[snappysam]

Originally Posted by ms_rana

Hi,

After much dilemma and assessment of various compact sedans available, yesterday I booked Honda Amaze S MT (petrol). All this while I was eagerly waiting for Ford Aspire but I had to get vehicle in this month only as I have to go Nainital, Jageshwar, Bhawali etc trip in 1st week of June or so.

Dzire seemed disproportionate with short boot. The back seat comfort was an important factor and though seats are cushy in Dzire, the space is as good or as bad as Swift.

Tata was never an option as they are not yet proven in petrol engine department. Moreover Revotron is 2 valve engine!

I had my sight on Xcent for weeks and they are offering decent discount too. But the biggest problem is with grabby brakes of Xcent which dealer always tried to push as a "strong brakes" feature. Press pedal an inch & vehicle drops anchors! Clearly there is some design / engineering problem. Also the car is quite narrow in back seat. Had to let it go with a heavy heart.

To me, Amaze petrol is a compromise. I bought it primarily because of the space and airiness that it offers (especially in rear). Whatever Honda says the SOHC 1.2 engine is not the best that they are offering. Even Xcent and Dzire have DOHC engine. As per my understanding, in case of Xcent the engine has variable timing on exhaust values too! Nonetheless I will live with what is available.

The delivery is expected by end of this week max. Rest keeping my fingers crossed on vehicle ownership & experience. The journey to Uttaranchal hills shall be real test of the vehicle. Let's see & wish me good luck

Thanks!

Disclaimer: I had, in one of my earlier posts, voiced my displeasure with the Amaze i-Dtec car which I had Test Driven. And I have been following all the interesting posts in this thread.

Last week (19 May 2015), I travelled close to 625 kms in the Diesel Amaze. It was a 2 way trip to Mukkam (place near calicut/Kozhikode) from Cochin/Kochi. Just me & the driver to Mukkam, while the return trip was 4 of my friends & the driver. Observations are based on this experience.

Biggest advantage was the legroom at the rear & front, but that was the only advantage over similar sub 4-meter sedans. Front passenger seat was not comfortable & caused back-ache within 40 kms. I mean, if you rest your back fully on the seat, the top of your spine has no proper support & this is distinctly unergonomic. To add to the problem, seat recline angle is not good either. Under thigh support too is average.

At the back, while the legroom is admirable, seats are hopeless & not sufficiently wide. On our way back, with 3 average size people at the back, it was a very very tight squeeze & one of us had to sit slightly forward. And this for average size guys (heaviest was 74 kilos, 68 Kilo & 50 Kg). The same set of people could travel very comfortably in a Maruti Dezire 3 weeks ago.

With five on board with 2 camera bags (normal ones), 1 tripod, 2 laptop bags, the car was bottoming out & scraping/hitting all speed breakers. Car was less than 1.5 years old & had 47000 kms on the Odo. This was a taxi.

A/C was horrid (see my earlier post in this thread) even at 30-34 Degrees in Kerala heat & humidity. A/C was hopeless even at night. Vent temperature did not have enough chill either (it could have been peculiar to this car).

Less said about the engine sound the better - noise was always intrusive & sound quite a bit like the Tata 407 truck (it was not as loud though). This made me query the driver if the car was serviced properly. He answered that the car had regular company service & was never serviced out.

Reason for this post is: What was HONDA thinking? One would be appalled to experience such low quality product from them. Me thinks they are doling out a cheap product just for us Indians. Sorry HONDA, this has left a bitter experience.

Issac

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by snappysam

Me thinks they are doling out a cheap product just for us Indians. Sorry HONDA, this has left a bitter experience.

Issac

I too had scraped with 2 passengers at the back, but it has to do with the slope of the speedbreaker as well.

The engine starting/stopping experience itself is such a huge turnoff. The decade old Classic with it's not-so-advanced common rail engine is much better refined.

It pulls cleanly from low rpm but engine becomes coarse once past 2k rpm, so i seldom exceed that rpm. Whereas it feels sporty to touch 3k occasionally in competition's diesel engines.

Heck whatever discussion this side of 1 million rupee and I end up praising the 1248cc gem.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by snappysam

Front passenger seat was not comfortable & caused back-ache within 40 kms.

Front driver seat is just as bad. A bead curtain on the seat back and seat - and a neck cushion helped considerably so that it is comfortable to drive medium distances (eg: chennai to bangalore). I have also had to push the seat rather back so my legs are less cramped, but I'm six feet tall.

I would love to get those seats replaced with other seats like on the old honda city - is that possible (same width, mountings etc)?

[snappysam]

In my post I meant Driver, myself & 3 friends. Not 4 friends. Sorry for the error

[sugato_basu]

Contrary to the views and opinion expressed in this forum, I am extremely satisfied with my Amaze IVTEC EX model purchased in May 2013. I have driven more than 14000kms in two years in all sort of terrains. I have done 500kms from Angul to Kolkata, numerous times, on a single stretch without any back pains, some of them entirely during night hours. I have covered more than 600kms at a stretch from Angul to Vizag at speeds crossing 120kmph with excellent average mileage. All of these highway travelling has been with family. I have driven through the busy by lanes of Kolkata and encountered bumper to bumper traffic with great ease and maneuverability. Luggage and cabin spaces are more than admirable and mileage has averaged 17-18 kmpl. AC has worked satisfactorily at ambient temperatures of +44degC at Bhubaneswar and Angul. No maintenance costs so far except periodical oil changes, tyre rotations and wheel balancing. I have absolutely no complains with Honda Amaze, neither do anyone of the 15 Honda Amaze owners at Nalconagar Angul.

[hserus]

I'm hardly getting 12.2 kmpl out of my amaze - but that is mostly a running average based on city driving in thick traffic, with occasional (only 3 so far in the past 9 months) highway trip. How'd you manage 17..18 - I guess far more long trips to take care of the mileage? Or did you calculate this tank to tank?

Kids get carsick when they drive long distances or I'd take the car out more

[kkkkkaran]

Originally Posted by hserus

I'm hardly getting 12.2 kmpl out of my amaze - but that is mostly a running average based on city driving in thick traffic, with occasional (only 3 so far in the past 9 months) highway trip. How'd you manage 17..18 - I guess far more long trips to take care of the mileage? Or did you calculate this tank to tank?



Kids get carsick when they drive long distances or I'd take the car out more

My amaze AT has been giving me almost 13 in city, on the MID.. Which in real world should be around 11.5-12. No highway trips yet, the car is barely a month old.

[bigwheelz]

Originally Posted by kkkkkaran

My amaze AT has been giving me almost 13 in city, on the MID.. Which in real world should be around 11.5-12. No highway trips yet, the car is barely a month old.

Have done 26k in my Amaze AT since Dec'13. I had back pain due to the seat. With a neck rest and regular exercise, that is now gone. Did Pune-Coorg in Mar and Pune-Goa in April without any back issues. I also do couple of Pune-Mumbai trips every month. Happy with the car overall. The avg. FE is around 13-14. You really get good FE if you follow the ECO light on dashboard .

[ShankarG]

Hi Friends, having gone through the numerous posts and experiences shared by all you in this thread, i have a fair understanding about this being a better than average car. Of course niggles and issues are there but most of you seem to be moderately satisfied.

My dad is looking to buy an Amaze with CNG option. Although I am trying to persuade to instead go for a diesel option since the cost difference between a CNG and Diesel car is almost 50K, and the diesel has a higher mileage and almost equivalent cost per liter (in Delhi).
Considering the hassle in filling CNG and battling long queues, at the same time putting a higher effort in maintenance, is it worth a buy? Or a standard diesel or a petrol one makes sense.
Although i am inclined towards Tata zest but my dad is speculative about Tata brand. Hyundai Xcent too is ruled as well out because i own its shorter sibling the Grand i10.

Please share your views.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by ShankarG

Hi Friends, having gone through the numerous posts and experiences shared by all you in this thread, i have a fair understanding about this being a better than average car. Of course niggles and issues are there but most of you seem to be moderately satisfied.

My dad is looking to buy an Amaze with CNG option. Although I am trying to persuade to instead go for a diesel option since the cost difference between a CNG and Diesel car is almost 50K, and the diesel has a higher mileage and almost equivalent cost per liter (in Delhi). ...

Please share your views.

If the usage is not more, go for petrol or else diesel.
CNG filling hassles are way too much and eventually, it can get tiresome. We had M800 CNG, Baleno on CNG and still have Wagon R CNG. When it was time for a new car, I opted for diesel in early 2014.
CNG cylinder will also eat into boot space, something which is not going to happen in diesel or petrol.

Petrol vs diesel is a tough decision for many, which includes me, but I find petrol to be better because of its refinement, linear nature of power delivery. Also, the less initial cost means even insurance premiums are not that high.

Best is to avoid CNG in my view.

PS : I am not Amaze owner, but chipped in as it was more of a running cost and fuel option post.

[tiger_stripes]

I keep a small 1 foot square pillow on the seat to support the lower back. Used to get a backache earlier. Recently did a near solo 600 km drive in a day and thankfully no backache afterwards.

[ms_rana]

So, I got my Honda Amaze Petrol (S) on 15-May. The colour is Titanium Gray. Since I moved from Santro to Amaze, it surely is quite a jump ... in every sense

Today I returned back from 5 days long Delhi - Nainital trip (705 KMs). It was good enough to judge the Amaze petrol. I liked the suspension of the car. It is not bouncing around or overly hard. Quite good. On hills, I really appreciated the responsive steering of the car. I could push the car in the corners and it was fun. The brakes too have good bite. But under-body insulation is not good. Pebbles kept bouncing off the car's wheel wells & under-body and were quite audible. I am planning to get 3M Shultz coating (5 years warranty) on next Sunday. It would cost me approx 4K (including taxes). That should take care of both, rust protection and to an extent sound insulation as well.

On one stretch of Delhi Nainital route (via Swar), the road is nearly non-existent (no tarmac) with huge craters for 4Kms. With 3 Adults and two 10year old kids + luggage, the car did not scrape anywhere. It was truly impressive! I was prepared for the worse.

I can feel some vibration in the gear knob, especially in third gear. Seems the cables need some adjustment. Will report that in 1st service. The engine is good on plains but when I tried it on steep climbs of Nainital, I found the low end torque is nothing much to talk about. Even my 15 years old Santro feels better honestly! The gap between 1 & 2 gear becomes apparent. You have to push the car in 1st gear above 2.5K RPM before shifting to 2nd else you risk stalling the engine. With 3 adults + 2 kids, I struggled whereas loaded Maruti Altos were flying past me! I was just crawling! I would report my observation with Service Center just in case there is something that needs attention. Once on a roll, 3rd gear is great on hills. But still getting over shock of 1 & 2 gear performance and gap! As the gearbox is a bit notchy, you cannot move quickly from 1st gear to 2nd gear without loosing precious time which results in drastic drop in speed on steep inclines. Wonder where all this torque & power figure went! You have keep engine on boil on hills ... at least in case of 1 & 2 gears! Couldn't help wondering if I should have bought Etios petrol, which is blessed with torque.

I did 705 Kms on the trip and overall mileage that I got is 16.5. Quite good considering that sales representative told me that I should expect around 10.5 KMPL till 1st service and also that I pushed car to 100-105 KMPH during my trip on plains and did good distance on hills too.

The engine feels a bit tight and noisy at triple digit speed. I guess a little more insulation would help (hope Honda is listening). The engine certainly makes its presence felt. The AC is fantastic! I had to turn down AC speed as it was too chilling in morning (needed no AC in hills). Loved it.

Seats felt OK. They were not too comfortable but neither were troublesome. Back seat passengers did not complain at all. They were pleased with roomy interiors will airy feeling + visibility.

At the end of the trip I can hear a few rattles on left side (near glove box) and on driver side door (especially when windows are down). Will report that in 1st service.

I scraped driver side driver side outside rear-view mirror twice during very congested traffic in Nainital. A few small scratches are there. Those outside rear view mirrors are like elephant ears! Guess couldn't do much there but be more careful. But honestly it would be tough to keep them clean

I would be going back to Nainital in last week of June to pick up my family again. Will post my observations after.

Thanks!

[akshayhonda]

Hi all. I'm looking forward to change tyre on my Amaze i-Dtec. Stock size is 175/65-R14. I was thinking of replacing them with 185/65-R14. Would it be a good thing to do? Or should I remain with stock tyre size only?

Once thats done I'm in a tussle to choose the tyre brand. OE was Goodyear. I'm planning to switch to some other brand buy I'm confused between

1. Michelin Energy XM-2
2. Bridgestone Potenza G3
3. Yokohama A.Drive or C.Drive
4. Continental

Can anyone help me out? I personally prefer either Michelin or Bridgestone.

Thanks in advance

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by akshayhonda

Hi all. I'm looking forward to change tyre on my Amaze i-Dtec. Stock size is 175/65-R14. I was thinking of replacing them with 185/65-R14. Would it be a good thing to do? Or should I remain with stock tyre size only?

Once thats done I'm in a tussle to choose the tyre brand. OE was Goodyear. I'm planning to switch to some other brand buy I'm confused between

1. Michelin Energy XM-2
2. Bridgestone Potenza G3
3. Yokohama A.Drive or C.Drive
4. Continental

Can anyone help me out? I personally prefer either Michelin or Bridgestone.

Thanks in advance

I had changed to 195/60 R 14 and would recommend the same .
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post3350076

[akshayhonda]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

I had changed to 195/60 R 14 and would recommend the same .
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post3350076

Wouldn't the 195 be too big?