By Otsile Kadiege

Honda South Africa has updated their compact sedan, the Amaze, with fresh exterior styling and new technology. According to the Japanese automaker’s local arm, these upgrades were made in response to customer demand and feedback.

Updated exterior styling 

The Amaze now boasts a brand-new front grille, which replaces the previous “solid-wing” version. It blends in perfectly with the bold halogen headlight clusters. The rear end has also been tweaked with revised bumper, new chrome accent and LED taillights.

Updated interior and technology 

Inside, the two-tone beige and black interior upholstery has been replaced with a full-black interior upholstery. Gloss piano black detailing on the dashboard remains unchanged. The centre stack houses a sound system with FM/AM radio functionality, as well as MP3 playback and Bluetooth, which allows hands-free telephony and music streaming. 
In addition, the four-speaker system also provides USB connectivity and an AUX socket. It also comes with a multifunction steering wheel. 

Amaze grades

The Amaze’s three grades soldier on. These include the Trend, Comfort and Comfort CVT grades. The base Trend models come standard with full-black interior upholstery, tilt-adjustable multifunction steering wheel, a four-speaker audio system featuring FM/AM and MP3 functionality, Bluetooth connectivity, central locking and electrically adjustable exterior mirrors.

The Comfort grade adds colour-coded exterior mirrors and door handles and low-mounted, recessed fog lamps 15-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels and LED fog lights at the front. Inside, the Comfort offers automatic door locking, automatic air-conditioning and a new 7-inch touchscreen with a reverse parking camera and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility. 

Safety

All Honda Amaze models are fitted with dual front airbags, inertia reel seatbelts front and rear, and ISOFIX child seat anchors. On the active safety front, ABS brakes with electronic brake force distribution (EBD) are standard.

Powertrain

The Amaze is powered by a 1.2 litre 4-cylinder petrol engine making 66 kW and 110 Nm. It’s either paired to a 5-speed manual transmission or a CVT in the Amaze Comfort. Amaze models with manual transmission achieve a combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 5,6 litres/100 km, while the CVT version is only slightly thirstier at 5,7 litres/100 km.

Pricing, warranty and service plan 

The new Honda Amaze is priced as follows:

> Honda Amaze 1.2 Trend: R209,100;
> Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort: R234,700; and 
> Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort CVT: R252,800. 

The range is supported by a full five-year/200,000 km warranty, as well as a two-year/30,000 km service plan, and a three-year AA Roadside Assistance package.