Honda Amaze
What you'll like:
• An all-rounded compact sedan & one that's well-priced too
• Spacious, practical interiors. Ambience is far better than the outgoing car's cheap cabin
• Diesel + CVT combination is unbeatable! Indisputably the segment best
• Suspension offers comfortable ride quality with neutral on-road behaviour
• Features such as cruise control, paddle shifts (petrol AT), touchscreen ICE with Android & iOS, reversing camera…
• Dual airbags, ABS, rear parking sensors & ISOFIX are standard across the range
• 3-year unlimited km warranty, extendable to 5-years &
unlimited km What you won't:
• Tall rear passengers will find headroom to be insufficient & the fixed headrests useless
• Diesel's NVH, although improved, is far from class-leading. Not high-rpm friendly either
• Petrol CVT is fair within the city, but rather mediocre on the highway
• Automatics are unavailable in the top VX variant. Period
• Dzire offers more 'bling' & features (LED projector headlamps, auto-headlamps, flat-bottom steering, rear air-con, nicer ICE…)
• Look closely and you'll find a few faults in part quality, fit and finish (
uncool for a Honda)
• The 175 mm tyres are too thin & the 35-liter fuel tank too small
Link to Official Review (Honda Amaze : Official Review) Maruti Dzire
What you'll like:
• A great looking Dzire…and an all-rounder too
• Smart packaging! Spacious, stylish & practical cabin. Boot has grown to 378 litres
• Sweet petrol & efficient diesel. AMT available with both engines for just 47k extra
• Suspension offers a compliant ride & neutral on-road behaviour
• Impressively equipped (
LED headlamps + DRLs, reversing camera, Apple & Android touchscreen ICE…)
• Dual airbags, ABS & ISOFIX child seat mounts are standard across all variants
• Maruti's widespread service network, excellent after-sales support & fuss-free ownership experiences
What you won't:
• “Z” trims are pricey. The top-end diesels & automatics cost a million bucks!
• Old 1.3L diesel is nowhere as competent as the Ford & VW 1.5L diesels
• AMT, although improved, can’t match conventional ATs on smoothness & speed. Still gets jerky
• You can buy proper ATs (
e.g. torque-converter or DCT) for the same $$$ as the Dzire AMT
• 163 mm of ground clearance & small 37-liter fuel tank do raise concerns
• Some misses (
auto-dimming IRVM, skinny 165 mm tyres on L & V variants, smaller spare tyre on the Z trims...)
• Waiting periods have already begun. They currently stretch up to 3 months
Link to Official Review (Maruti Dzire : Official Review) Hyundai Xcent
What you'll like:
• All-rounded package in a contemporary design
• Interiors have
best-in-class fit, finish & quality. Accommodating 407 liter boot too
• Fuel-efficient, practical diesel & peppy petrol. Smooth gearbox
• Loaded with features (
keyless start & go, reversing camera, rear air-con, cooled glovebox etc.)
• Comfortable ride quality and predictable handling
• Hyundai's fuss free ownership experience & excellent after-sales service
What you won't:
• Steering & dynamics aren't to an enthusiast's tastes
• Narrow width makes it more suited as a 4 seater, rather than 5
• Boot aside, the
premium i20 is closely priced with more power, space, equipment & refinement
• Adjustable front neck restraints, seat-belt height adjustment, full MID, auto-locking doors & dead pedal missing
Link to Official Review (Hyundai Xcent : Official Review) Ford Aspire
What you'll like:
• Aston Martin-esque face looks very stylish!
•
Value for money price & positioning
• Powerful & efficient 1.5L diesel engine. Good driveability too
• Compliant ride quality. Suspension is tuned for comfort
• Airbags across the range. Titanium (O) & Titanium+ variants get 6 airbags!
• Well-packaged cabin offers adequate space, lots of features, comfy leather seats and a chilling air-con
• Dual-clutch Automatic with a bigger 1.5L petrol, ESP, traction control & hill start assist
What you won't:
• Commuter 1.2L petrol is unimpressive. A mediocre engine
• Drives like any other mass market sedan...but not like a Ford. Ordinary handling
• Lighter build quality isn't as solid as Fords usually are
• Cabin width makes the Aspire suited to 4 adults, not 5
• 14" rims & 175 mm tyres are too puny, especially for the fast diesel
• 359 liter boot is smaller than that of the Amaze & Xcent (~400 liters)
• AT unavailable in the fully-loaded trim. Period
Link to Official Review (Ford Aspire : Official Review) Link to report - 2017 Aspire Sports Edition (Ford Figo Sports Edition : Official Review) VW Ameo
What you'll like:
• A well-built, solid European sedan
• Aggressive pricing strategy; on par with the Polo
• Impressive feature list - cruise control, auto wipers, reversing camera, touchscreen ICE etc.
• Interior quality is among the segment best
• 1.2L petrol offers good city driveability. Sweet gearshift too
• Sorted ride & handling package. High speed stability is better than competition
• Dual airbags & ABS are standard across the range
What you won't:
• 3-cylinder petrol engine is weak & noisy. Vibrates as well
• Limited rear legroom & large floor hump. Competitors such as the Amaze are more spacious
• 1.2L TSI turbo-petrol unavailable (Polo gets it)
• 330L boot is the second-smallest from this segment
• Familiar face & interiors are starting to feel old
• The Polo & Vento's long-term reliability hasn't been as strong as the Japanese / Korean cars
• VW's sub-par dealership & service experiences
Link to Official Review (Volkswagen Ameo : Official Review) Tata Tigor
What you’ll like:
• Great styling. A chic-looking compact sedan. Solid build too
• Tata has put in a lot of effort on quality and it shows
• Well-priced for what it offers; undercuts all the direct competitors
• High quality, nicely designed cabin. Lots of storage and a segment best 419-litre boot
• Good driveability (
both engines), a compliant ride & neutral road manners
• Amazing 8-speaker
Harman entertainment system. Sounds top class!
• Feature list with 2 driving modes, parking sensors, cooled glovebox, touchscreen ICE etc.
What you won't:
• Mediocre 3-cylinder engines. They lag behind the competition in performance & refinement
• Most other compact sedans have standard airbags. The Tigor doesn’t (only on top variant)
• Concerns over long-term reliability, more so of the freshly developed engines
• 6-month service interval is too frequent! A 1 year interval is the segment norm
• A rare Tata car that cannot seat 5 (
best for 4 adults)
• Tata's after-sales experience remains a gamble. Service quality is far from that of Maruti & Hyundai
Link to Official Review (Tata Tigor : Official Review)