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-   -   Honda Amaze 1.5L Diesel : Driven (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/129439-honda-amaze-1-5l-diesel-driven-13.html)

Taxi segment is a weird segment where buyer wants very low capital cost, high fuel efficiency, cheap spares, road side repairability, reliable inspite of all this and high running (lowest cost of operation) and spacious cabin + luggage space, reliable on rough usage (hirer needs these). Looks matter little, function over form.

All in all any car popular and visible as taxi loses sheen with private buyers. Logan / Verito has, Indigo has, as they are " visibly " taxi's.

Maybe SWIFT DZIRE n ETIOS are not so visible as taxi's : usually without carriers, not used as radio cabs, fewer yellow number plates.


I agree, in India, car is more a statement of socio-economic status than fulfillment of basic needs. Amaze in my opinion is too radical a design for taxi use. Hooks core group may despise Amaze as taxi, but the people at Honda coffers wouldn't mind it being a runaway hit in with all possible segments.

By the way, I found out that taxi registration of cars qualifies their owners for excise duty refund from govt. that they pay up front as part of Ex-showroom cost, and each state RTO must have the car approved for use as Taxi (usually OEMs prerogative). So I suppose that's the way of controlling whether a car goes for Taxi registrations or not. Eg. Swift DZire Tour & DZire cs.

Everybody is talking much on design part, interiors, handling, engine etc. I don't agree with that at all. Most important deciding factor for this car is going to be COST. If Honda can manage to match Dzire in that, then only they will have success else it will be difficult. Seeing prices where they launched it already & considering India's high tax structure, i don't think it will be under 8 Lacs for base model also. If that is the case then its surely a costly car. People will not go for it. Lets wait & watch how Honda handles COST part in India.

Personally i don't like car much. Looks ok ok types only. Surely it is better than Brio but nothing great that will Amaze lots of people ;)

Thanks for the review. :thumbs up

It is good to see Honda coming out with Diesel engines for their line-up. I was expecting Honda's engines to be a free reeving one. Any way, I look up to Honda to provide an alternative to European cars.

"Engine is mounted on liquid-filled mounts" - Is this nothing but an Hydraulic mount? Or am I missing something? stupid:

Now a days, VW is using Hydraulic mounts for the Polo's.

It is good to see a true rival comes for the dezire. definitely Honda is in the right direction.

Now that we have newspaper headlines talking of a 25 per cent tax on diesel cars, what will this do to Honda's Amaze? Another case of too little, too late?
Let's hope their pricing is radically sensible, only bold steps will do now.

If the Thailand prices are anything to go by, your assumption might turn out to be grossly wrong. The Amaze may be priced way lesser than what you have suggested. I will repost myself here again.

You see even the brio is priced high (in Rupees terms) in Thailand. The Amaze infact is just 5% more expensive than the Brio in Thailand. So when the Brio itself is way cheaper in India than in Thailand, it does look very optimistic to me to expect a good price. If Thailand pricing is any indication, we can for sure expect very competitive pricing for Amaze in India. Definitely not 8 Lacs for Base model. :)

Whatever media says about well proportioned sedan etc.. It clearly looks like a stick on boot. If this is beautiful, so does new Dzire.
Anyway i am sure this will become a huge hit as well and help reduce the waiting time for maruti customers. dont we all jump if the near by queue moves faster ?

I feel Etios was always designed to be a taxi and we can already see that on roads, most of the newer cabs are Either Etios or Dzire tour.

Cab drivers go ga-ga over the Etios and one such guy quoted " Toyota has been making cabs only na Saar since day one.. Drive this car anyway you want and you can still get 23kmpl" . Qualis, Innova and Etios/Liva - well i guess he is right.

As you said Toyota cars are very very functional and tick all the boxes you mentioned. but more for these cab drivers.

Let's see how it goes. I will be happy to see such pricing here in India. But do you really think Honda will sell 1.5 Lit diesel engine for just 5% more than Brio? That will definitely kill Brio and Jazz also. Also with such killer pricing Honda City which is there best performer will also severely suffer. So i don't think it will happen. You will see that it will be at least more than 6 Lacs Ex show room & 7 + Lacs OTR for base model also.

No I dont expect them to price it 5 % more. I just said, it is not correct to assume it would cost more than 8 lacs because its priced like that in Thailand. If that was the case even the Brio would be priced that high.

Moreover I think in Thailand they have launched only the petrol variant (not sure of it though). So the 5 % doesn't hold for the I-DTEC that we are waiting for. However I firmly believe it wont be 8 Lakhs.

I have posted earlier that I assume the base petrol model to start at just around 5 Lakhs ex showroom and the diesel at around 6 Lakhs (Just like you have assumed in the last post). Which is incidentally how the Dzire is priced too. :) If they get that pricing, it would be spot on in my opinion.

The prices of the City and the Jazz often overlap in the markets where they're sold together. And despite the price-overlap, the Jazz and City notched similar numbers in those markets.

This did not happen in our market even though the Jazz's price-tag seemed inflated initially (although cheaper than the City still). People still continued to spend the extra 2-4 lakhs over the Jazz and buy the City here in India.

What I'm trying to say is, even though we have the same cars here, the dynamics of our market are different. It is not wise to compare the prices of these cars sold in other markets. These prices are never good indicators of what could be.

True! To add on, outside India I have not seen a market where the Jazz is sold cheaper than the City (with the same engine/trim level). Probably that's the reason that we don't get to see a 1.5L Jazz.

But yes, market dynamics and requirements are vastly different in our case. If not, a much bigger Jazz with a diesel heart would have made sense than a Brio Amaze :)

Anything with a diesel heart is bound to sell in India for now. Though I doubt a car like Amaze will have any takers in other mature markets for Honda. It seems to be a very India/SE Asia centric car and its nice to see this pro-activeness from Honda though a little late in the day. Still better late than never.

The Honda brand is still revered in India and this a right step for Honda to complete its lagging portfolio.

Toyota was like that before the launch of Etios /Liva. But now is no longer a brand being revered as been in the past.

Cheers!

Its really going to amaze the Indian market. Like Japanese principle of food "It should look good, it should taste good and it should do good", it looks good, it will definitely taste good and am sure that it will also do good. It is going to give competitors a run for their money.

We always have been grumbling that why Honda is not coming up with a good diesel engine for India and here is the answer. I think they should have gifted this engine to City. Nevertheless, amaze looks amazing with all proportionate body with a figure thats going to make the heads turn.

But the question here is, when is it going to come. The car buyers who are planning to buy a car in next couple of months may like to know the answer.

Honda doesn't need our wishes, it is the competitors who might have started keeping their fingers crossed should be wished all the best.

A little offtopic, Without quoting anyone, I dont necessarily agree or think that Toyota as a brand is revered anymore. The T badge is still synonyms with Quality. Etios/Liva may not feel premium, they still are quality cars and that is why they continue to sell in numbers that they are doing now.

Honda still is considered a premium by most of the common men and if they get the price of Amaze right from the begining, they have a winner in their hand. If we could lap up swift and Dzire, Honda shouldn't be a big problem, albeit the pricing.