Honda Amaze 1.5 Diesel Review: Desires Exceeded

Motoroids Rating- 4.5/5

Engine, Gearbox and NVH 

As we discovered, the 1.5 litre iDTEC engine that powers the Amaze is highly flexible in nature and revs freely (for a diesel engine). This motor ensures that dealing with heavy traffic conditions isn’t too stress inducing and we were happy to note that the turbo lag was as good as minimal. The motor starts feeling punchy from as low as 1200 rpm and the engine seems to come into its own as soon as the peak torque starts being developed around the 1700 rpm mark. As we said earlier, the lag is next to negligible and we have nothing but good things to say about the way the engine goes about its business. The punch on offer is evident till almost 3700 rpm , after which the performance starts fading rather rapidly. For those not willing to give up, the motor will rev all the way to 4200 rpm, after which, the rev-limiter cuts in rather abruptly.

The engine comes mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox that offers slick, short and precise throws. The clutch action is pretty light and the car benefits from tall gearing. The Amaze can chug along in third gear all day long and we just can’t stop marvelling at how well the engine and gearbox work together in making the Amaze stress-free to drive.

Fuel efficiency too seems to be really decent, with the car managing to do a Mumbai-Pune in little less than one-third of a tank full of fuel (The Amaze’s Fuel Tank, at 35 litres, is rather small for a sedan). All this with a very heavy foot and some really aggressive driving.

However, things seem to start going for a toss the moment you pay attention to the NVH levels. Aluminium engines have never been known for low NVH levels and the Amaze’s 1.5 litre diesel motor is no different. The vibrations are well controlled and seldom do you feel them creeping into the peddles. Honda says it used liquid-filled instead of conventional mounts to control the vibrations coming from this engine and this trick seems to have worked pretty well.

The decibel levels though can surely do with some nannying. The distinctive diesel clatter is clearly audible inside the car and you would need to have an IQ of a cauliflower to mistake the diesel engine rumble for anything else. Also high is the tyre noise, which is sure to increase as the tires become older and harder.

Overall, the Brio Amaze Diesel variant does really well in the performance stakes but underperforms in the NVH levels. Call it the result of excessive cost cutting or whatever, we really expected Honda Amaze to be better insulated from the clatter that its diesel engine has on offer.

Motoroids Rating- 4/5

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