Honda Brio: Love @ First Drive (Long Term Ownership Review)

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Seems to be just a case of Oxidation. After a quick ride, the rust is all gone.

Good to know it is nothing of major concern.

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Time for Insurance renewal (last one with Zero dep.).

The quote received from Deccan Honda, Pune, Honda Assure with ICICI Lombard is for IDV 2.5L and Premium coming to 10,430/-, with freebie coupons for 1) Exterior Polishing 2) Interior Cleaning 3) Wheel Alignment. I believe these would be worth 3-3.5k at least.

Am i missing anything here?

 

[naveenkumarverma]

I renewed my zero dep honda assure at 11280/- (Higher premium as I claimed insurance) this march. My car is of march 2012 registration. I got a discount of 880 bucks on Premium amount.

Freebies in your case looking a good deal. go for it. :)

Do you know what's the size of Brio's wiper. Thinking of buying online and replacing myself.
My car cleaning guys are spoiled it. :(

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

I renewed my zero dep honda assure at 11280/- (Higher premium as I claimed insurance) this march. My car is of march 2012 registration. I got a discount of 880 bucks on Premium amount.

Freebies in your case looking a good deal. go for it. :)

Thanks, Insurance renewed with the same deal.

Do you know what's the size of Brio's wiper. Thinking of buying online and replacing myself.
My car cleaning guys are spoiled it. :(

Wiper blades, i recommend Honda blades, as the one i had tried (Hella) are slightly larger than the OEM size. Rubber quality is excellent, but since the length is a bit longer, it droops at both ends while lifted. And upon lowering them, I've to ensure the rubber lines are perfectly directed. 2.5 years with Hella on, keeping a watch on the quality this monsoon and would switch back to OEM if required.

Meanwhile, got the 4th year service (80k kms) done, bill came to 3444/-. Nothing additional, though manual recommends Fuel filter replacement, i had instructed them to change, but was informed it wasnt in stock.

The adviser said Battery check recommended replacement, and Honda recommends changing them every 2-3 years . Anyways, I declined to do anything outside, will do the waiting game.

Also, they were trying to get me the 5th year warranty & RSA renewed at around 5.7k, if done during service, else 1k excess for the 40 point checkup. I havent taken this either, will keep a close watch on the functioning of Peppy Pot.

The updated service history for reference.

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Recent drives / updates.

A few gifts on 4th Birthday to the Peppy Pot

- Blaupunkt BP 2.0 FHD Digital Video Recorder



- Capdase CA00-7B02 USB Car Charger Quartet Boosta Z4-White



- Strontium Nitro 32GB msDc for the Dash cam

40k kms completed with a day tip drive to Matheran. Steep twisty broken tarmac, but up she went without any fuss.

And then, the longer drives in the following weeks, to visit our folks for Eid / Onam, Pune - Calicut - Pune (approx 2200kms in total) covered in 20 hours up, and 24 hours down (due to different route opted). Open highways, Forest roads, Broken tarmac, horrible traffic, Hilly roads, narrow Ghat roads, whatever came in its way, she went Pepping as usual.

Pune - Calicut

Left Pune around 8am on 10/09, reached hometown at 4am of 11/09, with around 3 hours of break in total, the route taken as follows,

1) Pune - Hubli (NH4 / AH47) --- Excellent highways [435kms in total ; arrival time 2:30pm, 1 hour break]

2) Hubli - Ankola (NH52) --- Well maintained two laned NH with minimal traffic, a few kms of broken Tarmac [120kms ; arrival time 5:30pm, 30mins break]

3) Ankola - Mangalore (NH66) --- Due to ongoing 4 lane work upto Kundapura leading to drive in the maze finding the roads, and heavy traffic, the drive was hectic, which made myself and HM rethink on our return route. Kundapura to Mangalore was however a breeze, finally with the 4 lane work completed after years of dragging. [240kms ; arrival time 10:30pm, 1 hour break]

4) Mangalore - Calicut (NH66) --- two laned NH, touchwood, the roads are in good condition. I decided to continue our journey and cover the remaining distance at night, as the traffic would be lesser, compared to day time. And yes, it did pay back, we were able to cover it in 5 hours, which could have easily gone upto 8 / 9 hours had we stayed at Mangalore and driven in day time. Mahe - Calicut traffic density was on higher side, and we were surprised to see the amount of vehicles on road at 3am . Towards the end of the journey, the recent lesser night travel had started to creep in, but the passion to drive kept me going. [250kms ; arrival time 4am, 30mins break]

Calicut - Pune

1) Calicut - Hubli (NH-66) --- [17/09 - 8am to 3:30pm, 300kms, 45mins break]

2) Hubli - Shimoga (via Kudhremukh range, Sringeri, Koppa, Thirathahalli, Shimoga) --- New unknown route, new unknown destination, excitement, Map my India ; we must have ended up taking the longer route and thinking a number of times that the route is going round and round, the "n" number of times seeing milestones of towns crossed by us again and again, the untouched serene narrows ghats of Kudhremukh range, small towns enroute which still has the charm in modern era, Tunga river under the moonlight and the surrounding landscape which made us say "WoW" in awe, we reached Shimoga and called it a day.
[approx 235kms, mostly Hilly winding roads, and the serene Ghat section ; arrival time 8:30pm ; Royal Orchid Central in Shimoga our home for the night]

3) Shimoga - Pune (via Harihar and AH47) --- we started around 11am, after lazing around in the morning at the hotel with the good Breakfast spread, tummy full, road till Harihar is undergoing widening, and hence, the tarmacs were missing for most of the journey.
We crossed Hubli around 2:30pm, Kolhapur around 6pm, Satara 8:30pm, touched down Pune at 10:45pm. The route from Satara to Kokhapur, as usual being the most tiresome with ongoing never ending NH road work, intermediate drizzles, heavy traffic density.

Just 35kms away from Pune, in pitch dark area of NH widening work, close to Kamat hotel, hit a ditch and i parked to check the damage. Luckily, air was intact,no tyre damage, though the rim got bent.

Incidentally, a Santro Xing was already checking their damage after hitting the same ditch. (Hope NHAI reads this and takes initiative to complete the never ending saga ASAP).

Kuddos to Michelin XM2, saved the hit to a lot of extent. Similar kind of hit in the jungles of Belgaum, with MRF in the early days of ownership landed myself with an immediate flat and a side wall cut.

FE achieved, well, its been a mixed bag, ranging from 16-18kmpl, but more importantly, excellent drives in September and a happy content Driver and HM who sat beside me enjoying the drives, and bearing all my crankiness on Highway driving ethics.

ODO now reads a couple of hundreds short of 43k kms, taking the beating of Pune city, until the next trip is planned (Aurangabad / Gujarat ??) .

Enjoy!

 

[sudeep.roy]

Hey Breeze,

Please share more details on the front cam.. product details, price, fitting & snaps.
Does it record automatically & for how long?
I have been thinking of getting something like this..

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Hey Breeze,

Please share more details on the front cam.. product details, price, fitting & snaps.
Does it record automatically & for how long?
I have been thinking of getting something like this..

Sorry for the delay-ed response.

I've been off from TAI for some time now. Been active into the new keeda - biking, on the new member in family, RE Himalayan.

Coming back to your question, check the Blaupunkt BP 2.0 FHD Digital Video Recorder here. Its a basic one, does loop recording with 2minutes interval, decent night visions, and fixes easily with the suction cup holder onto the wind screen, taking minimal space and not blocking your vision.

You got to keep checking for the price, as it varies now and then, range from 2200/- to 3400/-.



Peppy Pot completed 5 years of happy motoring last month end. Pampered her by getting rid of all the scratches and dents, replaced the front bumper as the left side had developed crack. Now, she lies happily with the odd city rides.

Alongside, its time to get her new shoes, after being on XM2 for last 4-4.5years with 40k kms, and still good threads, but sides dry out is a cause of concern.

I have decided to go one size up, that is 185/65R14 instead of OE 175/65R14.

Decision making lies between Conti MC5 and XM2.

Inputs welcome.

Happy

 

[SilverEyez]

hi Breeze,
impressed with your passion for long drives,i share a similar passion of driving
how is the clarity of Blaupunkt 2.0 DVR? how many hours of video does 32gb record?

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

hi Breeze,
impressed with your passion for long drives,i share a similar passion of driving
how is the clarity of Blaupunkt 2.0 DVR? how many hours of video does 32gb record?

Thanks bro, we all drive / ride to explore our vast country and enjoy the pure bliss of nature, a welcome break from the monotonous man made materialistic world .

To be honest, I havent checked the results on PC, nor checked how much it records. So far, have checked on the device only. Therefore, I will have to check and update though. Currently, the SD card is being used in Gopro (until i buy a 64 / 128GB card - researching!)

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Got a quote of 4200/- for 185/65 R14 CC5, 1st Aug the guy would be adding GST which would dent my pocket by 600-700rs per tyre. So just wondering.

Meanwhile, the present state of XM2, after about 4.5yrs and close to 39k km's.

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Okay, here I am, after an elaborate drive down south, covering Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu a little bit, with the new shoes, an upsize 185/65 R14 Continentals (CC5), got it for 18k for 4 numbers, including balancing, alignment & nitrogen. The old tyres fethced only 1year free nitrogen topup option from the dealer (i wish he gave some more discount).

Covered all types of roads, from good tarmac, to concrete, to broken pot holed roads, to slushes, to water loggings, to offroad (plantation drive through), drizzles to heavy rains.

- upsize definitely works well with Brio, and a boost of 10mm is a win win situation on broken roads
- fantastic wet grip
- overall FE may have reduced by a km, but aint keeping track of it any longer
- had hit a few pot holes real hard, took the brunt well without any uncalled situation
- felt a bit stiffer compared to XM2, but overall, a traveler

Meanwhile, the trip ensured that Peppy Pot crossed the 50k kms milestone. Way to go.

Also, got Amaron Flo (60months warranty) for 4k in exchange of old battery, as the OEM one started showing symptoms of ageing. Bought it from Batterybhai.com, and got it changed while in Bangalore during the drive.

Meanwhile, the dash cam display has gone white. Guess its going to be dead soon. :(

More trips planned for festive season. Till then, safe!