If you like your small sedans with a side of drama, the 2024 Maruti Suzuki Dzire has just handed you a showy sunroof and a few other cosmetic trump cards that the Honda Amaze conspicuously lacks. This review takes a long, amused look at five specific features the Dzire offers over the Amaze, and then tries to be sensible about whether those features are actually worth the showroom bravado. Spoiler: sometimes the Dzire feels like a stylish party guest who showed up with a small toolkit, while the Amaze quietly carries a first aid kit and sensible shoes.
Introduction
The all-new fourth-generation Maruti Suzuki Dzire is a compact sedan aiming to balance city-friendly dimensions with some higher-end features usually reserved for pricier cars. The Honda Amaze, a long-standing competitor in the same segment, has been playing the safety-and-practicality card, especially in its top spec which offers ADAS. The Dzire 2024 answers with five features that are either genuinely useful or delightfully indulgent: a single-pane sunroof, a 9-inch top-spec touchscreen, a 360-degree surround view camera, tyre pressure monitoring system, and ambient footwell lighting. These are concentrated largely in the top ZXI Plus variant, which, tellingly, costs roughly the same as the Amaze ZX top variant that brings ADAS to the table.
Key Features
Sunroof
Maruti lists a segment-first single-pane sunroof on the Dzire 2024. It is electrically controlled, opens sufficiently to let in light and air, and transforms the cabin mood from ‘practical commuter’ to ‘weekend date car’ in about three seconds. The catch is that it is limited to the top ZXI Plus variant. So if you are tempted to pick the Dzire for that cinematic rooftop experience, remember you are votes away from choosing ADAS, which the Amaze offers at the same price point. For someone who enjoys the little theatrical moment of sunlight streaking across leatherette at 7:45 a.m., the sunroof is a triumph. For someone who prefers emergency braking to a sunbeam, it is irrelevant.
9-Inch Touchscreen Infotainment
The Dzire keeps things modest for the mid trims with a 7-inch unit, but the ZXI Plus throws in a 9-inch floating touchscreen. It looks modern, sure. It displays maps with more charisma and will make your passengers feel like they are in a slightly more expensive car. However, the floating, free-standing design can obstruct the forward view for drivers of shorter stature; a very specific design oversight turned into a practical inconvenience. The Amaze, by contrast, sticks to an 8-inch unit that integrates physical buttons for quick access. Not as flashy, but far less likely to be falsely accused of causing poor line of sight.
360-Degree Surround View Camera
Where Honda gives you LaneWatch and blind-spot warnings that are excellent for moving traffic, the Dzire gives you a 360-degree bird’s-eye camera—fantastic for slow-speed manoeuvres and dense parking lots. If you live in a city with multi-level parking or have an innate fear of parking pillars, this camera will save your bumpers and your dignity. But if you frequently navigate highways and worry more about an errant lane-changer than tight parking bays, the Amaze’s lane-focused systems may feel more relevant.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Dzire introduces TPMS to this segment, a sensible feature that reports the pressure of each tyre in real time. The advantage is simple and practical: better tyre life, better fuel economy, and early warnings in case of a slow puncture. Owners of the Amaze can fit aftermarket TPMS units, but the factory-fitted integration in the Dzire is neater and more trustworthy. For drivers who tour long distances or carry heavy loads, TPMS is not a gimmick; it is actually useful.
Footwell Lighting
This is the pure ambience play. The ZXI Plus variant gets footwell lighting that casts a soft glow at night and makes the interior feel less like a compact sedan and more like a boutique hotel lobby on wheels. It helps with visibility when entering or exiting at night, yes, but mostly it exists to make you smirk and file an Instagram story. The Amaze skips this in favor of more functional touches elsewhere.
Pros and Cons
Pros
– Sunroof in a compact sedan is still exciting and elevates cabin ambience dramatically.
– 9-inch touchscreen and 360-degree camera bring usability and perceived luxury to the top trim.
– TPMS is a practical safety and maintenance assistant that reduces long-term costs.
– Footwell lighting adds a tasteful interior touch for night driving and easy ingress/egress.
Cons
– Many of these features are limited to the top ZXI Plus, which is priced the same as the Amaze ZX that offers ADAS—so you are choosing flash versus safety.
– Free-floating 9-inch screen may block vision for shorter drivers; the Amaze’s physical buttons are more ergonomic in everyday use.
– 360-degree view is brilliant for parking but does not replace active driving safety systems like lane-keeping or automatic emergency braking.
– If you are the kind of buyer who prioritises safety features across a broader range of driving conditions, the Dzire’s offerings might not justify skipping the Amaze’s ADAS package.
User Experience
Using the Dzire in the city feels like flirting with convenience. The 360-degree camera is invaluable in tight garages, and the TPMS pays dividends over months of varied driving—especially if you have a puncture-prone route. The sunroof is a mood-lifter on coastal drives and short highway bursts, and the footwell lighting makes stepping into the car at night feel a touch theatrical in the best way. However, in everyday urban commuting the 9-inch floating screen can be a nuisance for some drivers, and the lack of ADAS in Dzire’s top trim relative to similarly priced rivals feels like a deliberate trade-off rather than an oversight.
On longer trips, the Dzire delivers respectable stability and comfort for a car in this segment. TPMS can help you avoid a roadside tyre drama. But when you are driving at speed on highways, you might miss the active safety net that the Amaze ZX provides with ADAS. In short, the Dzire is delightful for lifestyle-oriented buyers and city-centric owners; it becomes less compelling if precious safety features are your baseline requirement.
Comparison with Alternatives
Against the Honda Amaze, the conversation is literally about sunroof versus ADAS. The Amaze brings driver-assist features like lane-watch and blind spot detection that feel more useful when you are on busy arterial roads and highways. The Dzire counters with parking tech and interior glam. The Hyundai Aura and Tata Tigor play in the same hole but neither currently matches the Dzire’s sunroof and TPMS combo straight out of the box. If you compare across trims, the Amaze’s feature stack is more consistent at mid to high levels, while the Dzire concentrates its bells and whistles in the top variant.
Who Should Buy This
Buy the Dzire ZXI Plus if you enjoy the little luxuries: you want a sunroof, larger infotainment, ambient lighting, and a built-in TPMS. If your driving life is heavy on city parking, mall runs, and occasional coastal drives, these features will genuinely improve your daily pleasure and practical security.
Skip the Dzire if you value driver assistance and active safety at the same price point. If your typical weekend includes long highway runs, or if you are the sort of driver who prefers active crash-mitigation tech, the Amaze ZX with ADAS looks like the smarter pick.
Value for Money
Value in this segment is awkwardly subjective. On price alone, the top Dzire ZXI Plus and the Amaze ZX top trim sit in the same neighborhood, which forces an apples-to-oranges comparison: ambience versus active safety. The Dzire offers high perceived value if you prioritise in-cabin feel and parking aids—those features are tangible and enjoyable. However, if you are comparing feature lists from a safety-first spreadsheet, the Amaze may deliver more long-term utility, especially in accident-avoidance scenarios.
From a cost-of-ownership perspective, TPMS and the 360 camera can reduce incidental costs (tyre wear and parking mishaps), which slightly improves the Dzire’s long-term value proposition. Conversely, ADAS could theoretically prevent expensive collisions in the first place. Economic prudence would argue that preventing an accident beats fixing a dent, but emotional prudence might prefer the sunroof over statistics.
In my honest opinion, pick the Dzire ZXI Plus if you want a compact sedan that feels a bit fancier than its price tag suggests, and you spend most of your time in urban or suburban settings where parking and ambience actually matter. If you drive long distances frequently, or if you sleep better knowing active driver-assist systems are watching the road, the Amaze ZX with ADAS is the more responsible and ultimately more sensible choice.