Honda Amaze

With a more shapely design, greater comfort and a longer feature set, the second-generation Honda Amaze is a significant improvement over the first model. Helping its appeal is the fact that the Honda compact sedan is competitively priced too. Honda Amaze buyers will be spoilt for choice with petrol-manual, petrol-CVT auto, diesel-manual and even a unique diesel-CVT version to choose from.

With a more shapely design, greater comfort and a longer feature set, the second-generation Honda Amaze is a signific...

With a more shapely design, greater comfort and a longer feature set, the second-generation Honda Amaze is a significant improvement over the first model. Helping its appeal is the fact that the Honda compact sedan is competitively priced too. Honda Amaze buyers will be spoilt for choice with petrol-manual, petrol-CVT auto, diesel-manual and even a unique diesel-CVT version to choose from.

The latest Honda Amaze is well proportioned as compact sedans go and the cabin is also roomier than you’d expect. Rear seat comfort is particularly good making the Amaze a smart choice for chauffeur-driven owners. What’s more, the boot is also suitably large. Of the other things, the dash is neat in look but plastic quality isn’t near class best standards.
The 90hp, 1.2-litre petrol engine is refined but you’ll have to work the manual version’s 5-speed gearbox to get around the meek mid-range. No such problems on the petrol-auto whose CVT extracts the best from the engine. As for the diesels, Honda’s 1.5-litre engine produces 100hp on the manual gearbox version and 80hp on the CVT-auto. The engine is tractable and efficient in both iterations and you also don’t feel any deficit in power on the well executed auto version. Unfortunately, the diesel engine can get noisy and sound insulation in general isn’t an Amaze strength. And while absorbent, the Amaze’s suspension can also feel overly soft at high speeds.

The latest Honda Amaze is well proportioned as compact sedans go and the cabin is also roomier than you’d expect. Rea...

The latest Honda Amaze is well proportioned as compact sedans go and the cabin is also roomier than you’d expect. Rear seat comfort is particularly good making the Amaze a smart choice for chauffeur-driven owners. What’s more, the boot is also suitably large. Of the other things, the dash is neat in look but plastic quality isn’t near class best standards.
The 90hp, 1.2-litre petrol engine is refined but you’ll have to work the manual version’s 5-speed gearbox to get around the meek mid-range. No such problems on the petrol-auto whose CVT extracts the best from the engine. As for the diesels, Honda’s 1.5-litre engine produces 100hp on the manual gearbox version and 80hp on the CVT-auto. The engine is tractable and efficient in both iterations and you also don’t feel any deficit in power on the well executed auto version. Unfortunately, the diesel engine can get noisy and sound insulation in general isn’t an Amaze strength. And while absorbent, the Amaze’s suspension can also feel overly soft at high speeds.

The efficient Amaze diesels, both manual and automatic, make great sense for buyers who clock significant kilometres each month. However, it’s the more affordable petrol Amazes that we’d recommend for buyers with limited use. Our pick of the range is the petrol-CVT for its combination of convenience and efficiency. What is a pity is that Honda doesn’t offer the CVT autos in top-spec VX form. In effect, you have to compromise on features like the VX’s nice touchscreen system if you choose to go for the automatics.

The efficient Amaze diesels, both manual and automatic, make great sense for buyers who clock significant kilometres ...

The efficient Amaze diesels, both manual and automatic, make great sense for buyers who clock significant kilometres each month. However, it’s the more affordable petrol Amazes that we’d recommend for buyers with limited use. Our pick of the range is the petrol-CVT for its combination of convenience and efficiency. What is a pity is that Honda doesn’t offer the CVT autos in top-spec VX form. In effect, you have to compromise on features like the VX’s nice touchscreen system if you choose to go for the automatics.