Comfortable, automatic car under 20 lakh: How we finalised Elevate CVT

Other vehicles that we considered include the Maruti Brezza & Grand Vitara, Hyundai Venue & Creta, Kia Sonet & Seltos and VW Taigun.

BHPian amandal1810 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Purchasing the Honda Elevate: Our Journey

I wanted to share our complete experience with deciding on and purchasing the awesome Honda Elevate.

About us

My wife and I live in Bangalore. We own a scooter which suffices for short distances. For longer distances within the city, we prefer Ola/Uber. We wanted a new car primarily for long road trips. The car will be driven by me and my wife. We've spent tens of thousands of rupees on Revv/Zoomcar and it was time to uninstall these apps. We have mostly driven hatchbacks so far. I've driven our 2016 Tata Tiago XZ manual back in my hometown, and my wife has extensively driven their 2008 Suzuki Swift manual in her hometown.

Decision making

Purpose of car

Primarily road trips; so 70% highway and 30% city.

Budget (on-road price)

We started at 10L but soon realized that there were no cars at this price point with the features we wanted. We stretched it to 15L which would only suffice for mid-variants of B2 segment cars. We finally capped it at 20L where we get a fair list of options to choose from. Note that the prices are with BH registration (more on this later). Moreover, we had considered an additional 2L for accessories - PPF (about 1.2L), sunfilm (30k), dashcam (about 10k) being the biggest expenses.

Timeline

I started researching about ten months back. This included researching topics such as mechanical, financial and maintenance aspects. I was also looking out for upcoming cars from the rumor mill and spy shots. We finally started test driving in September. And finally booked it in December first week.

Car Segment

We preferred the SUV body styling but did not want 4x4 (or rather we did not have the budget for it). So we needed to stick to B2 and C1 segment SUVs.

Our required feature list

Automatic transmission only; no AMT; no electric. Driver comfort, visibility and ride comfort were on top of the list. My wife is 5 feet tall, so finding a car with good visibility was going to be quite tricky. We wanted a car with a lot of tech - the more the merrier. I wanted a car with ADAS - the YouTube videos left me drooling. Some of the items that were lower down on the list were outright performance and mileage. GNCAP ratings were also considered but we decided to keep it somewhere in the middle of our requirements priority order.

Contenders

We explored and test drove almost all cars in the B2-SUV and C1-SUV segments.

Here are more details about them:

• The Maruti Suzuki cars (Brezza and Grand Vitara) were an immediate thumbs down because of their super basic interior quality and feel. It did not feel like a vehicle that costs 15L+. The Grand Vitara had some weird quirks like the fishnet sunroof liner which only partially blocks sunlight (unlike the one in Creta/Seltos). A noteworthy point: Brezza was the only B2 segment car where my wife (5ft) immediately felt comfortable in the driver seat. She could see the bonnet edge properly, which is confidence-inspiring.
• The Hyundai cars were great. The Venue and Creta are chock full of features. Interior fit and finish felt great. Performance of the Venue with the turbo petrol engine and the DCT were superb. BUT: Venue felt like a hatchback, both from the inside and while driving. We hated the exterior design of Creta, so it was dropped. Moreover, we decided not to wait for the Creta facelift.
• The Kia cars were mesmerizing. The Sonet is a very well-made product, but the hard suspension was a major turn down for us. We were floored by the Seltos facelift. The connected screens in conjunction with the panoramic sunroof made us feel like we were inside a BMW or something similar. The Seltos wins straight against the competition if you consider only with feature list and spec sheet. Unfortunately, the NA petrol engine with IVT (CVT) is not offered in the top variant. And the top variant with ADAS, turbo petrol engine and DCT crosses our budget by about 3L.
• I had high hopes from the Volkswagen Taigun. We test drove the Taigun 1 liter turbo petrol. The swapped turn indicator stalks were an immediate thumbs down from the wife. The interiors felt only average (better than Maruti but lower than Korean twins). The interior space was quite low and felt like a B2 segment SUV. The mileage is quite bad, at least as per reviews. However, Taigun's performance was outstanding. It was one of the only cars where I was pushed into the seat by fully slamming the accelerator pedal. Only the Seltos 1.5 turbo petrol has better performance than this. I loved Taigun's European exterior design.
• The Honda Elevate entered our list much later. It was launched in July and media drive reviews were available in early August. Honda's strategy seemed different: get the basics right, don't give an exhaustive list of features, which will help keep prices down. Notably, it was the only C1 segment SUV where my wife felt immediately comfortable in the driver seat. She could see the entire bonnet and was the highlight for her. We also found the front seats to be the most comfortable of the lot. The interiors felt premium but not as premium as that of the Koreans. The NA engine and CVT were known to be reliable. The suspension felt mature and compliant. However, the Elevate had a long list of major misses: TPMS, ventilated seats, 360-degree camera, rear seat window curtains, height adjustable seat belts, rear center passenger does not get a headrest and does not get a 3-point seat belt. The hump in the rear seat middle is weird.
• We did not test drive the MG Astor (due to brand value after-sales service concerns), Skoda Kushaq (had already driven the Taigun), Toyota Hyryder (same as Suzuki GV).

Final shortlist

Kia Seltos HTX IVT and Honda Elevate ZX CVT. I agree that a panoramic sunroof is not a useful utilitarian feature like many say but the feel-good factor and premium feel it provides is priceless in our opinion. Seltos' interior feels more premium than Elevate. I wanted ADAS but we did not have the budget for Seltos' top variant, so one point for Elevate. If Seltos' NA+IVT was available in the GTX+ trim, we would have definitely finalized it.

We further assessed that some of the missing features of the Elevate, such as TPMS and ventilated seat (add-on cover), can be an aftermarket fitment although it might not provide the same experience as an OEM one. The problems with Elevate's rear seat did not matter much to us - we are a family of two. All said and done, we finalized the Elevate ZX CVT. We loved the blue (imperial blue) and dark grey (meteoroid grey) colors, and would select one based on the waiting period.

Purchase experience

• We wanted to get BH registration primarily for the much lower upfront road tax costs. The difference was about 2.5L when compared to KA registration. KA road tax is the highest in the country. But the Karnataka government (and Telangana as well) is currently not allowing BH registration for private company employees. So our options were to purchase from either of our hometowns: Delhi or Kolkata. The price quotes were almost the same. Only the transportation costs (DEL to BLR vs KOL to BLR) differed by about 20k. So we finalized to get it from Kolkata.
• We spoke to Shree Honda (Newtown, Kolkata) and Pinnacle Honda (Ruby, Kolkata). Shree Honda tried to force push their insurance whereas Pinnacle Honda told me directly that I can bring my own insurance if I don't like their quote. Shree Honda's SA was coercive and dodgy whereas Pinnacle Honda's SA was straightforward and more open for negotiations. Shree Honda was insisting 50% payment after VIN allotment but Pinnacle Honda was okay with full payment only after PDI. We finalized with Pinnacle Honda.
• The waiting period was similar at both showrooms. The blue had a long waiting period of four months, and the dark grey was at one month. After some more negotiations, Pinnacle Honda promised to deliver the vehicle (in meteoroid grey color) within the month of December if I booked immediately. This would protect me from a price increase in Jan.
• After some research on new car insurance, I decided to get it from the dealer. Their quote almost matched the external insurance quotes. I decided to pay the slightly additional premium to avoid the hassle of external insurance. Note that it's not Honda Assure but rather one from Tata AIG.
• We took the basic kit (12k). After much negotiation, they agreed to throw in a free car cover (original one), which costs about 2k. They were absolutely unwilling to negotiate on ex-showroom price - which I expected.
• Both Honda showrooms were charging "documentation charges" of 6525 INR. I assumed this was the infamous logistics charges which folks in this thread have gotten removed by emailing official Honda customer care. I did the same, but I got a response saying that it was a legitimate charge. I did not fight further and continued with the transaction.
• The entire purchase process was telephonic. Signing of documents was via soft copies. Pinnacle Honda sales team were very supportive along the way and kept me informed. Nevertheless, I made it a point to call my SA once a day.
• We had planned to visit Kolkata for PDI and delivery but flight prices in December were through the roof. Paid PDI services (like Zekardo) are not available in Kolkata. We were a bit worried about this but finally decided to get PDI done by a friend. I sent my parents to take delivery of the car.
• We plan to keep the car for at least ten years, so we did not care about buying the car in December (and not the next calendar year).
• We booked on 4th Dec with a booking amount of 11k. VIN allotment was done on 6th Dec. PDI was done on 13th Dec. Affixation of number plate took three days. Delivery was done on 19th Dec. It was sent off for transportation on the same day. After a nail-biting five days, we finally got the car in Bangalore on 25th Dec.

We have only driven about 250 kms so far. I will make a separate post about ownership experience after driving it more. We are in love with the car. It's a joy to drive. We got PPF applied and bought a bunch of accessories. I will make a detailed post about this soon.

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