[deetjohn]

Great first drive report Vid6639.

Hope Honda gets rid of all that body coloured plastics on the front bumper. A bit of black here and there will make the Amaze look better. And I still can't digest the 2 sharp lines on the rear door. But the integration of the boot looks very good.

The drivability of the engine, reasonably spacious quality interiors, and the featherlight body can make this Honda a big hit in our country. I think the Amaze will be a F.E. champ.

Satisfactory NVH levels without any firewall insulation is unbelievable. A very good job by Honda then.

[Nilesh5417]

Brilliant news and nice write up.

Now only if i'd felt even half as excited about the cars looks as i was about opening this thread to find out whats in it. It looks damn neat from the rear but head on, its just not a sedan look. Almost borders ugly. But hey, it will sell. Its a Honda - a diesel Honda!

[_raVan_]

Thanks for the report Vid Was disappointed to see that Honda didnt allow to post interior snaps though.

But showers of praises from you and other sources regarding its driveability and interior space makes it _THE_ car to look forward to in 2013. I really wish they would increase the rear seating width. I wonder if there are any chances of City getting that 1.5L diesel engine?

[MCR]

Thanks for a very good review.

The car looks very proportionate and we can expect Honda to deliver!
I am pretty sure that this is going to be the Dzire/Etios/Manza killer. I am pretty sure that the build quality will be defenitely good, unless Honda decides to surprise us rather (Just like Toyota did with the Etios).
So here is the perfect entry level sedan : Solid reliability (hopefully), Space, Good build quality, decent handling and ride quality and mileage.

Did I say that MSIL will be worried big time (or rather spending sleepless nights)?

Its Amaze-ing review. Thanks Vid.

The review is good. Its nice to hear that the car is tuned to provide more torque at low RPM's. Surely, honda has made a winner. Need to see how its going to perform in india.

I have some doubts Vid, would you please answer them?
As per your review, "Fog Lamps would be added in production version" So adding foglamps later on wouldnt cause any problem? Electrical short circuits. Will the car be tested again after installing Foglamps in india, prior sending it to ARAI?

As per your review, "Amaze's engine has been tested extensively with low quality diesel, high sulphur content and a low cetane number to ensure long-term reliability"
So is it an IDI/CRDI/TDI/PD. i tried looking for this, however couldnt find it anywhere. Any guarrentee figures provided by the company regarding the engine life. like skoda says 3.5Lakh KM for its engine.

As per your review, "Engine is mounted on liquid-filled mounts"
What are the advantages of Liquid filled mounts, what are the advantages/disadvantages. Why not the traditional Mounts? any reasons?

As per your review, "A DPF can be added to make it BS-5 compliant in the future."
Pardon my ignorance, what is a DPF. Heard of only catalytic filters to support higher emission norms. What is this DPF.

Per review, "A new blend of oil that is neither fully synthetic nor mineral will be used in Amaze."
Any information on this, this is the first time i hear about this. Is it not semi synthetic?

Thanks for this statment. "When walking past the car, you may not even notice that there's a diesel under the hood." I love such engines. Thank you Vid.

[Thilak29]

This Video found in YT throws more light into this Car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gZBCIbD2Bs&noredirect=1

Amaze Thai Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcrr1fGP930

[romeomidhun]

Very good review, and appreciate the attempt to go all the way to Japan to do that.

Amaze and Earth Dreams Diesel engine will be the definitive game changers for Honda, for sure.

DZire sales will be hit, but sedans like Etios, Verna, Vento, Rapid and City are all going to be hit more by the Amaze. Because, for an Indian who is looking beyond Maruti for his car aspirations, Amaze provides a superb option compared to any other sedan mentioned above.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Didn't they allow photos of the interior? I guess that would be a surprise at launch?

Being a prototype interior pics were not permitted. The dash is identical to the Brio so not much of a surprise.

The rear headroom was NOT a strong point on the Brio, and sadly - as I mentioned in the other thread - they dont seem have to done much about it here as well.

Rear headroom is not that bad. I'm 6 foot tall so for me it was just ok. It's definitely more than the Brio.

1.2 Petrol will NOT be available initially? Thats a shocker? Come on Honda! Just because you have a new diesel powerplant doesn't mean your petrols wont sell! Afterall - petrols have been your bread and butter, ain't it? Since Brio has petrol automatic option - I was hoping a petrol automatic gets launched soon enough. Need one next year for parents - and I feel Amaze will be THE best option by far!

The Petrol will definitely come in later. I'm guessing the reason of bringing it in later will be to let the Jazz survive for a while longer. Once the Amaze is launched in Petrol, it will be probably the same price as Jazz and serve the same purpose. It will make the already low volume Jazz redundant.

99 BHP? Most other publications have been claiming power figures around 80+ bhp.

These are not official figures. Honda did not give any numbers but our sources tell us it will be close to 100BHP. It's a 1.5L modern diesel engine with twin cams and 4 valves per cylinder. The 1.6L engine which is identical save for the VGT and shorter stroke churns out 118BHP.

How light is the clutch action? My father has knee problems and thats why we are looking at the automatic variant. Should the diesel be considered at all - since you are mentioning that the clutch is very light? It will be used in and around Trivandrum - where the traffic is not that bad.

It is very light. I don't see anyone complaining about the clutch. It is the lightest diesel clutch I have driven and is even lighter than my Altis petrol clutch.

The engine uses a new blend of oil that is neither fully synthetic nor mineral? Semi-synth? Or am i missing something?

They did not specify the oil type. The main reason for asking about the oil was maintenance costs. Everyone knows synthetic will result in higher service bills. They said it's going to be a oil developed by them which will be close to synthetic but not as expensive.

Originally Posted by chennai-indian

How was the overall back seat comfort? Can it seat 3 comfortably at the back?

It can definitely seat 3 at the back but the width is not as much as say an Etios. 3 will be a squeeze as I have mentioned in my review.

Originally Posted by Omtoatom

Btw recognize Viddy in the driver's seat there. Is that you GTO next to him on the passenger seat?

Nope's, that ain't GTO. Only I went for this. That's another journo who was present.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

What about the GC, will Amaze also suffer from the GC issues which City has?

The car definitely look raised for indian conditions. How good the GC is we will come to know only when driven on our roads.

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

As per your review, "Fog Lamps would be added in production version" So adding foglamps later on wouldnt cause any problem? Electrical short circuits. Will the car be tested again after installing Foglamps in india, prior sending it to ARAI?

No not at all. Even the Brio has fog lamps only in the V spec top variant. The lower variants make do without them. Same will apply here. Like I said, the variant we were given was a proto type with mixed features and not the final.

As per your review, "Amaze's engine has been tested extensively with low quality diesel, high sulphur content and a low cetane number to ensure long-term reliability"
So is it an IDI/CRDI/TDI/PD. i tried looking for this, however couldnt find it anywhere. Any guarrentee figures provided by the company regarding the engine life. like skoda says 3.5Lakh KM for its engine.

It's a common rail direct injection unit. No figures from Honda on reliability.

As per your review, "Engine is mounted on liquid-filled mounts"
What are the advantages of Liquid filled mounts, what are the advantages/disadvantages. Why not the traditional Mounts? any reasons?

Liquid or gas mounts offer better damping and reduce vibrations better compared to rubber mounts. Disadvantage is that they maybe expensive to replace.

As per your review, "A DPF can be added to make it BS-5 compliant in the future."
Pardon my ignorance, what is a DPF. Heard of only catalytic filters to support higher emission norms. What is this DPF.

Diesel particulate Filter or DPF is an additional filter added to the exhaust to remove solid soot particles. DPF needs to be replaced as part of service and are expensive.

Per review, "A new blend of oil that is neither fully synthetic nor mineral will be used in Amaze."
Any information on this, this is the first time i hear about this. Is it not semi synthetic?

Answered above.

[slackyboy]

Wonderful review . Good work Team BHP way to go!. Now Honda is really going in the right direction. Give the customer what he wants. Im sure they will do exceedingly well with the Amaze.

[msmatic]

Wow, this car looks good. Hope they launch the petrol one soon in India. I guess that should not be much of a problem as components from Brio can be re-used. Seat-Height adjustment is a much needed one, hope they launch it with higher profile tyres in India.

[parrys]

Unlike the prototype, the actual car which was just unveiled in Thailand has a rod antenna (above the driver door).

Image.

Source.

[RavenAvi]

Boot space :-



Another interior shot :-



Launch pics. Nice shade :-



Rear :-





All pics courtesy Honda Brio Amaze Club, Thailand's FB page.

[hrman]

Excellent Review Vidyut and Thanks GTO for the initial name scoop and Brio diesel scoop. And most of all, congrats for being invited to the Japan event by Honda. Its a feather in TBHP's cap and goes to show the trust and credibility you have built over the years. Proud to be part of this great moment..

Coming to the Amaze, I do think it will prove to be a strong competitor to Dzire. It can pick up where Etios has failed. Only hope this doesn't become a favorite with the tourist operators or a Taxi model the Etios or Logan way. It would be a turn off for the customer who wants a piece of the perceived snobbishness of owning a Honda.

Like i had stated earlier on the Amaze thread, if its a Honda, even reasonably good as City and priced well, it will sell. Honda needs to get its service network widened to cater to the large number of sales after launch. I wouldn't mind taking a test drive for the second family car.

[ashis89]

Thanks Vid6639 for your excellent detailed review report. Team-Bhp is sure going places and we are proud to be part of the family.

The Honda diesel was long overdue. But still Honda will be losing out on some oppurtunity by launching the City diesel by 2014. The engine seems fairly advanced and should be very fuel-efficient which is every Honda's forte. The thing to look out for is the pricing, Honda shouldn't charge any premium for the Honda brand name.

The Amaze diesel looks very promising indeed but the looks are not to my liking. Also the front bumper without the black inserts like the ones on Brio don't look good. The rear end seems to be a copy of the Dzire.

[vasanthn21]

Definitely a very good proposition.

I hope the ride quality is better than Brio's, the Brio test drive left we worrying about the ride quality.

The profile and rear look good to me. The front looks (to me) very similar to the Verna Facelift! Is it only me?

If this is coming in April, when is City (diesel) arriving in India?

The youtube video has a text saying 400 while showing the boot (i guess the capacity is 400 litres as guessed by Vid6639)