Thank you. Hope my reviews will be of some help to people who might be buying a Tiago in future.
Yeah sure. I recently upgraded from my 2013 Santro Xing GL Plus Petrol to a Honda Amaze 2021 in August 2021, after completely enjoying every moment behind the wheels in Santro for exact 100 months (8 years and 4 months). The Santro was running extremely fine and was / is in good shape till date with the new owner.
Then why did I upgrade?
We are a family of five, that is, me, my wife (both well built & healthy), my dad who is lean now, and my two kids, both of which are healthy enough. We used (Santro) and use (current Amaze) primarily for long drives which are normally 420 kms to 700 kms one way, and I am behind the steering 100% time, with mostly my father occupying front seat with me, where neither of us had any space constraint issue (as front seaters), but the only issue was my left elbow rubbing on my father's right hand while shifting transmission (gears), which was a negligible concern though, since on highways, we don't have to keep shifting.
However, the rear seaters had problems. My elder daughter is 12, but is well built and healthy, and my 8 year daughter is also healthy enough for age. And my wife also having healthy physique, it gradually started becoming a challenge to accommodate the three ladies at rear, at comfort - during a 600 km long one way journey (Chennai to Tuticorin - my native). The last long trip we did on Santro was in December of 2020, when we completely realized the negative impact of doing such long trip with the said three in rear, as after returning home, all three had body aches for a full day and even next night.
The second major issue was boot space, which was hardly sufficient for 1 mid size trolley bag, one small size suit case, 3-4 bags and additionally the Tirunelveli Halwa that my native is famous for, where we get in boxes... Most of the times, part of our luggage had to be accommodated in the leg rooms of rear passengers and at least one bag was to be accomodated under my dad's legs in the front left seat, which started becoming a pain and sore during the pleasant journey.
We started shopping for used examples, where we got a Nissan Sunny Diesel 2012, Ciaz Diesel, Ciaz Petrol, Numerous 5-6 year driven Honda City's, etc.
We started narrowing down our searches in December, and we had Brezza and Ertiga as our pick. However, in May 2021, I had severe COVID attack, and it was a re-birth for me and ended up spending around 5L on my treatment, which even my insurance has denied. (Litigation in process).
After mid of June, again started hunting. Brezza (4 star safe) was always on top. Discarded Ertiga as it didn't seem to solve our purpose of upgrading, though a 7 seater, since the middle row would occupy only 2 passengers, and the fifth passenger has to occupy the last row. Even if 60:40 splilt idea is incorporated, the boot would still be less and the 3rd row occupant is not safe or comfortable as some luggage would be on his / her adjacent side, and during highway ride, the luggage items strandling and falling on the last row passenger is quite evident. That pushed away all 7 seater options - Ertiga and even Triber.
We drove Magnite (my love at first sight), but the engine was a total downsize (1.0L 3 cylinder, on both Naturally Aspirated as well as Turbo Petrol) and hence was kept aside, though I loved it from heart.
We visited Honda showroom (Olympia Honda - Ambattur - Chennai) to look for Jazz. However, Jazz had its starting price for V variant at 8.92L, which I didn't feel wise to spend 9 big ones on a hatchback, though premium one, though wife preferred that.
I had an eye on Honda Amaze, and did a TD. Loved the dynamics, but I knew, Amaze isn't a driver's car, but a family car with ample leg room and comfort for three ladies in my family aat rear seat. Boot was ample - a 420 L , which is almost double to the 218L boot space in my erstwhile Santro, and hence Amaze caught the first position in the list, along with Brezza.
We did a fourth gen Honda City SV, with a discount ORT of 10.5L on road, and also tried Ciaz base model Sigma at 10.08L (without discount). Though my family loved Ciaz (which is a tad longer than City) and then loved City, I was skeptical about parking issues I would face in the places I visit (I have a decent parking, where I can park City with very tight adjustments though). Moreover, a budget increase of over 2.5L to 3L was something to be thought about.
We tried Altroz (5 star), at Lakshmi TATA at Wavin, Mugappair, Chennai. However, the ill-treating and worst attitude of the showroom staff kept us away from a TATA. Despite, I tried sitting in an Altroz (parked outside showroom), just for the sake of. But, alas, I, my wife, and my elder daughter couldn't sit comfortably in the rear seat, and hence the Altroz had to quit our list as we were done with the showroom attitude already.
Cars which satisfied us with rear seat shoulder space for 3:
1). Honda City (discarded due to budget and length, though all preferred in my family)
2). Ciaz (discarded due to budget and length, though all preferred in my family)
3). Honda Amaze (excellent rear space for 3 in the 7-8 lakh budget segment)
4). Brezza
5). Magnite - rear seat space was great, but boot space was less than 350L, but was quite ok compared to the 218L in Santro
Cars which didn't satisfy us in the rear seat shoulder space for 3:
6). Kigger - excellent car with 405L boot space, but rear seat space wasn't sufficient for we three.
7). Altroz - no sufficient space for 3 in rear, didn't check the boot space even.
Didn't go towards Ford, as
Ford exit from India was in talks then.
After lot of inky-pinky-ponkies, and also lot of research, two cars were shortlisted - Brezza (SUV, high ground clearance, 4 star, wife loved it to core) and Amaze (satisfactory rear seat space for 3, largest in class boot space of 420L, a sedan and a Honda ultimately)
Brezza was my wife's pick and mine was Amaze.
Brezza LXI was finally quoted 8.53L all inclusive whereas Amaze SMT petrol white was quoted at 7.65L for non white and 5k extra for white. A good 90k approximate difference.
My stand points on Amaze were:
1). a sedan, an elegant segment excellent road manners for our actual purpose of owning a car - Highway trips on good enough roads (70%) and some bad roads (25-30%).
2). Honda petrol - a dream of mine for decades.
3). The brand image and snob value.
4). 4 star safe sedan.
5). Less expensive tyre cost compared to Brezza
6). Less expensive service cost than Brezza
My wife's stand points on Brezza were:
1). An SUV (though not exactly)
2). Bigger wheels 16 inch over 14 inch wheels on Amaze SMT
3). SUVish road presence
I had more stand points so again I won.
However, my wheel specialist (CHAKRA TYRES, Avadi) and my FNG mechanic for my Santro (Kumar, Bobbie Workshop, Ambattur) recommended me Brezza over Maruti as they felt Brezza would have lesser maintenance, which I neither agreed to nor disagreed to.
Apart from Brezza and Amaze, I still had an iching love for Magnite till last moment I booked my car, but dropped it due to very small engine. Even though Magnite would have been an upgrade space-wise, segment wise and size wise, however, engine-wise it would have been a certain downgrade (from 4 cyinder 1.1L Santro to 3 cylinder 1.0 in Magnite - both turbo and non turbo motors).
Hence wins Honda Amaze and comes home as our new family member.
But one thing, during all my researches and selection process, SAFETY RATING was my first priority and I wanted anything above 4 star as safety standard for the car which I would be purchasing. You can see all the listed and researched cars are of 4+ safety rating. Hyundai Aura, which was almost selected by me and wife and the negotiation of the final on road price was finalized, was dropped only because it comes from NIOS which carries 2 star safety. Trust me everytime I see an Aura on road, my wife looks and gazes at it. I too. But had it been a 4 star like Amaze, I would have picked it up with no second thought, as I am already a Hyundai owner.
Hope I haven't bored you with my story, just felt like keying it. I know it could be irrelevant when posted in your thread, but I felt like.
Thanks for reading the review patiently.
