Ever since the launch of the Hyundai Xcent, there has been a surge of curiosity about how it performs on road when compared to its closest rivals the Honda Amaze and the Maruti Suzuki Dzire. Even when we drove the Xcent recently, our review stated that it is quite a good car and Hyundai has done a good job of it. But the rivals - Honda and Maruti - have been doing great in terms of sales and the sub-4 metre segement has, for the past couple of years, been the centre of attention. We compare the top-end diesel versions of all three cars to find out more.
Maruti Suzuki was the first of the three to come out with a sub-4 metre sedan and it worked wonders for the company. Based on the Swift platform, the Swift Dzire didn't appeal to the eye in terms of design though. The problem has always been with the integration of the boot to the overall look of the car. But there were no complaints in the ride and handling department of the car and the gearbox was just phenomenal.
To add to the drama in this segment, Honda decided that the time was right for them to get back in the driver's seat, and with the Amaze, they did exactly that. The Amaze, though based on the Brio platform, had been given cosmetic changes to differentiate it from the hatch and the creased lines on the sides of the car ran through a well integrated boot which was a change from the Dzire; and to top it off, this also was Honda's first diesel model in India.
Finally, Hyundai entered the ring. After the huge success of the Grand i10, a sub-4 metre sedan was the obvious way to go and with the Xcent that's what they did. The car drives well and gets a lot of features, some segment firsts but it still has a long road to travel especially since Honda and Maruti are established players in this segment.
We put together a sheet to show you how each of these cars fare in different departments.
