New Honda Brio SMT - Ownership Review

sudeep.roy · Jun 27, 2012

Anupam,

First of all congrats for your Brio..!
Welcome aboard
Do share your experiences with crystal honda..
Post ur Brio pics and make sure you done PDI thouroghly ??
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...pre-delivery-inspection-exhaustive-guide.html

I've had experiences for the same and with the help of this PDI i managed to double check if anything's wrong..

Waiting for a yet another ownership review of Brio [:D]

Yeah, another Blue Brio!! [clap]

I have lost the count of Brios on TAI now. [:D]

anupamkamal · Jun 27, 2012

thanks ....

u have answered all my queries :)

It is simply great :) :)

sudeep.roy said:

Awsome, I guess you were following this post.
Congrats on your booking Anupam, and nice to have another Blue Brio on TAI.

UV coating and Teflon Coating are Same. The Teflon Coat helps protect your car paint from the strong UV sun rays. They will do three coats totally. The first coat will be before delivery and you can get the subsequent coats done after 2nd and 3rd service.

Floor mats are definitely required, as you wouldn't wanna dirty the carpet.

I suggest you not to go for the filming, as any kind of additional films have been banned by Supreme Court of India.
You can bargain with the dealer for something else instead of this. In fact I am surprised that the dealer is even offering this.
Please go through this thread for more details.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...order-no-sunfilms-allowed-4th-may-2012-a.html

1)Car Cover : Its good to have. You can easily get it from outside.
Typically we don't put cover to the car every day even though its the best practice, but I guess I may be lazy. I have it for my Zen, but hardly use it so haven't got one for Brio yet.

2)Seat Cover:

You can use the cover the car comes with for a while if you want to. It is not must, but good to have additional seat covers. Depending on your budget, you can go for fabric(2-3k) / art leather(5-6k) / genuine leather(minimum 17-18 k & upwards, depending on the leather type)
Faric seat covers stay cooler in summers, but gets affected if there is a liquid spillage. Art leather gets real hot in summers, but gives you good feel and is not too heavy on the budget. Try Autoform, they are decent and have a good varity. It should be available with most accessory walas.
Autoformindia

If budget isn't a constraint, then there is nothing like genuine leather seats. You can check for Stanley or Gsport etc.

3)Matting:

I am assuming the dealer is giving you the fabric mats. Get a set of rubber mats from aftermarket on top of it. Its easier to wash and maintain (800-1000 bucks)

4)Mudguards:

Must, especially in rainy season.

5)Fog light:
Not a must, but good to have if it gets real foggy where you stay during winters. The dealership quoted me 11k + for that, so I decided against it.

6)Anti scratch side and back:
As the name suggests, it can be helpful is preventing some nasty scratches on the door, so I went for it.

7)Anti rust:

Go for it as rainy season is approaching. It protects your car under body from rusting. Honda also gives 5 yr warranty, so its worth it.

8)UV Coating:

Already answered.

9)Arm Rest:

Just a fancy accessory. I got it for the market for 1k. You can install it any time later if you feel like. So not required for you immediately.

10)Rear panel lining/rear cargo protector:

Helps protect the boot paint, while taking the luggage in and out. Again not a must, but hardly costs 500 bucks, so I got this one.

11)Side door protector:

same as 6. I got it done to avoid scratches on door, helps in tight parking spots against other car doors. I paid 5.2k along with paint job. you can get it for 2.8 k i think for the black ones.

12)Front and rear corner protector:

I feel the Brio's front bumper is a bit edgy, so its good to have to protect the bumpers from getting hurt. I feel the rear ones aren't that necessary. You can go through my pics and see what I mean.

I have posted a list of accessory pricing in the second page of this thread, which should give you a fair idea of the genuine Honda accessories.

I hope I was able to answer everything. [:)]

naveenkumarverma · Jun 27, 2012

sudeep.roy said:

That was just for 5 kms where you don't have to use break pedal. :)

Any one have any idea how accurate these FE meters are?

-Naveen

sudeep.roy · Jun 27, 2012

naveenkumarverma said:

No clue man, but I was reading somewhere that they are generally a bit on the higher side. Some one had calculated the mileage tankful to tankful at 12.84 & his meter was saying 13.2, which was pretty close.

sudeep.roy · Jun 27, 2012

anupamkamal said:

Any day, Anupam. Its a pleasure.

BTW, Did you get the vehicle delivered yet?

itsmejohnhcl · Jun 28, 2012

Today I removed the sunfilms out from my BRIO with the help of one of my colleague, but after that none of the windows are coming down, they are just getting stuck .... will go home and try cleaning the GUM with some thinner

sudeep.roy · Jun 28, 2012

itsmejohnhcl said:

Aah, shucks. You have to clean the glass properly. Dont use thinner. Thinners are corrosive.
Try some home made soapy water and some thing like Mr. Muscle.

And use this thread.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/do-yourself/7448-diy-how-remove-sunfilms-your-car.html

Let us know how it goes.

santoclauz · Jun 29, 2012

itsmejohnhcl said:

Whoa!! The govt. has banned the use of any type of sunfilms or are those approved by the RTO allowed??

Kinda waking up late to address this issue, I guess.

sudeep.roy · Jun 29, 2012

santoclauz said:

No Sunfilms are allowed mate, of any make, kind, colour or vlt. Nothing is allowed on the glass apart from what OE gives.

Go through this.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...order-no-sunfilms-allowed-4th-may-2012-a.html

santoclauz · Jun 29, 2012

sudeep.roy said:

Sadistic pleasure for the govt. as always.

There's no full scale checking initiated yet by the RTO in Mumbai ..and I believe the Court might change the rule, or tweak it a bit.

Aint gettin my sunfilms peeled off .. spent quite some moolah on them [cry]

sudeep.roy · Jun 29, 2012

santoclauz said:

Yeah, we all hope so. I think companies like vcool, garware, llumar & 3m are more worried. [;)]

If they don't file a petition & win, their shops will be closed in India for ever.

santoclauz · Jun 29, 2012

RR45 said:

The long highway drives you are talkin abt would easily take upto 12hrs one way, minimum.

A lot has been said abt Brio, in terms of the missing manual/auto ORVM's, missing rear defogger, FE, etc. Let me add my 2 cents, summing up a bit of my experience over the last 2 months of owning a Brio.

Firstly, it's a wonderful hatchback to drive around in the city and the highway alike. If you have taken a test drive, you'd rave about the super sensitive steering. No doubt, the petite size of the car makes it easy to handle and turn in small radii.

Like Sudeep, even I own the SMT model. Absence of adjustable (manual/auto) ORVM's will never make a difference as you dont really change the settings once you adjust them before the start of the journey.
As the rear glass of the car is much bigger than its contemporaries, it gives you a big advantage in the rains. Trust me, I had taken the car to Alibaug when the heavens lashed out. No problem with the rear visibility whatsoever.
With 4 adults in the car and the AC on at all times, the car easily sports an FE of 12-13 in the city (Mumbai traffic) and upto 14-15 on the highway. Havn't checked the figures on the expressway tho.

The car is very sturdy and the build quality is quite strong, being a Honda product. You'll pat urself on the back everyday as you sit in the car and thank yourself for buying this against a Maruti or a Chevy [;)]

(no offence).

Yes, I'd agree that the boot is small as compared to its peers. So for a long journey, as you have mentioned, and with 4 adults, you'd find it difficult to stack up luggage inside the car. But that's true for any other car at the same price. But with 2 adults, it'd be very smooth with the foldable rear seats.

Again, in a city like Mumbai where you'd have to contantly drive in bumper to bumper traffic and rarely on highways (tho I dont know why they still use the term here), an FE of 10-12 is highly commendable. The car's a pure pleasure when it comes to negotitating traffic, speed bumps and maneuvering between jay-walkers [;)]

Happy miles!!

sudeep.roy · Jun 29, 2012

santoclauz said:

The long highway drives you are talkin abt would easily take upto 12hrs one way, minimum.

A lot has been said abt Brio, in terms of the missing manual/auto ORVM's, missing rear defogger, FE, etc. Let me add my 2 cents, summing up a bit of my experience over the last 2 months of owning a Brio.

Firstly, it's a wonderful hatchback to drive around in the city and the highway alike. If you have taken a test drive, you'd rave about the super sensitive steering. No doubt, the petite size of the car makes it easy to handle and turn in small radii.

Like Sudeep, even I own the SMT model. Absence of adjustable (manual/auto) ORVM's will never make a difference as you dont really change the settings once you adjust them before the start of the journey.
As the rear glass of the car is much bigger than its contemporaries, it gives you a big advantage in the rains. Trust me, I had taken the car to Alibaug when the heavens lashed out. No problem with the rear visibility whatsoever.
With 4 adults in the car and the AC on at all times, the car easily sports an FE of 12-13 in the city (Mumbai traffic) and upto 14-15 on the highway. Havn't checked the figures on the expressway tho.

The car is very sturdy and the build quality is quite strong, being a Honda product. You'll pat urself on the back everyday as you sit in the car and thank yourself for buying this against a Maruti or a Chevy [;)]

(no offence).

Yes, I'd agree that the boot is small as compared to its peers. So for a long journey, as you have mentioned, and with 4 adults, you'd find it difficult to stack up luggage inside the car. But that's true for any other car at the same price. But with 2 adults, it'd be very smooth with the foldable rear seats.

Again, in a city like Mumbai where you'd have to contantly drive in bumper to bumper traffic and rarely on highways (tho I dont know why they still use the term here), an FE of 10-12 is highly commendable. The car's a pure pleasure when it comes to negotitating traffic, speed bumps and maneuvering between jay-walkers [;)]

Happy miles!!

+1 to that Santosh.

santoclauz · Jun 29, 2012

sudeep.roy said:

Thanks Sudeep. Always a pleasure to read ur comments/suggestions and add my tid-bits [:)]

Btw, have you planned a drive o'er the weekend? [glasses]

I was planning to buy a few accessories for the car like a vacuum cleaner, fire extinguisher, etc. Have you bought any of them??

Was planning to buy a mini fridge/cooler too. Dont know where that'd be accommodated. A Corona/Asahi/Heineken ..oops, sorry govt. .. a chilled lemonade cud always be handy [:D]

sudeep.roy · Jun 29, 2012

santoclauz said:

Hey Santosh,
The Pleasure is mine. [:)]

santoclauz said:

How I wish I could, but Alas, aint possible immediately. I am gonna be on business tour for next 10 days or so starting today. So not this week end, not next, may be later. [frustration]

santoclauz said:

Fridge... Lemonade.. [evil]

Vacuum cleaner : If at all you are buying, buy a good brand. There are lots available on ebay starting 500-600 bucks, but are useless. I had bought one for 1k sometime back, and found it totally useless. The suction wont have any power, and you will have to park the car close to a plug point for electricity. Tried it once, never used it again. I might as well take the car to the nearby water wash center where they use powerful water jets to clean the exterior, bottom and engine bay. And they use pressurized air/vacuum for the interiors. Costs me 150 bucks, and once in 15 days is more than enough. This along with my building car cleaner (300 bucks a month) who cleans my car daily, keeps my baby shining.

Fire Extinguisher : I don't know how useful its gonna be. But its good to have.
I have seen 350Z buying one recently.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...7-aftermarket-fire-extinguisher-your-car.html

New Honda Brio SMT - Ownership Review

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