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How we bought an Elevate CVT: Perfect family car which can also be fun

1st October 2024, 14:40 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

Based on my requirements I had shortlisted the Kia Seltos, Hyundai Creta, Skoda Kushaq and VW Taigun. The Honda Elevate was not even on my list.

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Introduction

Dear Readers,

It's been a long time since I started using this platform for exploring various car reviews, the latest technologies and user reviews. Not only it helped me plan a few of my road trips better but also helped me decide on what kind of experiences a car owner goes through. I am writing this detailed experience as my contribution to the forum hoping it will help some buyers decide the right car for themselves.

Before I start, I want to clarify that it is not a detailed specifications review as there are experts out here to do so. I have just penned down my experience with the car. It's just personal.

Previous Ownership and Why Honda!

I personally did not own a car before, however had a lot of good memories with my father's Maruti Swift (2019 model) which still is serving on the rural roads of my hometown in Maharashtra and several cars I rented out through self-drive. I had recently completed in the Swift from Bangalore to Mumbai via Goa (3 days adventure) in June 2023. Long story short, I had to return the car in August 2023 while enjoying the newly built Samruddhi Expressway and it got me started with the longest purchase dilemma I ever had in my life - Which Car To Buy?

The Indian car market, at first, looked simple. I thought I needed to decide on a category, followed by budget, brand and transmission type and voila - I have my car. If only it was that simple! However, it took me a few days to realise that I need to set my priorities right before I start looking otherwise there is no perfect car. It's always a trade-off for a set of features you want.

What did I want in MY car?

Reliability - No one loves breakdowns, frequent visits to the service center. Personally, I believe in periodical maintenance and not looking back at the car until the next one.
Spacious and Comfortable Cabin - My wife and I both wanted to have a good amount of light and premium feel in the cabin. Not a big fan of small cabins with black interior.
Fuel Efficiency in double digits - Considering Pune's traffic scenario, I had a realistic expectation of having >10 kmpl in city traffic.
Boot Space - Not frequently used completely as road trips are not a weekly affair, but this was good to have >400 ltrs of boot.
Technologically Simple - I do not prefer having too many buttons / options on the dashboard + infotainment screen. A simple but useful set of features was something I was looking for.
Long term usage- I intend to use the car for > 8 years, so needed a brand which has a reputation of good long term user experiences considering service costs, resale and engine performance.

Cars in discussion

I started working on my decision to buy a car from online forums and understanding brand positioning for top manufacturers in India. In my opinion, every brand has its own selling point and weak point. However, considering it was going to be my first car, I kept my options open starting from Indian brands, Koreans, Germans and Japanese. I had decided to go for a Mid-Size SUV as I prefer to drive slightly heavy-looking vehicles (maybe from my 7-year Royal Enfield ownership influence) and I usually like covering longer distances in a day while on a road trip (typically between 500 to 700 kms) which is a little painful for hatchbacks & entry-level SUVs considering road situations.

After a lot of elimination rounds in front of the laptop (going through various reviews) and discussion with family and friends, the top cars to make the list were the Skoda Kushaq, VW Taigun, Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos and yeah, that's all. Honda Elevate was nowhere on my list with a bias that it was just launched and Honda doesn't make good SUVs (In India) anymore. After test-driving all the cars I planned for, below were my findings -

Kia Seltos (DCT) - One of the best cars by looking at the exterior and interior for sure. But I could not get used to the exhaustive list of features which only the top model offered and the one within my budget had a lot of compromises i.e. ADAS was one of the dealbreakers which was available only in top model.
Hyundai Creta (CVT) - I had high hopes from Creta. The cabin felt really nice, premium and comfortable. Test drive experience was good, but felt powerless at places and could not find the right fun element in it. I would have gone for its manual variant if I could, but automatic was a non-negotiable criterion for me.
Skoda Kushaq & VW Taigun - Combining the two as I fell in love with both. But not with 1.0 with TQ. I loved how 1.5 TSI engine performed with DSG. Especially with Taigun's test drive, I was really impressed. Driving fun aside, factors like lack of ADAS, maintenance worries and some user reported issues with DSG still worried me before going for either of the cars. Even the discounts couldn't make my mind about going for Skoda due to these reasons. Maybe next time

While I was trying to get over my urge to go for VW Taigun 1.5 extending my budget, my brother-in-law insisted we take a Honda test drive before making a decision. There was no harm. We tested the Honda Elevate ZX CVT in the nearest showroom in Navi Mumbai. We drove a good 10 km on city + highway route.

Initial impressions after looking at the car were great, front grill design and overall shape intrigued me. Cabin felt very spacious and premium with beige colour seats. Highlight of the cabin was definitely the legroom for rear seats and the view from driver's seat where the ends of the bonnet were clearly visible demonstrating higher control. The test drive was great. Throttle seemed pretty responsive and CVT lag was not as much as I expected based on the reviews. We tested ADAS (basic functionality) too and were satisfied with the performance. I took another test drive after returning to Pune, this time in heavy traffic along with my wife. We both loved the car and decided to go for it.

Buying Experience

We decided to buy from Garve Honda located in Wakdewadi, Pune. There were no discounts at that time and we booked the Elevate ZX CVT in Obsidian Blue Pearl colour in October by paying an initial amount of 21k.

Overall buying experience was average. Few points on why -

I had informed the dealer about my choice of date (our anniversary) in December for delivery. However, until I reached out to them a month before, I got no update on my car allocation. When I reached out, I was told to pay the full amount for allocation, which I did by the end of November. Showroom manager was not of much help even though the staff was nice and tried to assist at many points in this journey.
I took Honda's costly insurance, extended warranty and RSA as well since it was my first car and did not want to take a risk considering it is a newly launched car and expecting better service in case of any unfortunate experience with the car.
Staff was good but clueless about a few things like BH series documentation. I was asked to share a revised version of a document on the day of my registration which was a bit frustrating.
I got my car on time after rigorous follow-ups and 15 days after full payment on the choice of my date but without a number plate which was installed the next day at the showroom.
They tried to make it up to me with a good delivery day experience though which I appreciate. My family had a great time at the showroom.

8 Months Journey with my Elevate

My journey with Elevate has been excellent. Ever since it crawled out of the showroom, my level of excitement to drive it on any road trip just keeps getting up.

Initial Impressions till 1st Service

I drove around 100kms on the first day itself. Engine felt very silent if driven within 2000-2500 rpm, which is usually the case in city driving. Navigating through the city traffic was not much of an issue even on day 1 due to clearly visible bonnet ends. It has great steering which gives a feel of good control over the car and its response over the large range of speeds from 10 to 120kph is satisfying and dynamic. Infotainment is useful for Carplay as I haven't found any other feature much useful for me. Left blind spot monitoring was useful starting day 1 and I still love the feature. I got my first chance to experience ADAS after 5 days of purchase as we left for a Mumbai trip and it was a great experience. I barely drove in the ghat section where speed < 60 is required and the rest was taken care of by the ADAS.

During the first week itself, I realised the left high beam wasn't working. Both lights were checked during PDI, however we were not sure if we specifically checked for both high beams. However, the Honda service centre immediately helped me with ordering a new set of headlamps which was replaced within 4 days during which I could drive the car safely in the city and also completed a Mumbai trip in broad daylight. Once I got the high beam fixed, it was time for the first road trip away and we were off to Shrivardhan.

Over the past 9 months, I have driven cars on good roads, bad roads, both of the expressways in MH, ghats near Pune, Konkan and many more. Here are my observations during this time and 12k km.

What I Loved about Elevate

Engine reliability - It has been 9 months and I have never faced a single issue in terms of engine / transmission / any unwanted noise etc. I have witnessed utmost consistency even when driving at 120kmph for > 3 hours continuously on Samruddhi highway without breaks at 48 degrees outside temperature. I must say it's a perfect machine.
Cabin Space and boot - It is just perfect. I like the cabin mostly for 2 reasons. One - the beige interior and seat covers. and two - the spacious rear seats. Just like other cars in the same segment, it is not a perfect 5 seater cabin if traveling for more than 5-6 hours considering the comfort of the rear middle seat. But the legroom makes up for it if unavoidable. The large boot accommodates 4 suitcases with ease.

Seats - The seats are extremely comfortable and I find them good for regular usage. They could have been a bit stiffer for a long road trip (>8 hours driving) but wouldn't have had the benefit in the city. Again, a minor trade off.
ADAS and Adaptive Cruise Control - ACC is where Honda won my heart. I had earlier never used Adaptive Cruise and only cruise control doesn't make sense on many Indian highways. The adaptive controls work just fine everywhere and with ADAS lane keep it perfectly ease the long rides. Collision Mitigation System is a huge advantage on highways even when ACC is disabled. I have read a few reviews of it being intrusive in city traffic, but my experience is different. I have never turned it off, however, it has only helped me even in the city starting from day 1.

Braking and Handling - I think Honda has mastered the handling in this car despite having a higher ground clearance. I did not expect a perfect German-engineered handling, however, I was happy once I got my hands on Elevate. The steering response is almost perfect and even my father could drive it comfortably on narrow roads even though he was driving a mid-size SUV for the first time. As compared to a few competitors in the same segment, brakes, especially in emergencies, work better in Elevate with greater stability at high speed. I have thanked this engineering when I had to tackle a Nilgai crossing highway at 90kmph when brakes, ABS, Traction control came together to safely evade the danger without causing danger to oncoming two-wheeler.

Transmission performance - When I bought the Elevate, I was okay with having a CVT to drive with "belt lag" and compromise on heavy acceleration. It however exceeded my expectations now as I got used to it. I have rarely felt underpowered even while overtaking at >80 kmph. The power I get on tough climbs is superb as well.

Exterior and ground clearance - I chose Elevate for primarily the best-in-class ground clearance. It truly helps almost everywhere. The front grille gives the car an elegant look with the Honda logo in the middle. The taillamp design is timeless and I just love it.

Remote Start and Honda Connect App - Remote start feature works perfectly using the remote key. Honda Connect surprised me with a good-to-have AC turn-on feature while on a break during a summer ride. I mostly use features such as car lock status, service center booking, AC & Engine start and reviewing trips.

Could have been better

Material quality and noise - Even though the overall materials used in the interior are good, I feel the need to improve the materials in the door and dashboard which create some minor but disturbing noise inside the cabin sometimes when going over bad roads. Doors could have been a bit heavier with better quality material (non-metal parts).
NVH - Despite of being a >15L car, I am slightly disappointed with NVH levels. More than vibration, the concern is about outside noise. I'm okay with engine noise above 5k rpm sometimes, but being able to hear other cars' noise sometimes becomes irritating. Honda could have improved the insulation quality.
Auto-head lamp - Auto headlamp is a great feature, but its sudden activation during the daytime sometimes is not a pleasant experience. I have witnessed it turning on at mid-day, afternoons as well even in perfect daylight. It also automatically dims the infotainment screen and is definitely not good if you're using maps.
Wiper Quality - I do not like the front wipers since day 1. Its quality could have been better. It has a bad sound at medium and high speeds and definitely could've been worked upon.
Drive mode like City - A dummy button near the gearbox still gets my attention. Honda City gets Eco mode here, which could've been a good feature for Elevate.
Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Camera at night- I personally use blind spot monitoring a lot and is a great feature. But both the cameras could have been better at night. It is not a great experience while using left indicator at night on highways with vehicles' headlights flashing all over the infotainment screen.

Concluding...

Summarizing my experience, I found the Honda Elevate as a perfect family car which can be also fun sometimes. Looking forward to doing more trips in the rest of India and exploring more roads.