Suited and Booted: It is the characteristic line that nowadays is drawing differences in the automotive society. Most of the carmakers are eying this respective plethora to make their desired numbers come true on the sales sheet. But hopefully many of them had turned jacket faced in achieving those crisps, yet there is a king who is eyeing up all the else in just a stance and winding up their tricks just at a single wick. That master of the ring is none other than “Maruti Dzire”. In fact, he is not the actual game stealer but it’s the hatchback version i.e. Swift who had played cool marketing tricks with his elder sibling to gain the maximum number on the booted metal. At the time of Dzire launch Maruti had positioned both the siblings in such a manner that the customers does not to tend to return the elder ones when he come to buy event the smaller hatchback. All the things putted inside it, and that sporty yet elegant looks make the Dzire to become a heart throb of every Indian youths as well the older audience.
When the Maruti was fuelling its tank of market share there was a one who was eyeing the entire thing very precisely and was also working hard to position another strong competitor in this respective segment, so that the king may have to face the defeat on his knees. And hopefully that’s where you got it right, it’s none other than Honda Amaze. Honda was working for too long on the Amaze; some even says their R&D department was fussing this up since when the Maruti hadn’t thought of beginning this Dzire series on Indian grounds. Thinking about it, Honda is known for the millimeter perfection, so their boffins at designing end as well. Hence, as an outcome Amaze looks like a complete fresh rolled-out from the stable of its makers, even giving a stride to its very own Brio.
Though, a comparison between the Amaze and Dzire is the one that we hadn’t ever thought of. While pitting both the bugs against each other it was realized designers and engineers had pumped in a lot of effort for both the products to gain advantages over each other. Well, this car comparison that we had held here in the hot sun is to conclude one winner for this heavily dense jungle, reclining the badge that has more guts than the other one to pounce over conventional-customers mercilessly. Let’s get started, heat is shooting up with every passing minute.
Taking the looks first, as we had said, Amaze is the most rollicking one to parch the rival with its diminutive stretches that is as fresh as a complete newbie is flocked out of the factory. To get this posture cleared into your mind, think the way towards Amaze that there is no Brio in this world, and hopefully you will realize really it is the one that Honda had stroked in the large amount of efforts. Now with that same sight watch the Amaze, it will definitely not reveal you with the same feeling of Honda, because the boot on it seem is an additional flat buttock kicked in very hardly on its slimmer yet curvaceous butts, that the car was not willing to bear that extra load of chunk at all. Hopefully, the engineers at the Indian carmaker’s designing platform hadn’t yielded that sorted efforts which the guys at Honda did. It seems, Suzuki was in a hurry to roll out this new model as soon as possible in the market. Now at the present scenario, that action of Maruti tends to be outdated because in the markets there are many other names who had been trying this technique in various other regions. On contradiction, at this point sale figure of Dzire is claiming all the figures in industry leaving only a minute space for the rivals to cash in. Maruti now sells Dzire around in 14,000 numbers per month, which leaves only the scattered pieces of the segment for competitive automakers to pour in the investment. Thoughtfully, the marketing guys at Honda had made things possible for their new buck to sweep past the other names of rivalry. Pricing high end variant only Rs. 9,000 above the respective trim of Maruti, Honda is not making a lot of difference to the conventional buyers of these modern days. Specifically, the VX i-DTEC Amaze version costs a Rs. 7.6 lakh price tag whereas on the other side ZDi variant of Dzire is slotted at Rs. 7.51 lakh.
Smelting for the feature to be revealed in terms of value against price, we too are in the same cull. As known both of them are drawn from their hatchback version, hence very ‘well-known’ Dzire is flowing the same trait of Swift on inside. That same plush black colored dashboard, V shaped AC vents, and the position that it is fitted into is really the trendy one. Even minute dealings on vents will attract you towards itself on the very first glance. It is almost that material which everyone expects from the saloon type of car. The one on Brio is not up to that niche slotting. It is basic and simple, just likely the fitments done on Brio. Seven bottle holders scattered all over the car, beige colored plastic, and the pushed-forward stance makes it to gain brownie points for the Dzire in this rift. However, there is whole lot of practicality included in Amaze-ing cliché, but we will reveal it later on to take your experience for a spin on both of the badges.
Rear seats, are the most crucial area where the Indians nowadays prefer to be sat while driven by a chauffeur, and this is the place which is drawing a lot of focus in the arena of carmakers. Looking at the other name than these, Nissan Sunny is banking only on the rear legroom space, and it knows that people will definitely buy the product when they feel delighted while driven on the backs seats for most of the time. Apart from the luxurious interiors, Dzire fails to give you relatively more space than Honda at rear. One feels crumbled inside when sat on the back seat of it. The black colored interiors and the rising waistline, had trimmed off the airy factor from it. Everything feels dark and cloudy even during the broad daylight. The Amaze is just the opposite on this part. The beige colored interior lining and ample of leg room at rear feels cushy to be in the cabin of Honda. Let’s us tell you, the max-man and min-machine strategy of Japanese carmaker had made it all possible. The slim seats on front and the well engraved seats on rear had made this thing happen. And that addition to the existing wheelbase of Amaze than the Brio by 60mm too is dignifying the clause.
Hopping onto the front section again, the luxury of Dzire is once again will be tossed for the practicality. The front passenger seat is well sculpted and shouldered in all the aspect. No complaints while taking a long journey. On contradiction, the Amaze then gains brownie points with less glamorous yet practical crunches on the dashboard. As we said above the pushed-forward stance of dashboard now gains you the acres of space to relax off your legs at rear, which is significantly more than its rivaling badge. And the thing that we still complaint about this car is the lack of shoulder support for both the front personnel.
Now it is time to look into the driver’s space. Honda had a more planted one. The position of dashboard and the slating of driver’s seat match near to the perfect driving position where Dzire is still juggling with the beefed up bulky dash with obstructed visibility for the pilot. It hasn’t tried to change that in spite of carrying on this for many years. The dials of Amaze are not that chunky to that of Suzuki’s, but are clear, simple and straightforward to say everything in bold letter. No need to poke your eyes deep into it to learn the about clocking.
Overall, in the cosmetics Honda had gained better on the exteriors note, whereas there were sumptuous intakes by Maruti on the glamorous interiors. It was fabulous to be inside the Indian carmaker’s cabin, but when measured the numbers on practicalities then we definitely go with the Honda to beat the rest in terms of spaces given, and also the simplicity maintained. Honda had maintained the minimalist strata in the cosmetic part but had given the outcome of a professional when its work is measured in the temperament of millimeters. The clear winner here is “Honda” for us, as it is the same good tasting old wine which just got packed in a new bottle.
That was the half battle won; half still remains in the pipeline which is considered to be of great importance than former section. It’s the drivability and the performance of Honda’s newly launched 1.5L i-DTEC, the first attempt of Japanese in the oil burner’s market of India. It was lacking that since long back for which we assume names like Maruti and others are cashing heavily on the upmarket slots of diesel. Though however the late maybe Honda it is still isn’t too late, and there is a whole lot of arena lies in front of them to capture.
Start the idle engine, a bit cranky vibration will pass throughout the car. It then becomes idle at further revs. Driving the Honda’s diesel was completely a different experience. It was peppy and responsive throughout the complete rev range. There was no delay between the acceleration and the car to shoot up for the same flick. The engineers at Honda had designed it looking to the driving habit of Indian drivers. Its peppiness pulls itself cleanly from 1200 RPM and that enjoyment stays all the time till 3800 RPM, means mid range a lot of mass stored in it to give you the flashy pounce on road whenever you find them empty. Redline also fells very shortly after it i.e. at 4200 RPM. It was disappointing for us to see this so closely exhausted odometer. We hope that was enough for this newbie, because the torque is also in abundance and mid range is faired enough to give you the powerful beat.
Gripping on the Suzuki, it was less in the cubic capacity and also falls short on the bhp criteria by 25 numbers. In spite of this much shortcomings, it revs out properly from any of the given condition, the only point is that you have to keep it churning till 1800 rpm and then when the lag opens it flows smooth till the redline (i.e. 5200 rpm). Let us tell you, in actual road condition, it doesn’t leads to that bespoken red mark, instead it loses down all energy at 1000 rpm before the maximum given limit. So, now Amaze and Dzire are on the same platform. Looking at the city ride, 1200 rpm twist of Honda feels nice to keep the mood swinging, whereas on contradiction Suzuki asks you to burn your energy and mange the control till ticker reaches 1800 rpm mark, making a fuss to drive in the city limit.
That was one part of the engine powered league, second are those clocked numbers. 0-100 kmph sprint of Amaze is almost 3/4th second quicker than the Dzire. We had beaten that with stiff chase of 12.9 seconds. As we had explained the gearing is kept short to maintain the check on local driving conditions, as a result the max range of Amaze get depleted due to it, making a 100kmph-extended chase to be taken off in Dzire in a lesser 3 seconds time than the Honda’s.
Only problem with the Amaze is the vibration. There is a lot of noise and vibration in Amaze as compared to elder Swift or any other diesel engine given in this range. While driving from the initial stage one may think that grunts will get abolished in the upper revs but it continues to be with you throughout the whole drive. And when pressed hard than the more you will be eaten off by it. The other reason of vibrating locust is the poor quality cabin insulation. And that is the serious problem which we were not expecting at least from the badge of Honda, seems very unfamiliar with the Amaze.
Both of the cars uses independent MacPherson struts on front and a torsion beam rear axle. But both of the bugs lacks in suspension settings. Dzire is quite soft on the small potholes, but it is doesn’t manages to crisp in the large sized potholes. On the Amaze, suspension travels longer and so the engineers had planted on the middle of the rage, not so stiff and not so soft, feels a lot comfortable crossing the large and king sized potholes. The speedy drive in Dzire feels a bit tight in handling. The steering is heavy and takes a more effort than the Amaze to cross the tight turns and twists. On other side, Amaze is good and well planted in the controlling manner, we mean clutch, steering and gear. It needs no extra effort to pump in the tight corner rightly one after another. And aerodynamics too helps a lot in this type of situation.
The one thing that everyone here is waiting for is the fuel efficiency, ticked our odometer at 15.2 kmpl and 20.8 kmpl respectively for city and highways in the Honda Amaze, whilst of 14.6 kmpl (in city) and 19.8 kmpl (on highway) made the Suzuki Dzire to get beaten via the hands of bold “H” moniker.
Conclusion:
Both of the cars had performed well on the papers and had even given same type of performance in actual. Looking at the mood of Dzire, it was perfect in the given up market cosmetic feel and also the sufficient temperament on the driving technical. When looking at the Amaze of Honda and as being their first effort in the diesel run, it wasn’t that bad. Driving conditions are very well looked into, and then the engine is refined to suit the locals. Must say the practicality always sticks stiffly to the Honda badge, so buying this Japanese badge is worth investing in smartness rather than putting the money in some glitzy blitzy bugs. We will go for the Amaze when looking to buy a one in this segment, but Dzire is also not that bad to be excluded from the list in terms of cosmetics.
