda Amaze and the new model is the icing on the cake. It’s slightly wider, providing extra room for rear-seat passengers and more trunk space.

Space is never an issue with the Amaze; it can easily accommodate four adults and up to five medium-sized suitcases. You might be wondering why accommodating a fifth person is a problem, and that’s because the Amaze finally comes with the much-needed rear AC vents. However, those center-mounted air vents will make legroom a bit tight for those sitting in the middle back. On the bright side, the cabin now cools faster and better than before, which is a plus.

Is there any difference in driving?

Driving the third-generation Honda Amaze isn’t entirely different from the outgoing version, especially in terms of ergonomics. However, this wasn’t even an issue in previous iterations. Steering wheel, driver’s seat and foot pedals, everything snaps back into place immediately, giving you a comfortable driving position. Powertrain-wise, the same 1.2-litre four-cylinder i-VTEC petrol engine is the only option, and comes with the same 5-speed manual and CVT automatic gearbox options across all three trim levels. The upside though is that this four-cylinder configuration is slightly more refined, while most other brands have moved to more economical three-cylinder configurations. However, we expected Honda to add more power to this drivetrain, but it was disappointing. It continues to deliver around 89 horsepower and 110Nm of torque. Now, the power output here is adequate for this setup, but the torque could be improved. Honda says they made some changes to the engine and gearbox tuning, but we didn’t really feel it. The engine still sounds tense whenever you press the accelerator pedal hard, but you feel less tense inside the cabin, likely due to the stiffening of the structure. Honda may also have redesigned the Amaze’s insulation, which also filters engine noise and road roughness from the cabin more and provides a slightly quieter ride than before.

Speaking of gearboxes, we drove the CVT version of the new Honda Amaze. Now, this is probably the only car in the market with a smoother CVT gearbox while most of the competition has moved to AMT, and there are also paddle shifters whenever you need to manually downshift for overtaking or engine braking. brought fun.

One of my expectations for the new Amaze is a better suspension setup. However, the feeling is almost the same as before. The car’s softer setting swallows up all road undulations without any hiccups at low speeds, but highway stability after high-speed damping and triple-digit speeds remains questionable. Maybe that’s another reason why Honda doesn’t even offer any more powerful drivetrain options. Honestly, this setup is almost perfect for your daily city commutes as well as the occasional weekend excursions, especially considering the enhanced safety suite of the new Honda Amaze.

India’s most affordable ADAS car

Honda has demonstrated their commitment to safety by using 45% high-strength steel to strengthen the Amaze’s structure. The vehicle comes with a host of safety features including six airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, rear parking sensors, hill start assist, Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with electronic stability control, traction control and ISOFIX compatible rear seats. Additionally, seat belts and head restraints are available for all five passengers starting with the base V grade. Mid-level VX grades add a rearview camera and a lane monitoring system that provides a view of side lanes on the infotainment screen when the turn signals are activated. This feature is particularly useful as it helps minimize blind spots when changing lanes or directions.

The prominent feature of the new Amaze is the top-end ZX trim, with prices starting at Rs 9.67 lakh (ex-showroom) for the manual transmission model. It is now the most affordable car in India to offer the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) package. It includes Honda Sensing technology, which previously performed well in tests of the Elevate SUV. This camera-based system includes features such as collision mitigation braking, road departure mitigation, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, lead departure notification and automatic high beams. While these features enhance safety when moving forward, ADAS does not support reverse driving.

This is the first time that a manufacturer has introduced Level 2 ADAS suite in a car priced under Rs 10 lakh, which is a major milestone. Overall, these features make the Amaze a safer choice compared to many other options on the market. In fact, the Elevate, which uses the same Honda Sensing technology, was one of the top performers in our recent Mega ADAS tests.

Next generation or facelift?

While the platform and drivetrain remain the same, we can’t really classify it as a next-gen version. However, a host of updates inside and out, as well as the addition of new features, suggest it’s more than just a simple facelift. As mentioned earlier, it’s arguably the best-looking car in its class. It looks like Honda decided not to offer a base version this time around.

Also read: Large ADAS comparison test: Curvv EV, Seltos, Elevate, Verna, Astor, XUV700, XC40 Recharge

However, sales patterns indicate that most customers opt for mid-range or top-tier models. With these variants, Honda has equipped the new Amaze with various features right from the start. Although it lacks certain luxury features like a sunroof or automatic IRVM, it includes all the essentials and offers enhanced safety. Therefore, the Honda Amaze represents excellent value for money.