It was the City that started the trend of region specific models from Honda fifteen years back. The Amaze is designed and built keeping in mind the low taxation for sub four meter cars with 1200cc petrol and 1500cc diesel engines.
Last year we did a short drive of the prototype in Japan. The India First drive was held in Goa.
The Amaze looks like a proper sedan unlike the other sub-four metres on sale in India. There is not a single angle from which it looks like that some one has added on the boot or chopped it. The rear leg room is better then some of the full sized sedans and the boot capacity is four hundred litres, which is also comparable to a full size sedan. The interior space and build and quality is very good. The only negative in the whole car was the glove compartment lid.
The all-alloy diesel engine produces 100 PS at 3600 rpm and 200 Nm of torque at 1750 rpm. The power and torque delivery at low rpm is tailored for the Indian driving conditions. The roads in Goa are narrow and winding and there is a lot of change in elevation all the time and this is ideal to check the driveability of the car. The Amaze is a very easy car to drive as it pulls from thousand rpm all the way to the four thousand rpm redline without any turbo lag or spike in the power band, it keeps getting stronger as the rpm builds. You can stick it in to fifth gear at 1200rpm and she will happily motor along. The diesel motor is a gem of an engine.
The ride quality is very good for both the front and specially for the rear passengers. It is a fun car to drive as you can throw it around the corners as the steering gives good feed back and the car tracks well as the suspension soaks up all the undulations of the road surface. With the Amaze Honda has a winner on its hand with a pricing just below seven lakh. I am sure this car will change Honda’s fortune in India.
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