Although a bit late, Honda marked its entry into the fierce C-SUV segment with the Elevate in mid-2023 – in the segment that already has 7 other well-established players. Upon its introduction, the Elevate sold at a monthly average of around 4500 units but later half of 2024 saw the sales line on a decline. It’s not that the segment demand has gone down, since the top 3 dominant players – the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Kia Seltos – are averaging close to 15000, 9000 and 6000, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Elevate is selling at an average of 1600 units over the last few quarters. But we think the Elevate deserves more attention. Having spent a couple of weeks daily driving it, here are three reasons why you should buy the Honda Elevate right away and three reasons why you should steer away.
Every car has a character, heck some modern-day cars don’t have any. They are just machines with no souls. But the Honda Elevate has a character. And that character is that of a comfortable, burly, kind and understanding caretaker. It is the car that will make you feel comfortable. Make you relax after a hard day at work. It won't wound you up begging you to spool some turbo and make you do some questionable actions. Instead, it would soothe you and calm you down.
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Everything here is easy, within reach and the controls are light. In fact, everything inside the cabin is made to feel like oil on troubled water. It won’t make you go wow. Or make you feel special or it isn’t a cabin that you can brag to your friends and colleagues. Or a long feature list with bragging rights. But what you get is a car that will get you from point A to point B without a fuss. It will be your companion. Your support. It will lift you even. Much like good ol’ Hodor.
Like every Honda, the Elevate is well put together. The quality of metals and plastics is on par and appears like they are built to last if not fancy. And since there aren’t many things to go wrong, it is reliable as well. Overall, the Elevate is a very practical car. We first begin with the large 458 litres of boot space which can take in the largest suitcase or 4-5 cabin-sized bags with still some room to spare.
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And when we move to the second row, we think the Elevate makes for a good chauffeur-driven car. Nowadays many Honda owners are getting the car as a means of transport and will have a driver at their disposal to chauffeur them around. They would find this second-row space immensely comfortable. Nothing fancy here, but there's a good amount of legroom, a good visibility all around, and the sense of premiumness is more than enough at this price point.
Now this 1.5-litre naturally aspirated engine isn’t the most exciting one out there. It’s the same one from the City and it has been one of the oldest in business. This also means that we know this engine well. Having a high-revving nature, there are no sudden boost, no jerks, and no artificial sounds. Just pure unadulterated racing towards the redline. Even the gearbox is slick and has that mechanical clink to it. I wish it was a bit taller for ergonomics, but the gearstick is fantastic.
The clutch is light as well with smooth travel and makes this manual an engaging experience to drive. Even the CVT offered by Honda is now much refined with little to no rubber band effect. This naturally aspirated engine is also frugal and far from being as temperamental as modern-day turbo-petrol engines usually are.
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Adding to that the supple ride quality is soft and goes over anything and everything easily without crashing or thudding a lot. The huge ground clearance also makes the Elevate the Honda so that you won't have to worry when roads start to disappear.
Now the C-SUV segment is a cut-throat one, every player is trying hard to offer as much choice to the buyers in order to succeed. Buyers are catered with naturally aspirated petrol, diesel, and turbo petrol with direct injection, there are strong hybrids as well as CNG options as well. Transmission-wise wise the buyers have a choice of manual, CVT, torque converter, iMT, and DCT as well. And then enters Honda with one pretty well-seasoned iVTEC that isn’t the most powerful either.
It's not a bad engine, of course, but buyers want a choice. They want options when buying a car and the Elevate doesn’t give a lot. This powertrain is not as exciting as turbo petrol neither is it as frugal as the diesel. Honda admittedly made a blunder by not offering the strong hybrid offered in the City.
Now although the cabin is sorted in every possible way, the feature list is something that every buyer who wants their money’s worth will scorn. Having spent long hours in the Elevate I didn’t feel any missing features to be a dealbreaker though. There’s auto-dimming IRVM, wireless charging, auto headlamps and wipers, it also has a semi-digital driver’s display, leatherette upholstery, sunroof and well-functioning ADAS even with the manual transmission.
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But we would have loved the sorely missed ventilated seats in here. A 360-degree camera electric adjustment for the seats, and a panoramic sunroof, that’s all, that’s all the feel-good feature additions we required here but Honda has decided otherwise.
Many of the Honda buyers are loyalists. They know their Honda products and won’t be deviating from it much. The Elevate, then doesn’t come as a huge upgrade for a City buyer. Maybe for a Brio owner, or Amaze if we are pushing it. But not an upgrade for a City owner. Secondly, the target audience for the Honda Elevate is not in large numbers. It doesn't attract young at heart or risk takers or people who want fun, but the Elevate attracts buyers who are mature, and sensible and want a car for a purpose and not flamboyance.
Moreover, the Elevate is being exported to the Japanese market. Yes, an India-made Elevate is sold in Japan as their WR-V in huge numbers. You’d be surprised too because over 50,000 India-made Elevate will be sent to the Japanese market within a year. This means domestic sales are a fraction of what the exports are. Or in fact, it could also mean the exports are keeping Honda from delivering the allocated numbers in the domestic market and with better options out there, the long wait for the Elevate has deviated some of the buyers.
At the end of the day, is the Honda Elevate a case of 'better late than never' or 'too little, too late'.? Well, it’s a combination of both. I am sure more people are considering the Elevate when buying a C-SUV because of the way it looks, it's comfortable cabin, and the legendary Honda reliability it offers. But with so many fancier offerings out there they are deviated to get their money's worth. It has become an export hero no doubt, and its domestic sales figures are still marginally better compared to the Taigun, Kushaq and Astor. Some of the faults of the Elevate are not the car’s fault itself but some external factors. The Elevate then will age well and should be in your consideration.
