The neck of the Haldighati pass, through which the Mughal army crossed in June 1576, is now a major tourist destination. The nearby temple of Nathdwara, where India’s richest pay obeisance is also a major draw along with various museums and memorials in and around the area. About an hour away from Udaipur, it’s quite a nice drive from the highway to the yellow rocks of the pass. The narrow, hilly roads on the southern stretches of the Aravalli mountains would give any car a workout.
I felt it was the perfect place to bring the new Honda Elevate. For those of you who follow the Indian automotive industry and even those who don’t, the Honda Elevate is the most important vehicle to be launched by the Japanese carmaker in India in years. Murmurs among my peers would describe it as ‘a make or break’ vehicle. So, the obvious question is, how is it to drive?
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Conservative design, great drivability
Let me give you some basic facts first. The Elevate is a 4.3-meter-long, boxy-looking Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). This segment defined by Hyundai Creta is one of the fastest-growing and most profitable for the industry. And virtually every carmaker has a challenger in it. Even Honda. The Elevate is built on the platform of the Honda City sedan but it has an impressive ground clearance of 220 mm. It only has a single engine option, a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol engine with 121PS of power with a six-speed manual or a seven-step CVT.
At a time when competitors are fitting daytime running lights in all kinds of shapes and sizes and giving vehicles body creases everywhere, the simple and conservative exterior design of the Elevate was a pleasant surprise. It might not excite some buyers who want their vehicles to look busy. However, both the exterior and the interiors, for that matter, are well-designed with everything in the right place. The Elevate checks all the boxes when it comes to basics such as ease of getting in and out of the vehicle, rear legroom and luggage space.
The seating position is good as is the layout of the semi-digital instrument cluster, which features a similar multi-information display as the Honda City. The company has made slight changes to the infotainment system with some proper buttons to operate it. Thankfully, there’s also a wireless Apple CarPlay fitted in it. Where it loses out on features is the lack of a panoramic sunroof. It is not a big deal, in my opinion, but I did miss ventilated seats even on the top ZX model. The weather around Udaipur was lovely but, in the sticky, humid weather conditions over most of India these days, ventilated seat is an important feature as it really improves driver comfort. Although not a deal-breaker, the Honda Elevate also does not have a branded audio system. But I did play Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody while driving—a go-to track to try out an audio system—and it was pretty good.
But while Honda did not spend too much time and energy on the car’s design or loading it up with features that were marginally important at best, they did work on the drivability. Here is the thing, I didn’t expect this car to drive as well as it did, the road handling abilities on the hills and overall ride comfort were excellent for a vehicle of its class. Sure, the engine lacks the enthusiasm of the turbocharged competitors of its rivals but it also makes you question if you really need that kind of power. Kick-down, that is dropping a gear to accelerate, can make quite loud engine noise but it must be noted that I was driving in what I’d describe as ‘silent mode’ (no music on).
The Elevate also features Honda Sensing, a suite of features such as Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) and others that are considered Level 2 of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). I had a long experience with Honda Sensing on the Honda City, which you can read about here. The Elevate’s ADAS suite is not as advanced as that on the facelift of the Kia Seltos but if the Honda City is any indication, the Japanese carmaker will likely make it more affordable by putting it on lower variants. And while one can debate endlessly about the need for ADAS, particularly in India’s chaotic driving conditions, I am increasingly growing used to them.
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How the engine behaves
It was surprising, though, that Honda did not equip the Elevate with a Hybrid system like the Honda City. However, Honda Management made it clear that the Elevate platform will underpin the carmaker’s first battery electric car in India in a couple of years’ time, something they had announced a month ago when they unveiled the vehicle. That said, the engine is frugal, and while first drives are never a time to evaluate fuel economy, during my trip to the heart of Udaipur with the manual variant, I achieved a mileage of over 12 kilometers per liter on the information display. But I spent more time with the CVT and the overall performance of the gearbox on the highway, hilly roads and inside the city convinced me to choose that gearbox for its overall comfort.
So, if you’re in the market for an SUV, should you consider the Elevate? Well, for one, we don’t know the price as yet but if one was to benchmark against the Volkswagen Taigun 1.0 TSI and Hyundai Creta (petrol, naturally aspirated), which have similar power outputs, one could expect a range of Rs 14-18 lakh unless Honda chooses to surprise everyone. The conservative design might not float the boat of younger buyers, but would appeal to others, particularly Honda loyalists—a small but exceedingly loyal group of car buyers (including my mother, who is now on her third Honda City). Short answer: it is a good car to drive and Honda has done well with it. However, Honda will really need to aggressively market the car beyond the typical customer base if it wants to make a mark on the market.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)