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India’s most unique segment has expanded with a new contender from Volkswagen. Dubbed the Ameo, this new compact sedan will be launched by the middle of this year and will compete with established players like the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Hyundai Xcent and the Honda Amaze.
Dimensions
The birth of the compact sedan came about thanks to the regulations that the Centre had put into place to encourage the development of small cars. These regulations have resulted in some rather questionable looking but very cleverly engineered vehicles aimed at the concept of space maximisation.
All the cars in this segment are 3.99 meters in length literally the maximum that can be had before the regulations change. So it is down to the wheelbases that the differences arise.
The Volkswagen Ameo will have the same wheelbase as the Polo (2.46 metres) making it significantly larger than the competition.
Trailing in second place is the Swift Dzire which has a wheelbase of 2430 metres while the Xcent has a wheelbase of 2.45 meters and the Amaze stands at 2.40 metres making it the smallest.
Equipment
If space maximisation was the fight around the cabin then it is ‘first-in-segment features’ that is the battle that takes place within the cabin itself.
The Swift Dzire brought climate control and a Bluetooth enabled music system while the Xcent introduced the concept of an internal hard drive, rear AC vents and a reverse camera to the segment.
The Amaze has lagged behind for a long time but has now caught up and offers a touchscreen infotainment system on certain variants but still has no climate control option.
The Ameo, which is the newest car in the segment will bring cruise control, rain sensing wipers, touchscreen music system with mirror link and static cornering lights.
Engine and gearbox
The engine regulations for this segment state that the petrol mill must be under 1200cc while the diesel cannot exceed 1500cc and nearly all the cars in the segment have pushed these rules to the upper limits to achieve their outputs.
In terms of petrol mills the Amaze is the most powerful in terms as its 1.2-litre four-pot engine produces 87bhp/109Nm while the Ameo will have the lowest power thanks the output of 74bhp/110Nm of torque. The Swift Dzire stands at 83bhp/114Nm while the Xcent does 81bhp/114Nm.
All the engines are offered with a five-speed manual but also can be had with AT options sans the Ameo. Though it must be noted that the Xcent and Dzire get a four-speed manual while the Amaze comes with a five-speed AT.
Moving ahead to the battle of the diesels, the Amaze for a long time sat on the top thanks to its 1.5-litre four-cylinder mill producing 100bhp/200Nm of torque. However, it looks like the Ameo will perform a coup and move to the top thanks to its output of 103bhp/250Nm of torque. The Dzire’s Multijet mill produces 74bhp/190Nm while the Xcent’s rather anaemic 1.1-litre unit produces 71bhp/180Nm of torque. A five-speed manual is the norm while the Ameo will be the first to offer a seven-speed DSG AT with a diesel engine. While it is not the first car to offer a diesel AT (lest we forget the Tata Zest and Swift Dzire) this is a far more modern option than the latter two.
The diesel range is a place where fuel efficiency is the king and the Dzire is the most frugal thanks to ARAI specified 26.5kmpl while the Amaze manages a figure of 25.8kmpl. The Xcent has an ARAI figure of 24.4kmpl while if we are to go by the Vento’s output then the figure will be around 20.6kmpl which is less than the rivals but still decent considering the higher output.
Price
We have compared the top spec petrol and diesel models in the comparo. In the petrol range the average price of the cars range from Rs 6.34 lakh for the Xcent SX variant while the Amaze is most expensive car at Rs 6.96 lakh.
We believe that the Ameo top spec petrol will start at a little under Rs 6 lakh. The Dzire AT is the cheapest while the Amaze is the most expensive.
It is a similar story with the diesels as they are all priced in the range of Rs 7.84 lakh to Rs 7.91 lakh. The former is the Amaze in the VX variant while the latter is the Dzire in the ZDi variant.
The Dzire’s ZDi AMT is priced at Rs 8.40 lakh while we expect the Ameo diesel AT to be priced at over Rs 10 lakh.
