I feel the outgoing model of the Honda Amaze is a great VFM car and it is quite welcoming of a new driver.
BHPian grumpycat recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
The buying decision
I just joined Team-BHP after being an avid follower of this forum for many years and this is my first post!
Well, I am 37 years old and I just got my first car— a new Honda Amaze S MT, Lunar Silver Metallic. My driving experience so far has been on an old Maruti 800 and I had absolutely no clue about how present generation cars would drive and function. For my everyday commute I have been relying on my trusted steed—the Hero Xpulse 200. I am writing this post to share my experience of buying a first car from the perspective of a novice. Perhaps this would help those who are going through a similar process and if not anything else, I hope this post would become a note to myself.
I entered into the buying process without having much clue on what type of a car I would want to buy. My requirement from the vehicle was that I wanted a car with good highway manners and comfort for both passengers and the driver. Deciding on a budget was the first step I took. Obviously, my significant other bore most of the brunt of my excruciating decision-making process. As I was considering the budget, I had to also decide whether I should go for a used car. I had a few manufacturers and models in mind but as I scoured used car websites, I realized that I will have to spend around 5 lakhs (Sonipat and Delhi) for the kind of second-hand car I liked. I also realized that financing a used car through a loan wasn’t the best idea. Also, being a novice I was not sure if I could trust car dealers in giving me a problem free vehicle. Even though the financial logic of buying a used car made sense, I wasn’t too sure about going ahead with a used car.
Once I decided to go for a new car, I set the budget to 9 lakhs (on-road). I also felt I should stick with manual drive as I like driving and did not want to miss the joy of gear shifts on the highway. The first car I went to see was the Toyota Glanza as it looked good on paper. But after sitting in the vehicle, to my surprise, I did not like the cabin experience. The prominent and seemingly longish A-pillars were somehow giving me a bit of claustrophobia. Added to that the lack of bonnet visibility was also playing its tricks on my mind. Afterwards, I also tried a few other hatchbacks such as the Hyundai i10 and i20 but I felt a similar sense of troubling detachment from the road.
I tried the Hyundai Exter but I never felt the need for a micro-SUV and never liked them much. The first car which I really liked was the Hyundai Aura. I felt that the vehicle was something I would enjoy driving and that’s when I realized that I should go for a sedan. This immediately narrowed down my choices to a few models-Maruti Suzuki Swift and Dzire and the Honda Amaze apart from the Aura. With the Aura’s S variant, I felt everything was premium and all the gizmos that was included in the cabin felt like I was getting a VFM model for 8.6 lakhs. I came very close to buying the vehicle even without a test-drive. I excluded the Swift and Dzire because I never liked its passenger comfort. Tata Tigor was eliminated because I wanted a 4-cylinder engine.
As I checked the Honda Amaze’s on road prices, I thought that the Amaze S MT would cost around 9 lakhs on road. But I was still curious about it so I gave the showroom a call and went to see the vehicle at Malwa Honda, Sonipat. That’s when I realized that the Amaze SMT would come to around 8.2 lakhs on road because of Diwali discounts and because of the upcoming facelift model in December. The Malwa Honda guys arranged for a test-drive without much fuss and the moment I started driving it, I felt that it was such an easy car to drive. Though lacking in Hyundai’s feature list, the Amaze S MT had much more cabin room and felt more premium. Once our sales representative understood I liked the vehicle he offered the car for 7.80 lakhs on road which I felt was a really good price for the vehicle.
The rest happened swiftly. The car was financed through Union Bank and we took the delivery of our new Honda Amaze a day before Diwali. The delivery process was quite transparent. I went in the morning to do the PDI and the vehicle was September made. As for accessories, I got the bucket mat, door side moulding, bumper protectors, mud flaps and door-edge guards done. I took delivery in the evening. I got quite comfortable with the car fairly quickly and I drove it for around 800 kms. The MID mileage was initially abysmal but now it is showing around 17 kmpl on expressways and between 12-15 in the city.
My first impressions on the Honda Amaze 2024
When I test drove the Amaze for the first time, I realized that for a new driver, the car inspires a lot of confidence. Perhaps it’s the same for other cars as well but I found the Amaze to be quite a gentleman. I was expecting that the moment I step on the accelerator it would jerk and come to a halt. But to my surprise the Amaze was very forgiving when it came to throttle response as it is extremely tame in lower rpms and it is next to impossible to give excess throttle by mistake. All the gears slotted without much fuzz and the steering control was on point. There are some more well-fed speed breakers in my area and it cleared all those effortlessly.
In another 2 weeks I rode the car for about 800 kms in both Delhi traffic and expressways. The Amaze continued to impress me with its easy to drive character in both city and open roads. In the city, negotiating bumper to bumper traffic wasn’t difficult in terms of throttle response. However, the clutch is on the heavier side and the shifts I feel are a bit stiff but things do seem to improve slowly over time. Reversing and parking are quite easy and I don’t even feel the need for a reverse camera as the Amaze offers good rear side visibility through its mirrors and the parking sensors are very sensitive.
On expressways I haven’t pushed the car beyond 80kmph. The NVH levels are decent and the steering feels heavy enough in those speeds. However, overtaking requires some planning both in the city and highways. In the city, I realized that I have to rely on the 2nd and 3rd gears to extract the kind of torque required for pulling through traffic. In highways I have to shift down to 3rd gear for some quick acceleration while the 4th gear offers some torque. The 5th gear I feel is purely a cruise gear but it also gives a good mileage about 17-20. At the same time, the transmission is very forgiving in all gears. I can drive at 60 kmph without any fuss from 3rd to 5th gear and the top to gears can also be forgiving at lower speeds.
I also completed my first service early at 500kms as my car became quite dirty and wanted a wash. I called up the service centre and they recommended that the wash will be free if I do the service. To my surprise, the first oil change would only come at 10000 kms and the first service only consists of cabin and air filter cleaning and an overall check-up.
I am still wondering if I should wait for 10000kms for the first oil change and any inputs on this matter would be highly appreciated!
I haven’t had the chance to sit on the rear passenger seat but others who have sat in it say that it is quite comfortable even on bad roads. From the driver’s perspective the suspension is not too plush or hard but I would say it leans towards the softer side and is meant for negotiating potholes at low speeds. However, there is hardly any unwanted swaying at higher speeds. The front seats offer good support and even after driving 2 hours in peak traffic and highways I wasn’t tired for a new driver.
The cabin experience is clean and I haven’t installed any touch screen stereo systems. I like the tactile knobs and I am not a huge fan of touch screens as I find it a distraction and I absolutely don’t like the glare from touch screen during night driving. The original speakers do sound decent enough for me so I am not going to change that as well. However, I have installed dashcams- the Nextdigitron Prime 2k dual channel and I think they work decently so far.
Overall, I feel the outgoing model of the Honda Amaze is a great VFM car and it is quite welcoming of a new driver. I just can’t stop thinking about taking it for another spin and I am hoping to do a longer drive very soon and will keep you posted!
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
