The City has been a very big and popular nameplate in India, but it has been the Amaze that fetches the numbers for Honda Cars India since 2013. I never really liked the Brio-based first-generation Amaze much, but it was a decent tool for city commuting. However, the Japanese automaker eliminated several issues in the second-gen model, which was introduced in 2018. It then received some feature updates later as well. While cosmetic changes were not noticeable, it welcomed features like automatic projector headlamps, auto climate control and cruise control. But does this 6-year-old model still make a case for a decent sub-compact sedan? I drove the facelifted Honda Amaze for a few months to find out.
Compared to the first-gen model, Honda has given the Amaze a good makeover on the front. There is a nice big chrome that runs in the grille section and the biggest change is in the form of the LED headlamps. The tail lamps also get a nice C-shaped LED treatment, but this adds to the repair cost as well. The overall design looks balanced and mundane, which is not a bad thing at all. It is not a looker, but as of now, the Amaze is possibly the best-looking sub-compact sedan in the Indian market.
The story is kind of the same inside as well. The cabin is simple, and the instrument panel is not a big gimmicky digital affair. It gets analog instrument cluster with two big dials and a small TFT display in the middle for additional details. Then you will see the digital element that is the infotainment screen. Measuring 7 inches diagonally, this one is not the biggest out there. The system is also not the most intuitive and responsive one, and it requires too much attention to enter menus on the screen before you get used to it. The viewing angle could also have been a little better because at some angles it catches the sunlight, and you can’t see it very clearly.
In terms of features Honda has been lacking in the past and it’s still not at the level of the rivals. You do get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay but it’s all wired so you don’t have a wireless system over here. That is also not a big concern for me, but what is disappointing is to see that there is no AC vent at the rear which is just very strange. The AC works fine though, it’s powerful and lowers the cabin temperature quickly. So, the effectiveness is great but then the people sitting at the back are going to of course feel that delay in cooling. The seats are designed well, just could’ve been better with denser foam. The space, however, is amazing, and 420 litres of boot space is impressive.
In terms of handling, the front-end sticks nicely. It is not the most darting chassis, but it’s something you can play around with. The steering feels a little odd because it has a sense of stickiness to it, off centre it’s not the best but you live with it, and you start getting adjusted to the way it behaves. It’s not even the most direct but it does change directions all right, but his segment itself is made of cars that you can’t play with,
The Amaze that I was driving has a 1.2-litre, four-cylinder, petrol engine, that makes 88.5 horsepower, but those horses come north in leverage, and you have to rev out the engine to the max for the peak performance. The engine redlines somewhere around 6,000rpm and it’s only after 4,000rpm you would feel the engine waking up. You’re not going to complain about it, but that’s just weird because most of the time people are just going to drive it very calmly.
The automatic version of the Honda Amaze comes with a CVT, but I was driving it with the five-speed manual. While the shifting is seamless, you can feel some vibrations on the gear knob in the second gear which aggravates as you shift to the third. It’s for this petrol engine, the clutch feels a bit heavy, but that’s just nitpicking. Overall, the engine’s okay, not the most in sync with your throttle inputs but something you will live with, and it goes in the favor of efficiency. I managed to get a combined fuel economy of about 15 kilometres to a litre.
In terms of safety, the Made-in-India Amaze scores four out of five stars in crash testing, but the features list is not all that impressive. It doesn’t offer more than two airbags even as an option and stability control is missing too. In terms of the way it drives, it’s acceptable. The quality is okay, and it gets all the necessary features as well. Costing between INR 0.8 and 1.1 million (on-road), it can be a worthy and fairly faultless companion to you. If you want a car for a nuclear family with a decent amount of space, the Amaze does the job just fine.