REVIEW | Frugal Honda Amaze likes urban commutes but not the open road

The India-built Honda Amaze is one of the few remaining compact sedans on sale in South Africa, with demand for the three-box boy style shrinking in favour of small SUVs and hatchbacks.

The third-generation Amaze will be launched overseas later in 2024 and Honda hasn’t confirmed when it’s coming to South Africa, so the second-generation car will continue here until further notice.

The Amaze was launched locally in 2018 in three models priced from R179,900 to R208,900. Six years of inflation has increased that to R247,900 to R285,900 but the Amaze remains one of South Africa's most affordable sedans, undercutting the Kia Pegas, VW Polo Sedan and Toyota Corolla Quest, all of which are slightly larger cars. The Suzuki DZire and Proton Saga are the most affordable cars in the small sedan category.

With a length of 3,995mm the Honda’s interior space management is quite amazing and it has respectable room for four adults. The 420l boot swallows a fair stack of shopping, though the bootlid must be manually opened with a key and the rear seats don’t fold down to accommodate bulky objects. The boot at least carries a nearly full-sized spare wheel instead of an impractical space saver.

The basic Amaze Trend model doesn’t come badly specced for R247,900, but the Comfort version throws in a few more frills for R285,900, including automatic air-conditioning, electrically adjusted side mirrors and a reverse parking camera.

The six-year-old Amaze has aged well. It does not have the highly digitised interior of more modern rivals, which is less sexy, but means fewer distractions when driving. There are quick-access physical buttons for the climate system while the audio and other settings are bundled into a touchscreen infotainment system.

The digital interface is relatively straightforward to use though the 7" screen is smaller than the norm. The Amaze has the requisite connectivity with USB phone ports for charging and using Android Auto and Apple Carplay, though the latter features don’t work wirelessly as in some cars.

The Honda has hard dashboard plastics instead of the classier squishy type, but the interior doesn’t feel cheap; it looks pleasantly modern and neat with flourishes of silver and piano-black trim strips and the upholstery is an attractive dark grey cloth.

The Amaze’s external styling tends to polarise opinion and the snub nose isn’t to everyone’s liking but it makes the car stand out, as do its claw-shaped tail lamps. Diamond-cut alloy wheels and front fog lights help elevate the range-topping Comfort model from bargain basement ranks.

Fuel economy is one of the Amaze’s main selling points and the test car averaged a respectable 6.4l /100km, not worlds away from the factory-claimed 5.7l and providing a useful 540km range from the 35l tank.

Power comes from a 1.2l normally aspirated petrol engine with i-VTEC intelligent valve timing, with outputs of 66kW and 110Nm. It comes as a five-speed manual or the test car’s continuously variable transmission (CVT) automatic.

It is more of a town car than an open-roader, especially in automatic guise. The car nips through suburbs with reasonable pace and the CVT works without much fuss in the urban environment, with programmed virtual gears that the driver is able to control with steering wheel paddle shifters.

On the open road the car doesn’t feel too underpowered and is able to chuff along at the 120km/h speed limit and more, but high-speed driving isn’t a refined experience as the Amaze drones loudly due to the typical CVT rubber band effect, which sends the revs soaring under acceleration. A significant amount of wind noise makes the open-road experience quite frantic and heavy crosswinds buffet the lightweight car like a ping pong ball in a tumble drier.

The ride quality is reasonable and the Amaze scoots along without the overly choppy nature of some small cars and handles neatly. An above average 170mm ground clearance and practical high-profile tyres provide the little Honda with the ability to tackle rougher roads.

A long-distance champion it isn’t, but as one of the most affordable cars in the small sedan segment, the Honda Amaze makes a competent urban runabout with its good fuel economy and respectable space. It makes a compelling option for e-hailing drivers in particular.

HONDA AMAZE VS THE COMPETITION

Suzuki DZire 1.2 GL Auto, 61kW/113Nm — R239,900

Proton Saga 1.3 Premium, 70kW/120Nm — R244,900

Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort CVT, 66kW/110Nm — R285,900

Kia Pegas 1.4 EX auto, 69kW/132Nm — R314,995

VW Polo Sedan 1.6 auto, 81kW/152Nm — R381,800

Toyota Corolla Quest Plus auto, 103kW/173Nm — R359,700