Honda Amaze excels in comfort and practicality

The Honda Amaze is the perfect embodiment of what an economical, reliable and affordable car should be according to our Indian conditions.
Being such an important and high volume car for Honda, the company decided to give the car a mid-life facelift as well as some feature additions for 2017.
The experts at MotorBeam decided to induct the car in their long-term fleet in order to see what the new updates bring to the table in the sub 4-metre sedan warzone.

The Honda Amaze has everything going for it - the badge, the performance, the comfort and a competitive price tag.

But still many would argue that the sub 4-metre Honda sedan lacked certain panache, as it looked a little wonky from both inside and outside.

Thus given the circumstances of dwindling sales, increased competition, and a booming economy, Honda finally decided to facelift the Amaze.

Talking about the exteriors, the Honda Amaze is still one of the rare cars which look like a proper sedan, albeit a bit small in scale.

Thanks to its sharp creases and lines, the Amaze looks proportionate from most angles but the side profile still looks like it’s made using a Katana sword.

Changes for 2017 bring a revised bumper and grille while at the rear you get tweaked tail-lights.

The new front fascia makes the Amaze look very mature and thankfully different than its hatchback twin.

The dashboard also gets a new design, now inspired by its bigger sibling the City but at the same time lacks the flair of a modern dashboard, mainly due to a bland looking button-fest.

The quality of materials on the inside isn't the best out there but is okay for this price point.

Where the Amaze really excels is comfort and practicality. The front seats are large in size and the cushioning is on the softer side. The driving position is excellent.

The number of storage spaces and cubby holes in the cabin is just brilliant. There is more than enough space to keep all your things from flying.

However, there are some sour grapes which are present like the equipment list.

The audio system is a very basic unit and we struggled to find the Bluetooth pairing option.

The sound quality from the speakers is just so-so. Some other nice-to-have bits missing on the Honda Amaze are push button start, request sensor on the front doors and reverse parking sensors.

The ORVMs are electrically adjustable but they don't shut when you lock the car automatically. The boot has a capacity of 400-litres but is very well-shaped and can carry lots of cargo.

Our test car comes with the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine (100 PS and 200 Nm) which is mated to a 5-speed gearbox, the motor is really noisy all the time and it gets annoying unless you turn up the music volume to mask the clatter.

The engine has excellent drivability and the low-end is decent while the mid-range feels extremely punchy.

Post 1800 RPM, the Amaze accelerates very quickly till 3700 RPM or so. Fuel efficiency is splendid and we managed almost 22 km/l.

The Amaze has a brilliant chassis and that's what makes the car so much fun to drive.

The steering is light at city speeds and weighs up decently on the highways while offering excellent feel and feedback.

That coupled to the sorted suspension set-up makes the Amaze very chuckable around corners.

The suspension gobbles up potholes and provides a smooth ride, with the vehicle staying planted most of the times.

The brakes are average and while they feel sharp at low speeds, high-speed braking isn't confidence inspiring.

Even the tyres are just about average but these have been plonked in the Amaze in the interest of fuel efficiency.

The Amaze is reasonably priced and has many things going for it.

It might not be a hot-seller but it has definitely got a lot of sales for Honda and it even used to be the second highest selling car in its segment for many months.

There are definitely some flaws but most of them won't be deal-breakers for anyone.

Mated to Honda's well-spread service network, the Amaze does make a strong case for itself.

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