I got Elevate (Pearl White, V Automatic) in December 2023. Wanted to write the review after covering some decent mileage but could drive only about 5000 kms in 16 months due to work commitments and laziness. Below are my observations on the selection, purchase and experience with the car.
Selection: My earlier Honda i.e. Brio (S, Manual) was completing 10 years and it was time to change, not only due to reason that Brio was 10 years old but also for the fact that I was facing shortage of boot space more frequently. Other than that, it was flawless, as I expected from Honda. The smoothness of rev-happy i-VTEC engine, the reliability of each and every part of the car was very soothing, particularly for a lazy person like me who just wants to drive the car with minimum visits to the service station. Brio was to be serviced every 6 months, which I did in the initial warranty period. Once that was over, I switched to 1 year period. No extended warranty was sought, no issues faced. That is Honda.
Now, when I thought of changing, I considered all the options available at that time. XUV700 was one of them. But did not proceed ahead for (i) it being a new product from Mahindra and (ii) there were long waiting periods. I considered Creta and Seltos also. As I wanted an automatic, I realised one interesting thing – Elevate was cheaper, much cheaper than Creta or Seltos for automatic variants. Honda generally charges a premium for its products, but this time, it was quite reasonably priced. The lowest automatic model in both Creta and Seltos were above 16 L ex-showroom whereas Elevate automatic was just 13.28 L ex-showroom. This meant that Elevate’s on-road price would be less than Creta/Seltos’ ex-showroom price. This was besides safety related concerns about the Korean twins.
Hyryder/G Vitara were having a long wait time for their hybrid models. Also, the price difference with their mild hybrid versions were significant. Their petrol engines were just ok kind of thing. These two seemed to be made for people looking for great mileage.
Thought of Volkswagen/Skoda products also (Kushak etc) but always had that reliability issues about them in some corner of my mind.
Purchase: Booked the car from Ring Road Honda in Delhi and took the delivery in December 2023. Dealership messed up with the insurance. I told them that I would arrange for the insurance on my own. They were ok with that and I insured the car with Acko. When I sent them insurance details, they said they can not deliver the car if insurance is with Acko. After some arguments, I changed the insurer and took the delivery. But this was not a good experience. Further, the fast tag (from SBI) provided by the dealership was not activated timely and I faced issues because of that.
V was the lowest model in CVT line up and it had all the features that I wanted except one i.e. cruise control. To get this, one need to get ZX but that was too much a price difference. Surprisingly, the middle version i.e. VX also did not get cruise control.
Experience: My observations are:
- The 1.5 L iVtech Engine is refined, responsive and has adequate power.
- Suspension is good, as good as Brio’s, which I considered very good.
- The front look is plain and fantastic, the rear is good and the side profile is ok kind for me. I absolutely love the almost horizontal bonnet although it probably comes at the cost of mileage.
- The boot space and the ground clearance are the major plus points of this car, specially for me who is coming from a 175 litre boot space car and travels often on pot holed/uneven roads like Delhi Jaipur highway. Recently, went for a two hour journey with 9-year old two children sitting in the boot space comfortably. Car ranks very high in terms of both ground clearance and boot space in its category.
- Mileage – For car’s running in Delhi, almost all in peak hours, I am getting 11 kmpl and I am happy with that. For outside travels, it is 16-17.
- Lights are bright and enough.
- NVH – This is the biggest let down. It is something so very un-Honda-ish. Road noise is very much present in the car. Compared to this, Brio now feels very insulated, silent. I am very disappointed from Honda on this issue, it was not expected. Moreover, some harshness was there, although it now seems to be reducing. Thankfully, vibrations are not there. At even normal speeds, road/tyre noise is just annoying.
- The inside is simple and functional, just as I prefer. The infotainment system gave some trouble initially connecting with the phone but now it is good.
- Reverse Camera is very clear and has good resolution. Sensors also works fine.
- AC is good, cools quickly. In this area, it is an improvement over Brio whose AC was lethargic.
- I am yet to learn and use Sports Mode properly but have used paddle shifters sometimes for engine braking on slopes. That works decently.
- Have bought Zopasu duster which is very good for car cleaning. Because of white color, the cleaning requirements are not that much.
- One more minus point (besides road noise) is the absence of Honda’s OEM car seat covers in fabric. I got these for Brio and they were of very high quality and with a reasonable price (I got them free). Now, for Elevate, non-fabric seat covers are available but not the fabric one. I am still searching for some decent fabric seat covers.
Brio Seat Cover
Overall, it is good product with 7.5/10 rating. All the 2.5 marks deducted for that irritating road noise. I suggest prospective buyers to do proper test drive if this aspect is important for you.