[arjab]

Originally Posted by TribalRoar

I have also noticed that the windshield has been bonded on the front frame without any kind of plastic or rubber beading making it look like you could lift it off at any time.

Deletion of windscreen edge finisher trim is a favourite with cost engineers. Most cars in India do not have an edge finisher nowadays. Honda, it seems, has also reduced the thickness of the "black band" area, hence the "visual" effect is more prominent.
Yes, it does look unpleasant, but don't worry from a functional perspective, the 'screen will hold good.

[vvs29]

I had a doubt which I had asked in the BRV thread as well. Since BRV's ground clearance is close to Elevate's 210 vs 220mm and they are roughly the same weight 1220 vs 1250 kg, is it possible that the Elevate's suspension can be used in BR-V? BR-Vs suspension is a too jumpy for my liking and I liked Elevate's ride better. I guess the mounting points would have to be the same. Any other reason, why it will likely not be as simple as I think?

[OpenEXit]

Fellows,

Two questions-
1- Is CVT being used in Elevate is same as used in Amaze? My brother is using Amaze CVT from last 4 years and not happy with performance. Or its performance is more linked with engine?
2- Me, being a bit clumsy, keep on forgetting locking doors/cars. My biggest fear is leaving car with sun roof open in rainy season. Does sun roof automatically close when car is turned off or locked?

[outdoorlover]

Originally Posted by pannags

What is also needed is something to improve thigh support. The ventilated seats help to an extent, but they take away the comfort the seats otherwise provide!

You're right, the ventilated seat accessory takes away the comfort of sitting directly on a leather seat actually. Leather (quite unlike look-alike leatherette) gives a person the comfort of absorbing any sweat and is also supple and pliable to the touch which would be compromised while putting the ventilation accessory. Wish they had built in the ventilation into the seat.

Originally Posted by OpenEXit

Fellows,

Two questions-
1- Is CVT being used in Elevate is same as used in Amaze? My brother is using Amaze CVT from last 4 years and not happy with performance. Or its performance is more linked with engine?[/i]


2- Me, being a bit clumsy, keep on forgetting locking doors/cars. My biggest fear is leaving car with sun roof open in rainy season. Does sun roof automatically close when car is turned off or locked?

1. The Elevate uses the same 1.5L engine as the City in a slightly different state of tune and hence would use the same CVT as the City. Do you know what aspect of the CVT in the Amaze is your brother not happy about?

2. Once you get used to your sunroof, you would find it using in drives through open area where the air is not polluted and that isnt everyday, atleast if you live in a city. So such fear is not very real.

[ComboCutter]

Originally Posted by OpenEXit

1- Is CVT being used in Elevate is same as used in Amaze? My brother is using Amaze CVT from last 4 years and not happy with performance. Or its performance is more linked with engine?

for more immediate power, the paddle shifter is good in the Elevate. Performance is subjective, recommend you take a test drive, except for the initial high rev sound, you might find it more to your liking.

Full Accelerator pedal presses give a automatic kickdown to a lower gear in the CVT and it is quick.

Originally Posted by OpenEXit

2- Me, being a bit clumsy, keep on forgetting locking doors/cars. My biggest fear is leaving car with sun roof open in rainy season. Does sun roof automatically close when car is turned off or locked?

The front doors and tailgate unlock when you pull the handle when the wireless key is within 70 cm range.

The doors in the Elevate can be set to lock/unlock automatically when you approach the car with the wireless key within a range of 1.5 metres. This is OFF by default and has to be enabled through the settings. Note that the key used for auto lock can only unlock the car next time (you can still use the key). Also The car will beep if the doors aren't closed properly if you move your key away from the range.

Unfortunately there is no option for the sunroof to close automatically in the Elevate. (That I know of)

The wireless key works well. If all doors are closed properly and the car has its engine OFF, pressing the lock button twice gives a beep sound confirmation for locking all doors and turning the engine immobilizer on.

I read in the manual that after 30/60 (30 by default) minutes of Engine being off and doors being closed or not opened it should lock the car, but I don't intend to use it or test it.

There is a manual way to lock the doors of elevate, with all other doors closed, in the driver door (opened) press the lock all doors button and also rotate the lock knob in the internal door handle to lock position. Then close the door with the external door handle pulled. It locks all the doors.

[Geo]

I got my new Elevate delivered on October 15th. Did a Trip from Bangalore to Sakleshpur, and was waiting for the trip to complete to share my experience.

Mine is a Golden Brown ZX CVT variant, with “JP” as the significant digits on VIN (which indicates August 2023 manufacturing) and 8 km on the odometer. PDI was satisfactory and the delivery experience was overall good. I was driving a 4th Gen Honda City manual before this and found Elevate to be an overall elevated experience with my 10+ days of usage.

Initial impressions

• I love the planted and stable feel of the vehicle. It is a gentle giant, which moves predictably and responds very well to steering as well as the throttle. Absolutely confidence inspiring when it comes to handling.

• I also love the giant side rear-view mirrors on both sides. These are significantly larger than many other cars. Coupled with the reasonably big central rearview mirror, around the vehicle visibility is awesome.

• As I am used to the manual 4th Gen City, I found some of the convenience features really convenient

• Walk-in with the key in your pocket, and not have to take out the key at all

• Walk-away door-locking feature

• Even though I am a petrohead, the convenience of not having to shift gears is definitely a nice one, when I consider all aspects.

Trip to Sakleshpur
I made a trip from Bangalore to Sakleshpur this week. 725 km round trip, at an overall fuel efficiency of 16.4 kmpl. Really liked the stability and planted feel of the vehicle throughout the trip. As I was still in the first 1000 kms of the vehicle, did not push the engine at all. Very good at cruising in the sub-100 kmph range. Handling, safety feel and comfort are noteworthy. Could easily navigate the bad roads, potholes, scientific and unscientific humps on the way, and other surface abnormalities. There were absolutely no concerns with regular overtaking, climbing inclines, navigating turns and turns in inclines, climbs on bad roads, etc. The vehicle was never put to the test on this trip and delivered a safe and peaceful commute.
One noteworthy feature is the superior ground clearance of 220 mm. I can safely say that I could navigate even the unscientific speed-breakers with ease. Could go on the humps head-on, instead of struggling to crisscross and navigate in other ways. Did not have any scraping incident throughout the trip.

Fuel Efficiency
I stay in Koramangala and my office is in Bellandur. As best as it can get, when it comes to city traffic 😊 My fuel efficiency is around 9.5 kmpl for over 200 kms of city driving. For a 725 km round trip through highways and the ghat sections of Sakleshpur, the fuel efficiency was 16.4 kmpl. Both the figures are based on the displays in the meter console. Must admit that I am happy with both the numbers for a vehicle of this size and weight.

Slow speed and initial acceleration
As is evident from many other threads, slow-speed pickup is not a strong point of this vehicle at all. In fact, there is a sort of a reluctant growling when you start accelerating from rest. It sounds like a protest from the engine. But you soon get used to this nature of the vehicle where the acceleration at low speeds is slow and gradual and there is a gradual pickup instead of an instantaneous one from a Turbo engine. The initial acceleration is significantly different from the VW cousins – either Taigun or Virtus.
Once you drive it enough, you know that the engine is not underpowered or lacking, it is just that it responds slowly. Even when I took off on a curvy incline with a significant slope, the engine performed the same way and picked up gradually. You will not be left hanging in the middle.

Engine noise
This is a huge letdown, in my personal opinion. This engine doesn’t have a characteristic tone. It grunts and growls during the early pick up part and gets into a boring rhythm in the third and fourth gear range. The engine is not much audible at cruising speeds and it is the tire sounds that are predominant while cruising. Those who are expecting the Turbo sounds or even the City iVtec-like tones will be hugely disappointed by the uncharacteristic engine tone.

Road presence
It is obvious that road presence is not a strong point of this vehicle. It has an understated and mature personality in both the road presence and acceleration-heavy-power-driving areas. If size and road presence are your primary criteria, then this vehicle should not be your choice.




Overall
I consider Elevate as an upgrade for me. 90% of my time is spent in city traffic and I do 3 to 4 road trips a year. City roads are also pothole-filled and are perennially under construction these days. This gives me a much smoother and planted drive, and the safety and reliability of Honda plus the ride comfort from a trusted engine and a very well-accompanying CVT. Overall, love the package and love the drive.

Some photos of the vehicle in its natural habitat

[rekoj68]

I am upgrading (or moving from Fiat Punto) my car and checked the available options. Elevate looked good for my requirements and booked ZX CVT.

Among the accessories I am interested in Dashcam, but dealer can provide only front camera and does not have rear camera setup. Is it suggested to go with that or can get dual channel outside.

Originally Posted by Geo

My fuel efficiency is around 9.5 kmpl for over 200 kms of city driving. For a 725 km round trip through highways and the ghat sections of Sakleshpur, the fuel efficiency was 16.4 kmpl. Both the figures are based on the displays in the meter console. Must admit that I am happy with both the numbers for a vehicle of this size and weight.

Congratulations. Good to know the FE. It is entirely different compared to a couple of blogs I read earlier

[Geo]

Originally Posted by rekoj68

Good to know FE as it is entirely different than couple of blogs I read earlier

Curious to know what the general perception is. What did you find in the blogs? I have data from running Elevate in real-world conditions for 900 kilometers

[Small Bot]

I just saw a Honda Elevate in front of me. Looked kind of smallish on the road. It's the one before the white Altroz. A Wagon R nearby seemed a wee bit taller.



I thought the rear looked smaller than the front and somewhat underwhelming (reminded me of the Taigun rear). Then a facelift Seltos overtook me a minute later and it struck me that this is probably the trend, looking at that rear.

Also, I dislike it when very few follow lane discipline. But that's a rant for another thread.

[Tvk1991]

The Altroz in front might be mine if it has two 5's in the number. I remember seeing the same car when back from work.

[mzone]

Short observations about the first 1000kms with my Elevate ZX MT.

1. Looks. I won’t say much because looks can be very subjective so imo it does look striking especially from the front. The rear, well it’s a pretty common CSUV stance and general look with the ‘connected’ taillights. Add to the fact that it’s still a pretty uncommon vehicle on road and that does turn a few heads and prompts questions at fuel pumps. I also felt the Lunar silver color makes the vehicle seem larger than it actually is and it also helps to not really notice/focus on the bonnet that much while driving (compared to other brighter colors)

2. Ride quality is excellent, the car soaks up bad roads really well with not much body roll or thuds. The handling is also sedan like with low body roll and excellent steering feel. It really does feel like a point and shoot kinda vehicle in the twisties which belies it’s size. The ground clearance is impressive and it will be very hard to graze the bottom.

3. Engine is noisy and makes a loud not too pleasant grunt especially when you rev it over 4k rpm. In contrast the brio we have sounds a lot smoother and refined in comparison. The engine is very tractable though and it can potter around in the city in 3rd gear and climb over speed breakers in 2nd with no knocking. The gearbox is a slick affair and is a joy to use, clutch travel is a bit long but thankfully light. Power-wise I never felt the engine lacked grunt or found it wanting, be it in the hills or on the highways or while executing overtakes. I did take it easy the first 1000kms and will now explore the upper range of the rev band more effectively.

4. Fuel efficiency is not great but ok, on a tank to tank basis I got between 11.5-12.5kmpl consistently with around 35% highway use.

5. Features and quality. I love the tan interiors and the simplistic clean interior design, to me it just looks classy and not flashy which suits my tastes. Gives off a kind of German feel (the first time I saw it reminded me of the F10 BMW interiors). The seats are very comfortable and provide good lumbar support, sometimes I get mild lower back pain on very long drives in other cars but not in the elevate. The screen quality and response is excellent although the voice recognition is a hit or miss. The leatherette on the dashboard and door panels look and feel quite good and overall a nice place to be in. A sliding armrest is sorely missed. Sunglasses holder, cooled glovebox would have been nice to have. On the plus side, wireless android auto works like a charm and wireless charging is a nice touch, although for long journeys with Android auto it would be better off to have it plugged in via cable since the phone tends to heat up while using wireless AA and simultaneously wirelessly charging effectively not charging but maintaining the same battery level. It would also have been nice if the wireless charger had active cooling or some ventilation since it does heat up in there. USB A ports in 2023 just doesn’t make much sense but good to have nevertheless.

6. Audio quality is surprisingly good even though it’s not a branded system which believe is tuned or designed by Alpine? It’s a 8 speaker system and even with no dedicated subwoofer it has substantial bass and a clean sound even at higher volumes. The FM reception seemed a bit weak compared to other cars.

7. ADAS. The ADAS features in the car are well designed and well calibrated, I didn’t find them intrusive at all and generally it seems to be doing its thing in the background. The Lane departure and Lane Keep assist work really well and it’s a pleasure to use on well marked highways. The adaptive cruise control is another feature that works really well and when set to the ‘near’ setting, feels very natural in the way it slows down when approaching a vehicle that is traveling at a slower speed than you. However it is quite abrupt and sudden when it comes to 2 wheelers in your path. Thankfully I never had to experience the Collision mitigation in action yet (did come across a couple of warnings when passing a line of parked cars on narrow roads)

8. Rear seats and luggage. I can’t comment much on the rear seats and comfort since I haven’t experienced it much but my whoever did sit at the back didn’t really have any complaints. The rear armrest doesn’t have a pull tab which is surprising and makes it difficult to pull out. Boot space is rather large and although I haven't done any airport runs yet, I doubt I would be lacking for space.

9. The AC in this car is fantastic and is one of the best I’ve experienced. It chills the cabin quickly and maintains the temperature in the cabin very well. It’s too strong I would say because I sometimes need to set it to 24 or 25 degrees and it’s still blowing chilled air out the vents!

10. Convenience features. The keyless system works perfectly and Honda has paid good attention to details like how the car unlocks as soon as your fingers grab the inside of the exterior door handle, you don’t even need to touch the request sensor button. There are a myriad of customizable options like auto lock when walking away, change how long the car will wait to auto lock if no activity after unlocking etc, there are loads of options for every feature, like how the trip meters can be customized to reset on a full tank. One thing that would have been nice was be a trip journey meter in addition to Trip A and Trip B but you can customize the trip meters to reset on engine turn off/on.

The only issue I’ve had so far with the vehicle was that Honda connect app didn't work on delivery. The app threw up an error saying ‘Something went wrong’, the dealership had escalated the issue with Honda support and it finally got fixed 12 days after delivery.

Other than that niggle, I’m very satisfied and couldn’t be happier with the car and the whole process from booking the car to delivery. The sales executive was very helpful and ensured things went smoothly. Overall a very pleasant experience with Coastal Honda, Goa.

[dieselburner]

Got delivery of my ZX CVT lunar silver a week back. Initially I got Blue colour booked but the dealer was saying that blue colour will take atleast a month to deliver & was pushing for the golden brown colour. Just to get the car delivered early I agreed for golden brown colour but saw it in person on road & didn't like the colour or thought that this colour was not doing justice to the looks of the car, also maintaining dark colour is troublesome. Finally, I have to change the dealer & get one unallocated silver colour available for delivery. One thing I noticed that most of the dealers have ready availability of golden brown colour, which I didn't understand why?

Overall have driven around 1200 kms, mostly highways & on mountains. FE turns out to be around 14-15 in plains & 11-12 in hills & this is as shown in MID.

Overall quite happy with the performance & comfort of the car.

Family is also happy with back seat comfort after bouncing for last 6 years in TUV300.

Features for me are more than enough & are infact more if you compare with the Korean twins in same price band.

Headlight through is very good & the auto high beam feature is a boon for driver & oncoming vehicle as well.

I am not an audiophile but still I find audio quality to be good, also don't compare it with the Bose setup of Korean twins as they come with top model only which costs appx 22-23 lac on road which is good 4 lacs more from the Elevate top model.

Couple of things missed are-

Sunglasses holder, cornering lights, extendable armrest, rear seat sunshades, backlit buttons in doors.

Reasons for lot looking other options & as many say that we can get a starting level 7 seater also in this price range-

I personally didn't like the looks of Creta & the safety concerns. I somewhat liked the looks of Kia Seltos but the trim which is costing appx 19 lacs on road missed features like ADAS, adaptive cruise control,wireless AA & carplay. What they are showcasing is ventilated setas & panoramic sunroof which are of no use to me.

Thought of Mahindra Scorpio N Z6 costing 19.90 on road in Uttarakhand but after driving a Mahindra for last 6 yrs didn't want to buy it again as initial niggles are well known with Indian manufacturers, though Scorpio N is good but I didn't want a 7 seater, diesel car so opted out of Mahindra as well.

Some pics of Elevate near my Homestay in Uttarakhand.

[INDIAFIRST]

The brouhaha over missing features, transmission, engines is pointless.

Clearly they are not trying to match the entire Seltos /Creta range- the capex is not worth it. Lets accept it.

No point harping on :
A) 3 missing engines - hybrids, diesel & petrol turbos.
B) Missing features- Pano sunroof (what a waste!), ventilated seats & auto seat adjust etc.

Elevate has a great engine, possbily best in class ride & handling, perceived high safety and superb ergonomics including space optimisation.

This is a no-nonsense solution for the typical Indian consumer looking for a hassle-free ownership experience with an aspirational brand (subjective point) . Simply put- high resale, reliable performance, good after sales contribute to the brand-equity of Honda India.

There is a decent target market- existing Honda users Brio, WRV, Amaze , a few City users who are happy to stay in the Honda eco system. Not to mention the poor souls who have to wait for > 6 months for matching trims of Creta & Seltos.

Honda India is a conservative company and seeks only 4-5K monthly Elevate sales. This will ensure dealer viability and basic profits as the market matures further.
While on dealer viability my uneducated guess is very few dealers have closed down in past 2 years despite awful sales.

BEV is the way forward- Honda will possible offer these products within 3 years by '26 - stated by them publicly. Things may change then? Who knows. Else Honda will continue to meander on- remember they're OK with the India operations. If it aint broke why risk fixing it with additional investment.

[Error402]

Originally Posted by John316_WRC

No reason to be disappointed, all of the CSUV's have space only for 4+1 child. If you're looking for a genuine 3 seater rear bench, only the XUV300 will satisfy your needs.

No, No fellow mate. I tested this in new nexon. 3 adults in back seat sat so comfortable. No shoulders touched. My sister is on the slimmer side but the room was enough for 3 grown individuals. Plus the seat comfort has increased as compared to previous version

[PolePosition]

Originally Posted by dieselburner

Got delivery of my ZX CVT lunar silver a week back. Initially I got Blue colour booked but the dealer was saying that blue colour will take atleast a month to deliver & was pushing for the golden brown colour. Just to get the car delivered early I agreed for golden brown colour but saw it in person on road & didn't like the colour or thought that this colour was not doing justice to the looks of the car, also maintaining dark colour is troublesome. Finally, I have to change the dealer & get one unallocated silver colour available for delivery. One thing I noticed that most of the dealers have ready availability of golden brown colour, which I didn't understand why?...

...Some pics of Elevate near my Homestay in Uttarakhand.

Can you please share which location and dealer is this?

I've been waiting for my booking for almost 2 months, and every other dealer I talk to is quoting 3+months of waiting for ZX CVT any colour.