While owners of cars commonly associated with e-hailing taxi services might take offence to banter starting with the letter ‘U’, it is actually a badge of honour for the manufacturer, reports The Citizen.

Any vehicle used as a taxi, whether it’s e-hailing or not, puts on enormous amounts of annual mileage and are operated non-stop during long shifts. The cars that are chosen for extreme usage like this are quite obviously proven as very reliable and affordable to maintain.

One of the models which has become a popular choice for e-haling services, the Honda Amaze, joined out long-term fleet in December in entry-level 1.2 Trend manual guise. The third generation of Honda’s most affordable local offering was introduced last year.

Straight off the bat, the little sedan is not the sexiest of offerings from a Japanese carmaker that gave the world eye-candy like the S1000 and Civic Type-R. But it is a great reminder that sedans still offer a sensible alternative despite SUVs and hatchbacks dominating the sales charts.

Honda Amaze has space to boot

In fact, you’ll struggle to find anything with a larger boot than the Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort’s 417-litre trunk. Especially around its price tag of R254 900.

The two most popular SUV/crossovers in the same price bracket, the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro and Suzuki Fronx don’t come close to the Amaze’s boot size. The Tiggo comes in at 340 litres and the Fronx at 304 litres.

The same applies to the two best-selling hatchbacks in the price region. The VW Polo Vivo only features 280 litres in the rear, while the Toyota Starlet’s boot is somewhat bigger at 314 litres.

In terms of its direct rivals, the Honda Amaze’s boot size beats the 378 litres in the Suzuki Dzire and the 402 litres of the Hyundai Grand i10 Sedan. Another compact sedan, the Kia Pegas, offers a 475-litre boot but does come in a higher price.

The generous space in the rear has also surprisingly not come with compromised space in the cabin. The scribe’s two very leggy teenagers’ knees and heads fit in comfortably in the second row without any complaints.

Not that light on spec

While the interior is very basic featuring black trim and black upholstery on the seats, it is not as sparsely specced as you’d come to expect from a budget offering. It has an eight-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual USB ports, automatic aircon with rear vents, keyless entry and push-button start.

We can live with the fact that it hasn’t automatic wipers. But getting used to auto headlights in 95% of the cars we drive makes it very difficult to get back into a habit of manually switching lights on and off.

On the safety front, The Honda Amaze features dual front airbags, vehicle stability control, hill-start assist and ABS with EBD.

On the outside, the Trend model boasts LED headlights and 15-inch alloy wheels, two features not always found on entry-level models in budget-friendly line-ups. The Trend does not come with foglamps, but the honeycomb pattern on its elevate-styled grille works well.

High-revving little mill

Under the bonnet, the high-revving 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine which sends 66kW of power and 110Nm of torque to the front wheels via five-speed transmission is never going to threaten any land speed record. But with the assistance of a super slick box and light clutch, performance is not all that bad when you keep it in the boil. Peak power kicks in around 6000rpm.

With a turning circle of around five metres, piloting the little Amaze in tight driveways and parking lots is also a breeze. A reverse camera and rear parking sensors are an added bonus.

We have not managed to get close to Honda’s fuel consumption claim of 5.5L/100km yet, maybe as a result of extracting all the power we can from the high revs. The consumption computer shows 7.0L/100km for a total distance of 1500km. This is very acceptable for city traffic. And filling up the 35-litre fuel tank is not going to run into four figures any time soon.

We look forward to continue our e-hailing … err … private hailing service over the next two months.
The Honda Amaze 1.2 Trend manual comes standard with a five-year/200000km warranty and four-year/60000km service plan.

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