Does adding long overdue niceties to a fundamentally sorted Honda Elevate enough to justify its place in an ever-intensifying mid-size SUV segment? We sampled it on a road trip
Story: Gaurav Davare
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
There’s no denying it, the Honda Elevate isn’t the most feature-loaded mid-size SUV out there, but it has soldiered on nicely with its fundamentally sorted no-nonsense credentials since it was launched back in 2023. But now, the competition in this segment has really intensified and it was long overdue for Honda’s response to this as just being enough to get the job done without hassle isn’t quite enough. Well, they’ve given the SUV its first proper facelift. Is it enough to give the Elevate the fresh lease of life it needed? Honda Cars India has given us a unique way to find that out as we got to drive it from Delhi to Jaipur.
Fortunately, the Honda Elevate never needed to show off as far as first impressions go, as its solid road presence and elegant design philosophy did enough of the talking. But with this facelift, Honda have gone a little bolder philosophy, starting up front, with the front grille now getting a nicer honeycomb mesh. The slightly revised LED headlamps are now connected via a segmented LED DRL strip and the bling from earlier above the front grille has been replaced by a glossy black finish. With all these changes to the fascia, it has led to the Honda logo being repositioned to the bonnet; a change that I don’t necessarily agree with since the earlier logo position made it more of a recognisable “Honda.”
From the side profile, the 17-inch alloy wheel design remains as is, which isn’t really a bad thing as the design feels modern, but the cladding has also gotten a glossy black finish in place of the plastic finish which is a nice little attention to detail to make it a little more premium. To round things off the LED tail lamps are nicer connected units. You also get the choice of new Nordic Forest Pearl and All Black body shade options, with the former nicely standing out. Overall, it’s a modest exterior makeover but makes for nicer eye candy.
It is when you step inside, where the changes are more apparent, even though apart from the updated theme, the layout looks largely similar. An extra dosage of soft-touch materials around the front and rear door pads has spruced up the premium feeling and the ambient lighting which was once an optional accessory is now a part of the variant buffet spread in the SUV which amps up the ambience especially at night.
Fundamental features are retained like a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Android Auto and Apple Car Play connectivity, a seven-inch MID, automatic climate control, a wireless phone charging pad, an eight-speaker sound system, rear AC vents, automatic climate control, a 360-degree view camera as well as the Honda Sensing ADAS suite.
While fundamentally sound in features, the outgoing Elevate did trail behind its rivals when it came to niceties, and the important gains in the facelift are in this exact area. It’s better late than never, but there’s now powered front seats (eight-way driver, four-way co-passenger), and the cherry on top, a ventilation function for both the front and rear seats. The ventilation function is no gimmick either as they cooled things off nicely on hot days like today. There’s also a PM 2.5 air filter with an auto clean function.
Apart from the updated theme the seats are identical and it’s not a bad thing as they continue to be spacious, supportive, well-cushioned and comfortable enough to spend long hours in. In the second row, you still have decent headroom, legroom and kneeroom with decent underthigh support, and it’s enough to seat two adults comfortably as things can get a little uncomfortable with a third person. There’s also additional niceties via two Type-C ports and gesture controlled reading lights. Much of these additions are part of the new ZX+ top-spec variant. While the buffet spread of features in the Elevate has been opened up wider not everything is rosy as you still get a single-pane sunroof and not a panoramic roof and it could’ve benefitted with rear sun shades, a fully digital driver’s display, a more modern infotainment UI and better resolution for the 360-degree view camera.
What remains largely unchanged is the mechanicals. There’s a 121-hp 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four cylinder i-VTEC petrol engine that can be paired to either a six-speed manual gearbox or a seven-step CVT automatic gearbox. We spent our time with the CVT combination and our curated route had all the necessary variety of challenges this mid-size SUV needed to take on from wide, but not optimally levelled highways, to broken surfaces.
Since things are largely unchanged here, the Elevate retains its much loved road trip credentials. This engine and gearbox combination has a creamy smooth refinement and is smartly calibrated to keep up with city traffic and be a comfortable highway cruiser. It may be rev-happy, but it’s not annoying and you can access the meat of the engine’s performance between 4,000 rpm and 5,500 rpm.
It retains the Honda magic in terms of ride and handling as the slightly stiff suspension damping allows decent body roll control around twisty sections despite riding high and is also well-tuned to soak up bad surfaces without much hassle, while keeping the ride plush on highway roads. The steering feedback and weight distribution further inspires confidence and the addition of rear disc brakes has further boosted with more stopping power. Honda claims the NVH levels have been lowered but I still feel there is still room for improvement especially at triple-digit speeds. So overall you get an easy-to-use and comfortable driving experience.
The Honda Sensing ADAS suite continues to be decently tuned for Indian roads with Adaptive Cruise Control, Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) and Lane Keeping Assist not being intrusive. The new Low Speed Follow function also works in conjunction with the Adaptive Cruise Control, but overall I’m still old school in this respect and personally prefer to drive without ADAS assistance.
With prices ranging from Rs 11.80 lakh to Rs 16.80 lakh ex-showroom, the facelifted Honda Elevate continues to ace the fundamentals in space, practicality, necessary features and well-engineered mechanicals while adding some long overdue niceties. That being said, it could’ve benefitted from a few more key niceties and especially a hybrid powertrain option considering the City has it. With this price range, there are good alternatives as well. Nevertheless, if a no nonsense and solid family SUV experience that does the job is what you’re looking for then the Honda Elevate does have a place in the mid-size SUV space.
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