[abhatt]

FIL got NIOS Sports AMT for the same usage as yours for 8.5 and we couldn't be happier. Barring safety which isn't a major concern in Mumbai it's a great vehicle for the city.

[sunikkat]

Between Punch and Amaze, I would definitely suggest the latter. It’s a no nonsense practical car which is also priced well. You seem to keep the car for longer period and Amaze will serve you just fine. And that CVT gearbox is much better than Tata AMT.
Other than the high ground clearance, I don’t see any benefit of going for Punch over Amaze.

[Hispaniola]

Originally Posted by hanzt

Thanks a lot. I took the test drive today on the VX variant, and one thing I sorely missed was the horn!.

As such no issues for me or my wife.

[Asoon]

Originally Posted by hanzt

Yes, I know, I know, its an apples-oranges comparison, one is a micro-SUV, the other a compact-Sedan, but allow me to explain how I ended up here:

Swift is an amazing car and I do not think both options (Amaze / Punch) will offer an upgrade over your current ride. Also you mentioned 16 years old car which means it has 1.3L / 90 Hp engine again reenforcing above statement

So I would suggest an upgrade in the lines of Nexon / Venue / Sonet / XUV 300, Now given your driving (< 1500 Km a year) you will not be able to generate ROI against depreciation

So, why not a pre owned, you can find a lot of 2-3 years old at good price
- Nexon/ Venue / Brezza / XIV300 will suit your requirements, you can also get good deal on Kicks / Capture

[itsmeparvathy9]

If you are able to get a good deal on a used car, that would be the better option considering you don't clock many kilometres. But if you are not willing to go the used car route, the options mentioned here in the forum are worth considering.

[1:1]

Originally Posted by hanzt

Yes, I know, I know, its an apples-oranges comparison, one is a micro-SUV, the other a compact-Sedan, but allow me to explain how I ended up here:

A good friend of mine was in the same dilemma. But he got frustrated waiting for Punch. Booking was done in first week of January 22, till June end there was no clarity of when the car will be delivered. He had plans of taking family out for summer vacation and nothing happened.
Sales rep from TATA kept saying we don't know cant commit when will the car be allotted.
I convinced him to go have a look at Amaze and he really liked it. Next week he cancelled his Punch Booking and is going to take delivery of Amaze VX auto of 15 days from booking the car.

INHO Amaze feels like a overall complete car for the price you pay for it.
Also amaze is in its 3rd iteration which would ideally mean all the smaller niggles and defects would have been taken care of. While Punch is in its first avatar you may not know what issues will popup. Just go with Amaze it is a segment above and will mostly be more reliable.

[salluks]

Any reason why not hatches?

I am seriously considering selling my 7 months old amaze back to Honda and exchanging for a Jazz which seems much better to me (i should have gone for jazz in the first place as it was only 50k more).

[tirumalavoleti]

Amaze for the smooth CVT and spacious interiors.

On a side note, Kiger too has good safety 4 star, 4 air bags, spacious best in class boot, smooth CVT with Turbo 1 ltr. Check out for any offers and strike the deal

[harry10]

This is a no brainer.
Amaze is more spacious and will be more reliable. Honda A.S.S is far far better than Tata A.S.S. Plus CVT will any day trump AMT.

[speed79]

Against the most of the views here, I find Amaze to be an ugly looking car. The only car I do not like from Honda stable (after Mobilio). Not sure if it is quirky design or the not-so-good paint quality or the Maruti-grade sheet metal, but I don't like it at all.

My FIL recently bought Amaze CVT. I haven't driven it yet, but he complains that it is highly underpowered. His previous car was Indigo XL Dicor and he feels Amaze to be a step-down in terms of performance.

[KryptonMonkey]

We had a similar set of requirements in the family and the eventual purchase was the Honda Amaze VX CVT. At present it is about 3K KM old, having been purchased a few months ago.

The serious contenders were the Punch AMT, Amaze CVT and the Baleno CVT.

An aside: We had a strict criteria of not going for a hatchback/CSUV variant that did not have rear wash and wipe and rear defogger. So a lot of the hatchback/CSUV competition fell short on this count as their variants in this budget didn't have such functionality.

The Amaze won everyone over for some of the following reasons:

• The CVT is butter smooth. I cannot emphasize this enough. The AMT was jerky and underwhelming. My daily-drive is an MT and if I'm switching to an automatic, AMTs will not feature in my wishlist, unless I'm absolutely shackled by budget constraints.
• The Baleno lacked the paddle shifters that the Amaze came with. Hence the Baleno got rejected. I had some fun driving in the ghats with the paddle shifters.
• The Amaze has spacious interiors and a great boot that swallows luggage like nobody's business. If you keep your cars long, then space is something you can never have enough of. On the exterior as well, despite being a sub-4m car, it gives the impression of being a larger car. The pearl white shade accentuates this effect.
• The 4-cylinder engine of the Amaze is super-refined. Unless you go pedal to the metal, you'll barely notice the engine inside the cabin.
• The keyless entry of the Amaze is very seamless. No need to press the request sensor button on the handle at all. It may not be something you'd appreciate during a test drive, but in daily usage, it's fantastic to use. Honda's implementation of this feature is excellent.
• To the novice drivers in the family, the hood being visible from the height-adjustable driver's seat was apparently very valuable. The muscle-car looks of the car enable this "feature". So you don't need a CSUV to enjoy this "feature".
• At 170mm, the ground clearance of the Amaze was sufficient and there have been no issues with bottom-scraping so far.

Your concern about the horn placement in the Amaze shouldn't put you off, in my opinion. You'll be driving the CVT which means you should have both hands on the wheel for the most part anyway. The little slip to extend your thumb towards the horn won't affect your control at all.

Overall the VX CVT is THE Amaze variant to go for. Everything that you need in a comfortable daily-drive car is present factory-fitted, and the car looks amazing with those LED headlights and alloy wheels. Get the driver armrest (this is a must in the CVT), and perhaps the art-leather seat covers (if you're jittery about maintaining the beige fabric seats) as accessories and enjoy your drives.

[bravo82in]

I was in a similar dilemma few days back, when I was looking for a replacement for my Dad's Micra. My requirement were safe, compact, automatic car, easy on maintenance for city use, with occasional short highway runs. My TDs were limited to Tata and Honda, only manufacturers offering 4/5 star rated car under 10 lacs and fulfilling my requirements.

I just test drove 3 cars- Tiago, Punch and amaze.

I am finally going for Amaze S CVT Petrol. Reasons being; Tata's 1.2 Revotron is no match to Honda's super refined 1.2 iVTEC. The CVT is an experience in itself, leagues ahead of AMT. Lots of reliability issues with Tata's AMT gear box, just google and you will know. Long term reliability of Hondas is better than Tatas. The service experience of Honda (I have a Jazz too) is better than Tata (Owned an Aria for 9 years).

Its best to avoid newly baked Tata products.

Only con with Amaze will be the ground clearance and safety rating (4 vs 5 stars )

Another car you may consider is the Jazz. It is a hatchback but with better built quality than Amaze.

[charanreddy]

Despite owning a Nexon Diesel AMT, my pick for your use case is the Amaze CVT. It s a brilliantly packaged car with great room on the inside and boot space. The engine is a tad underpowered but as an overall package , hard to beat. The interior quality is a little iffy, but coming from the swift , should be OK.

[Samegoodkid]

My two cents on this.
If your yearly running will be less than 1500 KMs, then I would suggest to go for a bigger car. If possible, increase your budget a bit more and get that brezza. You can keep the car longer and it would work out cheaper for you in the long run as well. In case it is still between Punch and Amaze, I would say go for amaze CVT.

[Aditya]

Poll added.

Unless you really want something that looks like an SUV, the Amaze is the better choice of the two. It's more refined, has a better gearbox (CVT) and rides better. It will also be more reliable in the long run.

Punch has its share of positives, but as a daily driver, I'd much rather have the Amaze.