Team-BHP - Review: 1st-gen Honda Amaze (2013)

Here's a price list for accessories I got from the dealer. Of course, best option might be to seek out other sources because these dealers would always tend to sell at a much higher price.

I went for my Amaze's 1 month/1000 km check up this weekend. I chatted up a sales person for trends in bookings for diesel vs petrol Amaze and interestingly, he spoke of how the tide has have turned in favour of petrol. He said that (and I haven't verified this) the waiting period for petrol (about 4 months)is now higher than for diesel! My guess is that two factors may be at work here:

1. The narrowing gap between petrol and diesel
For instance, the price gap in Mumbai has reduced recently by about Rs 4 due to decrease in the cost of petrol and increase in that of diesel.

2.Honda may have planned their production anticipating the demand ratio for diesel vs petrol to be skewed sharply towards diesel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by delix (Post 3132657)

I was moved/surprised/amazed to hear him saying that engine problem have been spotted in the diesel amaze. They are getting reports from customers who have gone for test drive of the Amaze and have found vibrations in engine... He insisted me to get a test drive and find it myself.. I told him that I am going to put this in public forum (without mentioning his name) but still he stuck to his point...He seemed quite relaxed and relieved that Honda, atlast, will not be able to beat the sales figure of Dzire...

Though I am still to check out myself whether Amaze diesel engines are actually having high levels of vibrations...but was very surprised at the (may be) new marketing techniques of Maruti...

So you believed a Maruti sales guy what he said about the Amaze. LOL.

Isn't it but obvious that the Maruti will guy say nonsense against his competition.

When they say that the Maruti Dzire gives 25Kmpl, do you believe that?

The VW dealer yesterday told me that his showroom drivers drove a EcoSport and it was terrible to drive. He said useless pickup and not as good as Vento. I asked him which engine and he had no clue about the 1.0L EcoBoost 3 cylinder motor. All he kept saying was it was not as good as out VW cars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itwasntme (Post 3132825)

Thanks for clarifying - wonder why Honda bothered? They are effectively charging around 25k for this stereo plus 2 speakers.

Even a moderate SQ setup with 4 speakers will be 15k maximum.

Do not forget the body coloured handles and ORVM, looking at the accessories price list of Amaze these two can cost upwards of 6k+ if brought later.
Still It doesn't add to 25k IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itwasntme (Post 3132760)

Has anyone seen the single DIN HU standard in the EX MT? Is it a Honda OEM unit or a aftermarket masquerading as an OEM fitting?

My EXMT came with an 1DIN Alpine HU and IMHO the sound is excellent and even if you jack up the volume and bass the sound is not distorted and door panels do-not vibrate.I am thoroughly enjoying the music clarity.In my previous car I had installed Pioneer HU with 3 way oval in back and a japanese brand (I don't remember the brand it's about 5 years back and bought in Singapore after doing some research on the net )front with separate tweeters.

I thought of replacing the HU but after listening I dropped that idea.Looking to add 2 more rear speakers.Also the HU gives a Healthy 45 watts RMS x 4 channels.

Listen to it and decide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itwasntme (Post 3132760)

Has anyone seen the single DIN HU standard in the EX MT? Is it a Honda OEM unit or a aftermarket masquerading as an OEM fitting?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top-Gear (Post 3132002)

Congratulations on your booking. I was also told by my dealer that they don't have any say in the tyres that I would get. I actually wanted at least Goodyear, since apparently Honda isn't despatching Amaze with Michelins, like they used to for Jazz. the salesman told me that my only option was to wait out for the next petrol Amaze in majestic blue to have Goodyear tyres, but then, I did not want to wait. I researched for the most suitable tyres, in the tyres and alloys section of T-BHP and honed in on the Michelin energy XM2 185/65R14 and am very happy with them. I had negotiated with a Michelin dealer here beforehand and drove my car to his shop straight from the dealership. And yes, he also had said the tyres should not have run more than 100kms for exchanging. But please ask around. While other tyre dealers quoted me around Rs7000 net, one authorised dealer ultimately did it for Rs 6000 for the 4 tyres I got changed!

Go for it- it would be money well spent. After all, tyres are like a runner's shoes-the most important accessory for comfort, grip and safety.

Lucky my EXMT came with Goodyear tyres . As regarding Michelin energy XM2 I had fitted this in my previous car immediately after this tyre was introduced in March 2012.It does improve road grip and reduce road noise initially ,the rubber compound is very soft.I had been running for about 70k kms in the OE JK tyres (Swift VDI) with only one puncture and I have got some 7 punctures in the last one year with XM2 , it made me keep worrying about a flat tyre every time I left town and headache of fixing the puncture and keep looking for a puncture shop.
Fixing a puncture is expensive nowadays I had paid about Rs.250~350 per puncture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxTorque (Post 3133363)

Finally Honda Amaze has been started appearing in Pune roads. Yesterday I spotted 3 Honda Amaze in Pimpri-Chinchwad area during a drive of around 20 Kms. Looks like Maruti DZire has a reason to worry.

Me too. I have seen a lot of Amazes over last one week. The maroon shade seems to be most popular followed closely by the silver shade.

But, its really a long way to go to beat Dzire. DZire became the 2nd highest selling passenger car in India going past the Swift and only 400 short of the top seller Alto (19, 446 units). http://articles.economictimes.indiat...to-swift-dzire

May be six months down the line, we will see a closer fight between the two (how I wish that happens sooner), but right now Dzire is way ahead in terms of number of units sold.

Edit: One of my close friends is repenting a lot because he bought City S-MT at around 9 lacs exactly one month ago. When he saw the Amaze, he was killing himself, since his usage is below 1k per month and only limited to city. The salesman also told us that there were few cases where people came to book the City and booked the Amaze finally. Well, this could also be a marketing trick to lure customers to book Amaze, but why would the dealer lose their commission on the high priced City.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute (Post 3133377)

WELL, I don't think that Dzire can ever be beaten. Firstly, Honda's dismal production capacity and secondly, Honda has almost no reach in Tier 2 and 3 cities. Maruti is popular because in most of the non metros and cosmos, they are there, second would be Hyundai and Mahindra. But the bigger shots like VW, Honda or Skoda, it will take lot of time to even cut across the half way mark.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiv_1984 (Post 3133412)

WELL, I don't think that Dzire can ever be beaten. Firstly, Honda's dismal production capacity and secondly, Honda has almost no reach in Tier 2 and 3 cities.

I too agree with your view. But Honda may grab a decent share from Maruti DZire in entry level sedan segment. Still Maruti DZire will remain as best seller. As Honda is well aware of their production capacity constriants, they will not go for marketing campaigns much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxTorque (Post 3133427)

Let me summerize the scenario in big cities like Bangalore.
Maruti showroom on a sunday morning - Feels Deserted and hardly any TD vehicles available. No body except me to enquire about vehicles (Maruti has so many models)

Honda showroom - one hour later - Crowded. Atleast 15 families checking out the Honda Amaze, Sales executives not having time to attend to me. After waiting for a while met an executive who made me wait further because car had gone out for TD. Finally when my turn came, i am told its going to be only a short test drive as others are waiting.

So Honda is surely smiling there because of the response generated by amaze. With their production capacity running full at 4-5K per month, They hardly need to do anything to push sales up.

Maruti also is smiling because Honda just cannot take the share away from Dzire.

It would be interesting to know the impact of EcoSport on the Amaze. I am sure there are plenty who have booked Amaze and some of them might cancel and switch to EcoSport

Hello,

I recently bought a Honda Amaze E-MT Diesel variant. Stupidly, Honda did not provide an power socket to charge cellphones. More annoyingly, there was not a provision to get one from market and fit in. I contacted the dealer and, he was pretty much confident in drilling a hole in dashboard :Shockked: and using a cigar lighter (with the lighter removed) as an alternative.

Is this a safe approach ?