HONDA AMAZE

Honda has recently launched its new sub compact sedan Amaze with starting price of Rs.8.00 lakh for the base V-Manual variant and it goes up to Rs.10.90 lakh for the top end ZX CVT(automatic) variant. Amaze is always a hot selling model for Honda. Now with this new iteration it looks more beautiful and bold than its old generation models.

From the front the Amaze looks bold with the new updated front grille, which is similar to that in the Honda Elevate. Large air dam is provided. LED headlamps with DRLs are provided, fog lamps are nicely tucked inside the lower bumper looks good. Honda logo is prominently placed on the bonnet. In overall, the car looks bolder and wider from the front.

When come to the sides of the Amaze, you can see the beautiful 15 inch diamond cut alloy wheels. Side rear view mirrors are shifted to the door from the previous version. It has a wheel base of 2400mm, which is same as of the previous generation of the Amaze.

Now come to the back, it is a stylish car like the Honda City. The car is provide with a nice boot. LED tail lamps are provided on the car looks stylish. The car is having a boot capacity of 416 liters which is adequate to accommodate the luggage of a small family. Spare wheel is provided inside the boot. Shark fin antenna and defogger are provided.

The new Amaze comes with a neat interior with good fit and finish. An 8 inch touch screen infotainment system provided on the car comes with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Rear view camera settings are integrated with this system. A driver side information display provided on the car looks very clear. Distance to empty and tyre pressure monitoring systems are provided on this display.

Touch and feel of the steering is good. It is a height adjustable steering wheel with manual adjustment. Cruise control and volume control switches are provided on it. Paddle shifters are also provided in the CVT variants of the Amaze is something great. A 12V charger and two USB type A chargers and a wireless mobile charging pad is provided at the front.

Seat comfort of the car is excellent. Driver seat can be adjusted manually. No arm rest is provided There are storage spaces at the front console. You will get bottle holders on all four doors. The Amaze comes with 6 speaker premium surround sound music system on top variants. Controls of the system is provided on the steering wheel.

It is a nice place to be at the back seat of a sedan and is not different with the Honda Amaze too. The car comes with a nice comfy seat with three seat belts. Rear seat headrests are not adjustable, they are fixed. A central arm rest with two cup holders and two A/c vents are provided. Sufficient head room and leg room are there. Any person up to 6ft can sit comfortably at the rear seat of the Amaze. However, sunroof is not available with the Amaze, but the overall outside visibility is good in the rear seat because of its large windows.

Weight & Dimension

Engine and Transmission.

There is no change in the engine and transmission options. It is the same that we have seen in its previous generation models. Amaze is provided with 1199 cc petrol engine with 5-speed manual and a 7-speed CVT(automatic) transmission options. It produces 90PS power @6000Rpm and 110Nm Torque@4800 Rpm.

The manual variant of the car is a more fun to drive car where as the CVT gives a more comfortable relaxed cruise on highways and a hassle free drive in the city environment. However the paddle shifters provided with the CVT variant give some fun on quick overtakes. Also note that the Amaze is the only car in the segment which is provided with CVT gear box, whereas all other vehicles in this price point are coming with AMT/AGS. Moreover, the car is promising a decent mileage too. Amaze is claiming the mileage of 18.65 km/l for the manual transmission and 19.46 km/l with the CVT transmission. 

Safety

When come to the safety, Amaze comes with some class leading safety features like ADAS Leve 2 safety system. Some of its safety features are providing below.

The car is provided with ADAS features known as Honda SENSING, helps in minimizing the risk of accidents by sensing the environment around the car. This includes

• Lane Keeping Assist System
• Road Departure Mitigation System
• Adaptive Cruise Control
• Collision Mitigation Braking System
• Auto High-beam
• Lead Car Departure Notification System

Regular Safety Features include...

• 6 Airbags, standard across all variants
• TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System)
• Lane Watch Camera
• Multi-Angle Rear Camera with Guidelines
• Hill-Start Assist
• Vehicle Stability Assist
• Rear Parking Sensors
• ABS with EBD
• Emergency Stop Signal
• Seat Belt Reminder (All Seats)
• ISOFIX Anchorage and Tether
• Rain Wipers with Headlight Integration
• Emergency Stop Signal
• Anti-Pinch Window (Driver Side)

Some connected features include..

• Car Location
• Geo-Fence Alert
• Auto Crash Notification
• Drive View Recorder (DVR)
• Stolen Vehicle Tracking
• Unauthorized Access Alert etc...

In conclusion, the Honda Amaze is a nice car with an all-round package. It is a nice car with good safety features and good build quality. Comfortable seats and available in both manual and CVT automatic variants. Moreover, being a Honda customer means, complete peace of mind ownership experience with its quality and affordable aftersales service. Definitely you can consider the Amaze.

Note: All images used in this blog has been taken from Manufacturer's website for a general information.

HONDA ELEVATE

Indian markets are more lean together the SUV market and Honda has elevated its presence with the introduction of its new SUV-Honda Elevate. Price of the base SV variant of the Elevate starts at Rs.11.69 lakh and goes up to Rs.16.43lakh for the top end ZX variant.

Exterior

The Elevate gives a manly look from the front. It is a proper looking SUV with its wide grille and bonnet. LED headlamps and fog lights are provided. A skid plate like element provided under the bumper making it muscular.

The car is provided with 17 inch alloy wheels, whereas the lower variants comes with 16 inch wheels. The 220mm ground clearance is very evident from sides. Silver colored door handles and roof rails are provided. The thick black cladding starting from the front bumper passing through the sides of the car is giving it a bold look from sides.

When coming to the back, the Elevate is coming with a connected LED tail lamps. Rear wiper and high-mounted stop lamps are provided. Thick bumper provided on the Elevate giving it a muscular look from the rear. Rear spoiler and shark fin antenna are available. Elevate is having a boot capacity of 458 Liters, which is sufficient to accommodate the luggage for a week long trip of a small family.

Interior

The Elevate comes with a nice plush interior. Fit and finish of the dashboard is very good. Beautifully designed A/c vents and some wood type elements on the dash board looks premium. Front seats of the car is very comfortable. Driver seat having electrical seat height adjustment.

The car comes with 10.25 inch touch screen infotainment system, which can support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It houses the controls of the 8 speaker music system the car.

Also you will get 7 inch driver information display. The steering wheel of the car is very nice and looks good.  It is tilt adjustable steering wheel with controls of radio-telephony and cruise control.

You will get sufficient storage space inside the Elevate. It has a wide glove box with decent storage space also you will get storage space under the front arm rest. There are storage spaces on the center console. 

Bottle holder are provided on all four doors. Also you will get cup holders on the front center console of the vehicle.

For charging the mobile phones, a wireless mobile phone charger made available in the elevate, apart from this you will get a 12V charger, a USB and a C-type chargers are provided.

When coming to the rear seat of the Elevate, you will get a nice comfortable seat, three people can sit comfortably here. A center arm rest is provided with cup holders on the top variant of the car. Rear A/c vents and a charging socket is provided for the rear seat passengers. Elevate is also provided with a single pane electric sunroof, which makes the cabin roomier. Overall it is a nice interior.

Dimension

• Length : 4312mm
• Overall Width: 1790mm
• Overall Height: 1650mm
• Wheelbase: 2650mm
• Seating Capacity: 05 Persons
• Boot Capacity: 458 Litres
• Turning Radius: 5.2m
• Fuel Tank Capacity: 40Litres
• Kerb-Weight: 1213-1259 kg
• Max. Gross Vehicle Weight: MT: 1650, CVT:1700

Engine and Performance.

The car is provided with a 1498cc petrol engine, churns our 121bhp power and 145 Nm torque. This engine is mated with a 6-speed manual and 7-speed CVT-Automatic gear box with paddle shifters. Honda claiming 15.6 km mileage for the manual and 16.92 km for the automatic variants.

Safety

It is Honda, so no worry about the build quality of the car. The elevate comes with a hoist of active and passive safety systems to protect the occupants and pedestrians. Some of them are given below.

• 6 Airbags
• Hill Start Assist
• ABS with EBD
• Vehicle Stability Assist with Electronic Stability
• Emergency Stop Signal
• Rear Camera
• Rear Parking Sensors
• Rear Wiper and Washer
• Rear Windshield Demister
• Lane Watch Camera
• Honda SENSING-Collision Mitigation Braking System
• Honda SENSING-Adaptive Cruise Control
• Honda SENSING-Lane Keeping Assist System
• Honda SENSING-Lead Car Departure Notification System
• Honda SENSING-Road Departure Mitigation System
• Honda SENSING-Auto High-Beam

In conclusion, the Elevate is a very spacious and a well engineered vehicle from Honda. Being a Honda brand means there will be no issue with the aftersales support and service. It is a nice vehicle for a middle class family. If you are seeking for a vehicle under Rs.20 Lakh from a trusted brand like Honda, then can consider the Elevate.

As always, Drive safe & Happy Driving. 

Note: All images used in this blog has been taken from Manufacturer's website for presentation purpose

Honda City

Honda has launched its updated city this year. The new City is now equipped with ADAS level 2 features. It is available in automatic and manual variants. Price of the base model SV starts at Rs. 11.55 Lakh and goes up to Rs.14.72 Lakh (Ex.Showroom) for the range toping ZX model.

As always the City was an eye-catching vehicle since its introduction into the market and is not different with this update. It is a beautiful car from all sides. LED DRLs and headlamps along with the updated grille and bumper designs are elevating its beauty from front.

When come to sides, you can see beautifully designed 16inch alloy wheels of the car. ORVMs with turn indicators are provided. It is a long car from sides and you can feel that 2600 mm wheelbase of the City from these sides. 

At the back you can see a well designed boot lid with a spoiler like projection on it.

Updated LED tail lamps are perfectly synchronised with the overall design of the boot lid . Apart from this, a thick chrome element, Honda logo and i-V-TEC badging are provided on the boot lid making it stylish from rear.

The City is provided with a spacious and practical boot space. It has 506 liters of cargo volume, which is very practical for a family car.

As always City is well known for its luxurious interior. The car comes with a very well cabin with luxurious seats. It has a very spacious cabin, the newly added single pane sunroof is making the cabin more brighter and premium. The car is provided with lot of storage spaces. An arm rest with a storage space is provided at the driver seat. An arm rest with two cup holders are available on the rear seat.

Also there are storage pockets available on the back of the front seats. Bottle holders are available on all four doors. Rear A/c vents and charging points are also provided for the back passengers. In short, the City is promising a luxurious ride to its occupants with its spacious and luxurious cabin with all other amenities.

The new City comes with a very nice and good looking dashboard with an 8 inch touch screen infotainment system. It can support Android Auto and Apple Carplay. Reverse parking camera, connected features and music system are integrated with this system. 

At the driver side you will get a nice 7 inch TFT display, which is very sharp with clear fonts. The steering wheel of the car having manual adjustment for tilt and reach positions. Paddle shifters, cruise control and audio control buttons are provided on the steering wheel. Mobile charging points and a wireless mobile charger are provided at the front console.

The new City is provided with an 8 speaker surround sound system. The car is provided with a connected feature called Honda Connect, it is India's first connected car with Alexa Remote Capability.

This connected feature is helpful in many ways. With this you can control many functions like remotely start the car, tun A/c on or off, control A/c temperature, door lock/unlock, check fuel status, tire status, battery health, remote boot opening etc.

Engine and Performance

The new Honda City is provided with a 1.5 litre naturally aspirated petrol engine, produces 121PS power and 145Nm torque. The car is available with a 6 speed manual or a CVT automatic gear box options. The Engine responds well with both transmission options. 

Important Figures

• Engine Displacement: 1498CC
• Max. Power: 121PS @ 6600RPM
• Max.Torque: 145Nm@4300RPM
• Fuel Efficiency (KM): 17.8(MT), 18.4(CVT)
• Transmission : 6 Speed Manual & CVT
• Length: 4574mm(SV,V,VX), 4583mm(ZX)
• Width: 1748mm
• Height: 1489mm
• Wheelbase: 2600mm
• Fuel Tank Capacity: 40 Liters
• Seating Capacity: 5 
• Boot Space: 506 Liters
• Turning Circle Radius: 5.3 meter

Safety

When comes to safety, this new city comes with tonnes of safety feature. It is a 5 star rated car in the ASEAN NCAP crash test. The City is equipped with six airbags. Moreover it comes with several ADAS functions called Honda Sensing and connected safety features called Honda Connect too. Some safety features are...

• Auto dimming rear view mirror
• Rain sensing wiper
• Tire Deflation Alert
• Live car location
• Time Fence Alert
• Collision Mitigation Braking System
• Road Departure Mitigation System
• Adaptive Cruise Control
• Lead Car Departure Notification
• Lane Keeping Assist
• Blind spot monitoring
• Auto-Dimming Headlamps
• Vehicle Stability Assist
• Hill Hold Assist
• Emergency stop signal
• Rear view camera with guidelines
• Rear Parking Sensors
• ABS with EBD
• Agile Handling Assist

The new Honda City is a nice well engineered  car. It is a mix of luxury, style, sportiness and safety. Definitely you can consider this sedan if you are in search of a vehicle of its price band.

As always, Drive safe & Happy Driving.

Note: All images used in this blog has been taken from Manufacturer's website for presentation purpose.

Honda City-Hybrid

Honda City e:HEV

              

HONDA CITY requires no introduction in Indian auto world. The combination of  classy look and its silky smooth i-VTEC  engine are the major attraction of this car. Now this beautiful sedan is also available in Hybrid version with a slightly different name-Honda City e:HEV.

EXTERIOR

It looks like the regular Honda City. A blue shade around the Honda badge is provided in this Hybrid version. There is an e:HEV badge is provided at the back. It has beautiful 9-slot LED headlights and L shaped turn indicators. Fog lamps are well placed inside the black cladding on the bumper.With all these the car looks beautiful as always from the front.

From the sides we can see 16"alloy wheels and body coloured side rear-view mirrors with turn indicators. Lane departure system camera is placed under the left rear-view mirror. Door handles are chrome finished.

At the back, the tail lamps looks beautiful. There is an integrated spoiler on the boot door. A black skid plate is provided under the bumper makes it different than the regular City.

Due to the battery pack, this car's boot space is reduced to 310 litres, but it is sufficient for a normal family trip. There is a  shark-finn antenna at the top as in the regular City. All these features makes this car beautiful and elegant from outside.

INTERIOR

As usual this City is also comes with typical classy Honda interior. This car having a very spacious cabin. It can accommodate 5 people comfortably. Both front and back seats are excellent and well cushioned. These seats provide good comfort and having very good thigh support. Driver seat height can be adjusted manually. Back seat headrests are integrated but it is sufficient for the safe and comfortable journey.

Comfort and storage spaces

At the centre of the dash board we can see a nice 8" touch screen infotainment system with 8 speaker surround sound. Lane departure system camera is also integrated with this infotainment system.

Honda's new Honda Connect connectivity features are also integrated with the infotainment system. This system can be paired with smart watch and thereby we can remotely operate the car like- lock/unlock, make A/c ON/OFF etc. The regular parking brake is replaced with new electronic parking brake in this car. As storage, we can find 2 cup-holders at the front of the gear lever. Bottle holders are provided on all four doors. Charging sockets are provided at the front. A/c vents are provided for back passengers.There are 2 power sockets are also provided for back passengers,which is placed under the back A/c vents. 

A nice 7" TFT screen is provided at the driver side looks very beautiful. This screen provides various drive related informations like energy flow,re-generative braking functions etc. on the go to the driver.

DRIVABILITY

The new city is coming with a beautiful steering wheel.Cruise control and wireless telephony switches are placed on it. The car comes with paddle shifters for an enthusiastic drive. As it is a Hybrid vehicle it comes with 1.5 liter petrol engine 2 electric motors which produces a combined power output of 126 BHP. It has 3 electronic drive modes-

• EV Drive mode
• Hybrid mode &
• Engine Drive mode

All the modes are selected automatically by the vehicle itself by assessing the driving characteristics. It has a self-charging 172.8 Volt Lithium-ion battery pack. The car can run purely on EV mode up to the speed of 40km/h, then between 40km/h to 80km/h it runs on Hybrid mode and after 80km/h the petrol engine will take the charge for those performance oriented drives.

The new e:HEV City has a claimed mileage of 26.5km/l. It is an excellent figure for a 4.5 meter sedan.

SAFETY

It comes with various safety features. The car have ADAS-2 features also. Some of the safety features are:

• 6 Airbags
• Collision mitigation braking system
• Road departure mitigation system
• Auto high beam
• Tyre pressure monitoring system
• Auto-Dimming IRVM
• Lane watch camera
• Rear view camera
• Hill-hold assist
• Vehicle-stebility assist,and may more...

For more details you can check all the features from Hondaindia website.

With all these latest technology and advanced safety systems and good mileage it costs Rs.19.50 lakh ex-showroom. As it is a Hybrid, it is a good choice for that long distance journeys without any range anxiety of a pure EV.

If you want to know about one of its perfect competitor then click here to know about the VW Virtus GT Plus. and check the Skoda Slavia.

Be safe Drive safe.

Note: All images shown in this blog have been taken from Hondacarindia website for presentation purpose only.