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-   -   Honda Elevate Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/268661-honda-elevate-review-12.html)

As a serious budget buyer and one who puts Safety in a car over gimmicks of premium feature, I am 80% more inclined to buy Elevate over, Seltos or Creta.

Agree that there are few misses, but also consider the price point which people are expecting for this product & yet maintain the same level of quality. Baring few there are not many features missing which makes much difference in our day to day car driving experience ( I am gonna play the devil's advocate here):

1. Panoramic Sunroof - how many times do we actually open and use it. maybe 10-20%, rest of the time its just there for feelgood factor, no functional use for it. Elevate already feels very airy with Big windows and front glass area. I don't think people are going to feel claustrophobic in it.
   
2. Dual Zone AC- yes it could be useful but again its a premium feature, and will increase the price.
   
3. Ventilated seats- again required only on very hot days. This would have increased the price & complexity of seat design which is direct picked up from City. But I do feel that in coming days it should be made standard with leather seats in both City and Elevate.
   
4. Lack of Turbo- when a turbo charged car is driven properly (read enthusiastically) just imagine the FE figures it gives. In a country full of mileage conscious buyers, I think Honda has made a safe bet to stick to it's tried & tested i-Vtec engine. after all they need to attract numbers in sales chart.
   
5. Not launching with Hybrid- Honda Hybrid is expensive. look at the sales figures of City Hybrid. People are not seeing value in it unless govt decrease the ridiculously high rate of GST on it. until then forget more Hybrid models from Honda.

Only thing I would miss will be the 360 camera, their lane watch camera is a useful feature, but one misses the same feature on driver side too.

I wonder why no one is talking here about the superior ride and handling & suspension setup of Elevate. from what I have seen on AUTOCAR review, its ahead of any other fancy SUVs in it's segment. that is something we will enjoy & appreciate a lot in both city and highway driving conditions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQKS3lhWOZ8

AUTOCAR also highlighted the recalibrated CVT and engine tuning giving better tractability at lower gears unlike City.

In my opinion Honda Elevate is a perfect balance of an urban SUV (read soft roader), contains all essentials and some feel good features in it. It doesn't get those things wrong which matters the most i.e. Ride & handling, Cabin space, Seating comfort, ICE quality ( again referring to reviews only so far) engine power and on top of it the reliability offered by Honda. Now it all boils down to the pricing at which it is offered. that is what will make or brake thigs for this product.

On the other hand if I wanted everything in one car, I would have gone to VW and straightaway bought Taigun GT which although is overpriced, is gem of a car.

It's a handsome looking car no doubt, but it's nothing remarkable. Don't know why Honda is playing safe in this highly competitive segment. Safe means that this crossover will have a difficult time standing out in its segment. Playing it safe means Honda made the Elevate a bit too dull and dare i say boring.

I agree. Most of the auto enthusiasts in the country were hoping and for the sake of Honda, even wanting Honda to bring a segment breaking car like Mahindra did with XUV 700. We all wanted Honda to bring a comprehensive product to challenge the rivals as dynamics and reliability was always their strength and we were probably expecting something more to compensate for their late entry. And that is where my gripe with Honda lies. Now we are left looking for reasons to convince ourselves to buy this car as we all very well know that this is an outdated and deficient product. I personally also don't agree with some BHPians all the time saying how it's meant for mature/sensible buyers as if asking for basic utilatiarian features(not talking about sunroof here) is immature in some way. Heck, they even took out features that were given in City(sunblinds, one touch down power windows for all, 3rd passenger head rest and 3 point seatbelt in rear). What would keep Honda from offering a more complete product? I would have definitely bought it had it been offered with turbo or hybrid. I feel if it's priced more than City, it'll not be left as a value proposition. I'll still wait for the test drive.

While it's a very handsome looking car and nice interiors, Honda has lost the game. They should have matched the features given by Hyundai/Seltos or played the efficiency card with the Hybrid.

Now they are neither here nor there. Difficult time for them ahead in India. Can't believe the Honda management can't read what the Indian's need even though they have been in India for such a long time. They pride in launching dud products.

What's the definition of market ? When things sell you have no control over it based on your logic and reasoning. Isn't it? Your and mine choice doesn't make sense when the goals for any business is profit making. Sad truth.

By the same standards why don't you say, Indians deserve Hybrids and Turbos as well? Why are you stuck at the structure aspect alone when it comes to Elevate?

Your negative bias is pretty evident. Bunny clearly mentions in the video the speeds will be 85-90 kmph. And this here is the magic. This engine will surprise you with its economy.

I may have erred there if you are specific to what bunny said initially. If you go by the time and distance covered and displayed while driving it doesn't average over 70 kmph.

The same Bunny, mentioned about Pano being a sad miss in Elevate and invited everyone to Rajasthan :D
Do you buy that statement as well if his? Convenience has taken over meaningful conversation.

Overall, I haven't seen any other review that showed over 15 to 16 kmpl. Please check those videos instead of favoring what you intend to hear alone. You can either post your own experience soon which I would consider more reliable while driving the car at 100 kmph and getting a FE of 18 kmpl. Do note that even in City the best figured achieved was about 19 kmpl on highways in Eco mode and this mode is not being offered in Elevate as much I could gather.

Think we need a separate thread to track this in our forum so that Indian users can keep adding their major issues to this thread. I was surprised to see so many issues in Hyundai and Kia cars. I was aware of the ones mentioned in our forum but your post opens up a whole new level of issues globally. Thanks for compiling this and posting it. Their PR is indeed good since I keep reading posts on how Hyundai is giving warranties for 100K miles in US and other western countries whereas in reality it is different.

Yes, we definitely need a separate thread for this topic. Despite these issues and lawsuits having been happening for the last 2 to 3 years, I wonder how our forum members missed reporting such major issues of these companies, whereas lawsuits of other OEMs were not missed and were reported in the International Car Scene thread. Actually, the issues are not limited to the USA and Canada alone; people from the UK and Europe have also started realizing the rot and formed a group specific to the UK. I don't think they will provide any better or different engines for India. They won't do any separate engine development just for the Indian market.

I don't think it is right to equate the absence of hybrid/turbos to the absence of a safe body shell. If a company takes the safety of their customers seriously, they should prioritize safety features over multiple engine options.

IMO, Honda didn't want to provide hybrid/turbo because their aim was never to compete with Creta or Seltos in terms of the number of cars they can sell. Honda is confident of achieving their sales goal by selling the NA engine of Elevate alone, which anyway is the engine type that majority of the Creta and Seltos customer buy. What has Honda done makes perfect business sense for me.

People are very harsh either on Honda's supposed lack of features or the Hyundai/Kia's supposed lack of safety.

I believe the people are not automatons buying cars without informed opinions and pulled only by marketing, they have access to plenty of reviews and news on YouTube unlike 10 years back and know the pluses and minuses of the cars they are getting into and we should respect their decisions regardless of if we like it or not.

This is the latest JD power ratings in US for 2023

Thank you for saying this. Unfortunately, this is the wider problem where people (mere spectators) think they are the ONLY experts, and potential buyers are fools who are investing money in today's world where so much info is available. Opinions are formed and passed on saying that reviews and news are bought too. I am sure if and when the safety certificate will come, there will be another Nitpicking, and they will start criticizing rating agencies too because it did not go in their favor. Anything that does not work in the favor is either fake or bought or a joke. It's completely fine to not like Korean OEMs, it's not that they are forcing people to buy their cars. It's a personal choice that everyone has the right to make. Like it or not but Hyundai/Kia will continue to dominate the market. Potential buyer preferences and choices should be respected.

JD Power ratings are a big joke. Look at the following:

That's not true. There are enough videos of XUV 700's radar based ADAS working brilliantly in dense fog of North India.

I am not sure about only camera based ADAS system working well in all weather conditions. I feel camera + radar based systems are the way forward.

Few people will even call this a sham! Kia/Hyundai bashing looks to be a fad among a few on the social media nowadays.

Ok. Is there any argument in favour of Honda not bring the City's hybrid engine as well or anyone criticising omission of hybrid is also wrong?

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