Honda Amaze Facelift: Why it has become relevant once again

The new Honda Amaze was unveiled in India on March 3, 2016. Now unlike most facelifts in India where you get a noticeable difference, the Amaze facelift is not something that would catch the average Joe’s eye immediately. So why then do we think this is one of the most important facelifts that Honda has done in recent times? Well, read on. 

For starters, the Amaze as a car is quite good looking when you compared it to the rest of its competition. Sure, there are some that look a tad bit better, but the Amaze offers a sense of balance that is usually devoid in most of the other cars in this segment. So exterior design wasn’t really an issue. Of course, in true midlife facelift fashion, the new car does get an upgraded front bumper, slightly different headlights and tail lights and a chromed up grille. Thankfully, all of these make the Amaze look even better in our opinion. 

Engines were never a problem either. The diesel in the Amaze pulls really well and although it is limited to 150kmph, do you really need any more performance on public roads? The petrol 1.2-litre is a little underpowered but does have the typically Honda sense of wanting to rev as high as it can while offering good overall drivability. And of course, the Honda Amaze is one of the most fun handling cars in that segment while still offering great ride quality.

The only real problem that the Honda Amaze had for most Indian buyers was the fact that the interiors were just not up to scratch for a car of this price range. And that is why we are grateful for Honda to finally listening to both its actually customers and the automotive media in general and pay more attention to the interior. We are glad that a more Honda-esque dashboard that looks refined and current has replaced the weirdly placed AC vents and the plasticy dashboard. And the Amaze also gets climate control as standard now which is good since it replaces the large and ungainly AC knobs that used to grace the car earlier. 

Not only will the new dashboard attract a whole range of new audiences to the Honda Amaze, but when combined with the likes of the almost class leading space and superior ride and handling, we think that the new Amaze now has a lot more going for it than it ever has before. Will the new Amaze make a dent in the scorching sales that the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire has been clocking? Well, maybe not, but cars like the Hyundai Xcent and more importantly the new Volkswagen Ameo certainly have a worthy competitor.