Honda Cars India has launched the new Amaze subcompact sedan with prices starting from Rs 8.00 lakh (ex-showroom). Now entering its third generation, the Amaze borrows design cues from its larger siblings inside and out and packs in much more tech than before including advanced driver assistance systems - a segment first. The new Amaze is offered in a choice of three variants and comes with a 1.2-litre petrol engine as standard. Full prices are as follows:
Prices are introductory and valid for the first 45 days.
Starting with the looks, the new Amaze’s facia does seem to share elements from the Elevate compact SUV with its boxy and upright looks, prominent grille and rectangular headlamps. The bumper lower down features a central air vent with faux side vents housing the fog lamps on higher variants. A thick swathe of chrome spans the width of the subcompact sedan running along the base of the bonnet.
In profile, the third-gen model shares a similar silhouette as its predecessor with upright front and rear sections and a prominent shoulder line flowing the length of the car. The window line too is similar while the roofline flows down into a raked C pillar with the boot lid also sloping downwards towards an integrated lip spoiler-like element.
At the rear, there is no getting away from the fact that the Amaze’s design draws inspiration from the City. The tail lamp design is nearly identical with similar LED light guide elements on the top model. The bumper too gets a similar design as Honda’s larger sedan. There are five colur options offered - Platinum White Pearl, Meteorid Gray Metallic, Radiant Red Metallic, Obsidian Blue Pearl, Lunar Silver Metallic and Golden Brown Metallic.
In terms of size, the Amaze measures 3995 mm long, 1733 mm wide and 1500 mm tall and sits on a 2470 mm wheelbase. This makes the new Amaze about 38 mm wider than before. Honda says that despite minimal change to dimensions, the new Amaze offers more space inside the cabin and a larger 416 litre boot as well. Ground clearance meanwhile has increased from 170 mm to 172 mm.
Open the doors, and you are greeted by a cabin that looks to have been taken straight from the Elevate. Top variants feature a 8.0-inch free-standing touchscreen atop the centre console with the upper and lower dashboards separated by a prominent patterned strip that also houses the air-con vents. The instrument cluster is the same part-digital unit seen in the City and Elevate while the air-con controls too are shared with Honda’s compact SUV. The cabin follows a two-tone colour scheme with the lower dashboard, parts of the door cards and the seats finished in beige.
Moving to the rear seats, the new Amaze offers comfort features such as a rear centre armrest with integrated cupholders, rear AC vents and headrests for all-three passengers. Three-point seatbelts are standard for all seats.
Speaking more on features, the Amaz’s biggest highlight is the addition of Honda Sensing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The suit ADAS features include adaptive cruise control, lead car departure notification, autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist, lane departure warning, auto high beam assist and blind spot monitoring. Other features include keyless entry and go, wireless charging pad, auto climate control, paddle shifters (CVT only) and Honda Connect connected car features with a 5-year free subscription. On the safety front, the new Amaze gets six airbags, ABS, stability control, traction control and hill start assist as standard.
As with its predecessor, the new Amaze comes with Honda’s tried and tested 1.2-litre, four-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine as standard developing a peak 88.5 bhp and 110 Nm. A 5-speed manual gearbox is standard though buyers can opt for a CVT across all trim levels. Honda claims fuel efficiency figures of 18.65 kmpl and 19.46 kmpl for the manual and CVT variants respectively.
Car&bike
