Honda Elevate compact SUV has been unveiled – Bookings will open next month and deliveries will commence during festive season
Honda unveiled the Elevate compact SUV in India. Apart from getting launched in India, this will be an export model as well – with manufacturing done in India. Elevate marks Honda’s return to the compact SUV space – which is currently ruled by the likes of Creta, Seltos and Maruti Grand Vitara among others.
In this post let’s stack Honda’s Elevate against rivals like Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, Skoda Kushaq, VW Taigun and MG Astor. To keep things fair, we didn’t add Citroen C3 Aircross as it is a 7-seater compact SUV. Also, we didn’t include Mahindra Scorpio Classic as it is a ladder frame vehicle with different target demographic.
Honda Elevate Compact SUV Vs Rivals
In terms of dimensions, Grand Vitara and Hyryder are the longest. Astor is still the widest, tallest and has the shortest wheelbase in this segment. Surprisingly, the smallest Kushaq and Taigun boast the longest 2,651 mm wheelbase. New Elevate is just as tall as Astor, but has the highest 220 mm ground clearance. Out of the lot, Grand Vitara and Hyryder offer the highest powertrain flexibility with 1.5L NA with AWD option, 1.5L NA Hybrid and 1.5L NA CNG.
Kushaq, Taigun and Astor offer 1.5L turbo petrol options in top variants while Creta and Seltos are the only ones with diesel options. Honda Elevate will probably get e:HEV hybrid variants in the future. Power is highest with Germans at 148 bhp with 7-speed DCT option, followed by Astor’s 138 bhp. When both Koreans get a facelift, they will feature the new 1.5L turbo petrol with 158 bhp and 7-speed DCT option.
Is Elevate Feature loaded?
Yes and No. This is a slight conundrum. We can see Honda ticking all the right boxes. In fact, all the right boxes that actually matters. Honda Elevate features camera based Sensing ADAS suite. Just like with City, Elevate is highly likely to feature the most affordable ADAS variant in this segment. Both Koreans will get ADAS tech with their respective updates in coming months, while Astor is the only vehicle that offers ADAS currently. Unlike Grand Vitara and Hyryder, Elevate offers a larger 10.25” touchscreen and a 7” instrument cluster. Creta, Seltos and Astor currently lack Wireless smartphone mirroring, which Elevate gets.
Elevate, Kushaq, Taigun and Astor are the only ones to get fully digital instrument clusters. Both Astor and Elevate lack ventilated front seats, which is a Godsend for Indian climate conditions. Honda Elevate lacks quite a bit like AWD, CNG, Strong Hybrid powertrain, a turbo petrol engine, a diesel engine, a panoramic sunroof, ventilated seats, and many more.
As of now, Grand Vitara and Hyryder have price-effective entry-level variants, followed by Creta, Seltos and Astor. The Germans have highly-priced entry-level variants. At the top-spec level, MG Astor comes off as VFM considering everything it packs. Honda Elevate is poised to bring disruption in this segment, if priced well.
