[aveoman19]

Purely for the Amazing safety rating, my pick is Punch.

[sarav100]

Voted for Amaze since that’s what we brought some time ago when Punch was our first choice.

Amaze is a much superior car than Punch in all aspects except safety.

I can list out the following key takeaways from my Amaze ownership that can help you make an informed decision:

1. Although S variant is incredible value for money and ticks most of the boxes, I’d still recommend you to spend that extra INR 1.2 lacs amount and get the VX variant. LED lights, touchscreen infotainment, 15 inch diamond cut alloy wheels, better MID, keyless entry are well worth the premium in VX, especially if this is going to be your primary car.

2. Don’t expect the puny 1.2 litre petrol engine to set any lap records. This engine lacks the low end grunt and takes it’s sweet time to build speeds at traffic signals. That being said once it passes 2000 rpm band, it comes alive and becomes much more responsive. The engine NVH levels are excellent in normal daily driving and engine note becomes sportier once you cross 3000 rpm mark in a good way.

3. The fit and finish is not something that I’d say is commendable and it is especially noticeable to be a downgrade if you’ve travelled in other cars from Honda stable. The incorrectly aligned glovebox especially sticks out like a sore thumb. Similarity, some cheapened out parts like JK Vectra tyres, low cost transparent wiper fluid lines, missing engine guard, some bonnet vibrations while travelling at high speed, missing rear wheel well cladding/ damping materials and high flex bumpers certainly feel like a bummer in an otherwise well put together car.

4. The car is quite narrow and easy to drive. You’re able to see the corners of the bumper and navigating it through dense traffic should be a breeze. At the same time, since cabin is quite narrow, the back seat can accommodate only two adults comfortably.

5. The suspension setup is tuned towards comfort and eats up most of the bumps and undulations of the road with ease. The front occupants will definitely appreciate the comfortable ride. This was one of our key criteria since the car is mostly driver driven and is used by senior citizens in our family for commuting.

6. Fuel consumption is not a forte of this engine and fuels efficiency hovers around 15 kmpl only for highway drives. That being said, I expect the mileage to improve post first oil change at 10000 km and with a lighter foot driving.

7. Honda sales and service is definitely superior than the competition. The same reflects in their honest dealings and transparency. This aspect goes a long way in long term ownership and support.

We were aware of most of the pros and cons of Amaze S MT 1.2 petrol at the time of purchase and we did book Punch Pure MT initially.

Among other options, we did look at Nissan Magnite, Hyundai Aura, Hyundai Xcent Prime, Suzuki Baleno and Suzuki Ignis(purely due to lower purchase cost) as well but none of them clicked our heart like Amaze and Punch did.

[Neversaygbye]

If you don't need the extra ground clearance, the Amaze wins hands down - you get a better engine and gearbox combo for about the same price plus ample boot space. We have an (MT) Amaze in the extended family and it is a pretty sorted and comfortable car.

In case you still want to consider the Punch, apart from ground clearance, the Tata also beats Honda on overall build quality and safety. Unlike the Hondas of old, the new ones are a bit tinny and prone to picking up dents and scratches. Plus the Amaze seems built to a cost and lacks the more premium feel of the City.

Having said that, I would still go for the Honda since it has the better engine-gearbox combo and is a very comfortable car to be in. However, do test drive both before you decide.

One other point regarding Tata service - it is not as hit or miss as the TBHP reviews make it out to be. It is now consistently good and I am speaking here from my own experience with TASS in Calcutta and Jabalpur. TASS has really upped their game in the last 3-4 years. The only issue nowadays is that the ASCs are always super crowded.

[PhoenixInRising]

I do not have any experience to share about Punch since I have not used it. But I can share my experience about Amaze. We got an Amaze S petrol, MT in Oct 2018 for my parents at my native place. They rely on a regular driver for occasional usages. Whenever we visit them I use it extensively during my stay. We all(4 adults and two kids) have gone for 3 trips of around 1000 kms and some short trips.
Although this is an MT vehicle but you can refer to below points, more from a usage experience point of view.
1. The rear seat is comfortable for 2 adults and one kid.
2. Driver and co-passenger seats are comfortable but not as spacious as City.
3. My Mom(nearing 70 and has knee problems) sometimes has some level of discomfort while getting in the rear seat. Our last vehicle was WagonR so that difference of accessing rear seat is still felt. If your parents are closer to 70, please check the ingress and egress to the rear seat.
4. Service wise experience has been good and no complaints till now.
5. My dad was initially apprehensive about the service cost compared to Maruti but he has never raised the point of service cost in this period till date. Although I do not recollect the exact service amounts.
6. Boot space is quite good. You can load a standard luggage of 28”(28”x19”x13” approx) and still you have space for a couple of small duffel bags and a cabin bag size luggage.
7. One noticeable miss is the rear AC vents. In hot summer days we need to constantly operate the AC at lower temperatures even though the front part becomes very cold.
8. Ground clearance is low. You can expect some scrapping when crossing over ill planned bumpers scattered across our roads when car is fully loaded.
I am not mentioning about mileage since your preference is AT model.
You can personally drive both these vehicles to check how each suits your need.
I hope the above points help.
Thanks.

[hanzt]

Thanks a lot everyone for taking time to share your thoughts, truly appreciate it!.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Jeez, I wish the questions in my exams were this easy!

How about if we include the Urban Cruiser into the mix? I took the advise of follow BHPians here and checked it out today, it is expensive and the dealer is going to quote me an apparently attractive price by tomorrow, so how would you stack the UC against the Amaze. (I know again, apples-oranges )Is the 4 speed TC an issue?

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

I would like to propose another alternative, why not the Toyota Urban Cruiser Mid-Grade AT, it has a proper Torque converter but you could get hefty discounts considering its going to be phased out soon.

Originally Posted by Aakash118

Or you can try to get a new one from Toyota, as many Toyota dealers have UC stock with them.

Thanks Guys, I took your suggestion & went to the Toyota showroom today, will test drive tomorrow, but my dad & I both loved the car. And the dealer guy was a pleasure to talk to. Interestingly they already have cars in stock, unlike all other companies, which makes me wonder why the UC is not selling as much!?

Originally Posted by Hispaniola

And S-Cvt has all the necessary features. Happy shopping.

Originally Posted by KryptonMonkey

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.

I am thinking of dropping down from VX to the S variant and adding only the 'missing' things (from my perspective) as add-ons. It is working out to be cheaper than the best price they are offering me for the VX. Any thoughts on this?

Originally Posted by salluks

Any reason why not hatches?
I am seriously considering selling my 7 months old amaze back to Honda

I already have a hatchback (swift) so wanted a different body type. What were the key reasons for returning the Amaze?

Originally Posted by tirumalavoleti

Amaze for the smooth CVT and spacious interiors.

I actually took a measuring tape to all the showrooms today. Between Amaze, Punch, Nexon & UC, the inner cabin door-to-door width increases in this particular order. So Amaze is the narrowest (incidentally same width inside, as my Swift!)

Originally Posted by 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.

I echo all the points that you have mentioned here!

Originally Posted by bravo82in

I am finally going for Amaze S CVT Petrol.

Originally Posted by 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

I went to the dealer today, older Brezza TC stock is all over. What are your thoughts on the Urban Cruiser, keeping in mind the same points you mentioned ?

Originally Posted by Aditya

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

Can you plz also add the Urban Cruiser to the poll, if possible?
I will test drive the Punch tomorrow, so lets see. I test drove Nexon today, it was surely a lot more peppier than Amaze, thanks to the turbocharger (i guess).

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

In case you still want to consider the Punch, apart from ground clearance, the Tata also beats Honda on overall build quality and safety.

I tried pressing the bonnet of the Amaze & Punch/Nexon/UC today. The bonnet of the Amaze actually went in momentarily & popped out like a tin can, but the bonnet of the latter 3 cars wouldnt budge at all, not matter how hard I pressed

Originally Posted by Neversaygbye

One other point regarding Tata service - it is not as hit or miss as the TBHP reviews make it out to be. It is now consistently good and I am speaking here from my own experience with TASS in Calcutta and Jabalpur. TASS has really upped their game in the last 3-4 years.

We had a v poor exp. with the showroom in Mumbai today. It was filled with Tata reps and there was just one customer other than us, and yet all their staff were just busy on their phones and not interested. Even the guy who joined us for the test drive didnt speak a word, was on his phone disinterested. This has my father worried about how the after-sales is going to be.

[hanzt]

Attn MODs: Intentionally responding separately to this post, as the earlier one was getting too long and there are multiple responses here too. Plz feel free to delete this, if you feel otherwise

Originally Posted by sarav100

1. Although S variant is incredible value for money and ticks most of the boxes, I’d still recommend you to spend that extra INR 1.2 lacs amount and get the VX variant. LED lights, touchscreen infotainment, 15 inch diamond cut alloy wheels, better MID, keyless entry are well worth the premium in VX, especially if this is going to be your primary car.

I looked at all the things that VX has which S does not, and honestly not all things appealed to me. I am actually now contemplating going for the S, and adding only those things that I need, as add-ons. Its working out to be cheaper.

Originally Posted by sarav100

2. Don’t expect the puny 1.2 litre petrol engine to set any lap records. This engine lacks the low end grunt and takes it’s sweet time to build speeds at traffic signals. That being said once it passes 2000 rpm band, it comes alive and becomes much more responsive. The engine NVH levels are excellent in normal daily driving and engine note becomes sportier once you cross 3000 rpm mark in a good way.

I noticed that takes a 2-3 seconds to accelerate and get where I want it to be

Originally Posted by sarav100

4. At the same time, since cabin is quite narrow, the back seat can accommodate only two adults comfortably.

Today I actually used a measuring tape to measure the rear seat width door-to-door for multiple cars and Amaze is the narrowest by 1-2 inches vs Punch/Nexon/UC. Infact it is the same width as my Swift, which is a bit of a disappointment. The beige color scheme surely gives it a larger-than-it-is feel

Originally Posted by sarav100

5. The suspension setup is tuned towards comfort and eats up most of the bumps and undulations of the road with ease.

I actually found it a bit bouncier, esp over speed-breakers.

Originally Posted by sarav100

Among other options, we did look at Nissan Magnite, Hyundai Aura, Hyundai Xcent Prime, Suzuki Baleno and Suzuki Ignis(purely due to lower purchase cost) as well but none of them clicked our heart like Amaze and Punch did.

Since you looked at Amaze, which is a sedan, any reason you didnt look at the Dzire as well, considering that it has everything Amaze has, and is 1Lac+ cheaper ?

[KryptonMonkey]

Originally Posted by hanzt

I am thinking of dropping down from VX to the S variant and adding only the 'missing' things (from my perspective) as add-ons. It is working out to be cheaper than the best price they are offering me for the VX. Any thoughts on this?

Here's what you get for the extra ~1 Lakh (ex-showroom) that you pay for the VX over the S variant:

• Rear Defogger
• Automatic Climate Control
• Reverse Camera
• Keyless Start/Entry
• One-touch up (Driver only)
• Chrome Door handles
• LED DRLs
• LED Projector Headlights
• Fog Lights
• Android Auto/Apple Carplay
• Alloy Wheels
• Automatic Headlight Control
• Front & Rear Mudguard
• Outside temperature display
• Instantaneous FE display
• 2 USB ports instead of 1
• Front Map Lamp

For us, the rear defogger was a must-have and I'm not sure we could've gotten that in the after-market. We also believed in the adage that factory-finish is factory-finish and didn't want to tinker with the new car, especially because the car would spend some time in rural areas for a while after purchase. To our mind, the premium being charged for the jump from S to VX was justified, so we went all-in and picked up the VX variant.

If the rear defogger is not a priority and you're confident of installing and living with after-market fitments, I'd say the S CVT would give you tremendous value indeed.

Just curious, for which of the above items are you considering going the after-market way?

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by hanzt

Thanks a lot everyone for taking time to share your thoughts, truly appreciate it!.

How about if we include the Urban Cruiser into the mix? I took the advise of follow BHPians here and checked it out today, it is expensive and the dealer is going to quote me an apparently attractive price by tomorrow, so how would you stack the UC against the Amaze. (I know again, apples-oranges )Is the 4 speed TC an issue?

Thanks Guys, I took your suggestion & went to the Toyota showroom today, will test drive tomorrow, but my dad & I both loved the car. And the dealer guy was a pleasure to talk to. Interestingly they already have cars in stock, unlike all other companies, which makes me wonder why the UC is not selling as much!?

I don't think the 4-speed gearbox is going to be much of an issue considering the Torque converter it is mated to, moreover I would love for you to kindly tell me which variant you are going for and what discounts the dealer put in from their end as well.

The price differential between the Vitara Brezza and the Urban Cruiser, the abundance of Maruti dealerships over Toyota's may have come into play as regards sales. Please do post on how the Test drive went on too.

[hanzt]

Originally Posted by KryptonMonkey

Here's what you get for the extra ~1 Lakh (ex-showroom) that you pay for the VX over the S variant:
Just curious, for which of the above items are you considering going the after-market way?

Yes, the ex-showroom diff. is 1lac, but when you add the RTO, tax, insurance, etc the total on-road difference is approx 1.2lac.
I am not going to do it 'after-market' as it will void the warranty. Honda has a long list of accessories that I can add to the car, so I am thinking of asking them to add the below accessories to the S-variant themselves at the time of taking the delivery:

• Automatic Climate Control (not sure if I can get this, but not a deal breaker)
• LED Bulbs replacing the halogen
• Fog Lights
• Android Auto Carplay + rev camera OR go for the IRVM camera with display as the latter is 22k cheaper than an android touch-screen. BTW during test drive I found it difficult to look at the IRVM/ORVMs and the Android display while parking, so I feel the IRVM with camera display would be better (& super cheaper)
• Front & Rear Mudguard

All of this is coming in <40K, esp if I go for IRVM camera with display

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

I don't think the 4-speed gearbox is going to be much of an issue considering the Torque converter it is mated to, moreover I would love for you to kindly tell me which variant you are going for and what discounts the dealer put in from their end as well.

The price differential between the Vitara Brezza and the Urban Cruiser, the abundance of Maruti dealerships over Toyota's may have come into play as regards sales. Please do post on how the Test drive went on too.

I checked online, price difference between VXI AT & mid-Grade AT is barely a few thousand (see here). So I am not sure if pricing is why Brezza sells 3x-4x times the UC.
I will surely let you know about the price offer & the driving experience, esp. since I have test driven the Nexon as well, and I personally felt even the eco-mode of Nexon to be far peppier/eager than the Amaze CVT so far.

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by hanzt

So I am not sure if pricing is why Brezza sells 3x-4x times the UC.
I will surely let you know about the price offer & the driving experience, esp. since I have test driven the Nexon as well, and I personally felt even the eco-mode of Nexon to be far peppier/eager than the Amaze CVT so far.

The VXi AT of the Vitara Brezza and the Mid-Grade AT of the Urban Cruiser may be hardly Rs.5000 apart, but the ZXi AT and High-Grade AT are Rs.15,000 apart and the ZXI+ AT and the Premium-Grade AT are Rs.40,000 apart.

Moreover, when you are getting a badge-engineered car with hardly any difference, with more showrooms and service centre availability and wider reach of Maruti against Toyota, Maruti will surely sell more cars hands down no matter the subtle price difference.

To add to that, the allocation of Virara Brezzas were much more than Urban Cruisers from the production line itself and Vitara Brezza had been in the market for quite a long time and was a best-seller already. Many were also not in huge favour of Toyota's strategy of badge-engineering either.

All these points together pointed towards the sales of Urban Cruiser being much lower than Vitara Brezza. A point to note, Urban cruiser was the fourth bestselling sub-compact SUV for the month of June 2022, with 5301 units sold as against Brezza selling just 4,404 units in the same month. But a lot of that has to do with the launch of the New Brezza as well.

[hanzt]

Originally Posted by itsmeparvathy9

A point to note, Urban cruiser was the fourth bestselling sub-compact SUV for the month of June 2022, with 5301 units sold as against Brezza selling just 4,404 units in the same month. But a lot of that has to do with the launch of the New Brezza as well.

Plz do have a look at this BHP post .
H1 2022 - Brezza sold 57K units, UC sold 20K units, so that is what I was referring to. But I take your point, Thanks a lot

[Nikhil Beke]

While I get the entire honest attempt at analysing the cars by the great value they offer, Amaze is offered by a brand that has a bleak future in India. I don't expect them to leave the owner in the lurch when it comes to servicing etc, but why risk taking delivery from an outgoing brand? Please go through the discussion here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ity-india.html

[hanzt]

Originally Posted by Nikhil Beke

While I get the entire honest attempt at analysing the cars by the great value they offer, Amaze is offered by a brand that has a bleak future in India. I don't expect them to leave the owner in the lurch when it comes to servicing etc, but why risk taking delivery from an outgoing brand? Please go through the discussion here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ity-india.html

thanks for sharing this. I was actually thinking about this as well. Any thoughts about Toyota's future ? Have you heard anything about Toyota ?

[itsmeparvathy9]

Originally Posted by hanzt

thanks for sharing this. I was actually thinking about this as well. Any thoughts about Toyota's future ? Have you heard anything about Toyota ?

As far as Toyota is concerned, financially there are quite well off, with loss reported just last year out of previous five years, but Toyota has no plans of expansion in India and most probably all future models will have some or the other tie-up with Maruti Suzuki. They are playing it safe here, by rebadging Maruti products and hanging on to their signature Innova, Fortuner, Hilux etc. Their upcoming products will have very few "original" Toyota cars with badge engineered/ products co-developed with Maruti Suzuki being a major contributor to their sales.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by hanzt

Thanks a lot everyone for taking time to share your thoughts, truly appreciate it!.

We had a v poor exp. with the showroom in Mumbai today. It was filled with Tata reps and there was just one customer other than us, and yet all their staff were just busy on their phones and not interested. Even the guy who joined us for the test drive didnt speak a word, was on his phone disinterested. This has my father worried about how the after-sales is going to be.

After sales is a different beast from showroom experience - had you been in Calcutta I would have assured you that there is nothing to worry about, but I suppose the Tata owners in Mumbai can guide you whether you need to worry about TASS in Mumbai.

Don't let the showroom experience affect your purchase decision - it will be a different team that will be servicing your car. I can tell you that showroom experience is still something that Tata needs to improve. When my friend was shopping for a car, he went with me to the local Lexus Motors showroom near us to check out the Nexon and the experience was exactly similar to yours. He eventually went with the Sonet since the showroom experience put him off Tata. However, having driven his Sonet and having been in the Nexon, I still feel he made a wrong choice. The Nexon is the better car. The funny part was that the showroom staff could see that an existing Tata owner had come (we had gone in my car) and yet they were totally disinterested. My advice would be to go to a different showroom and also check with other BHPians on which is the best service centre in Mumbai, if you do decide to keep Tata in the consideration set.