Our First Automatic! Honda Brio VAT

[jaixon]

We were proud owners of a Ford Ikon Tdci since 2008. Towards the end of last year, we started thinking about getting an automatic since my dad was getting old and thought the convenience of an autobox was what he needed now with the ever increasing traffic in my town. We wanted to downsize to a hatchback for easy maneuvering in traffic. Now we all know there aren’t many choices among small hatches with an automatic option. i10/i20 were not considered because of hyundai’s high service and ownership costs. We didn’t like the A-star for its looks and Volkswagen could not give us a release date of the Polo Automatic.

So when Honda released the Brio auto on Diwali last year, we thought ok, that’s the car we want!

We sold our Ikon for 3.2 Lakhs (just 23,000k on the odo and in mint condition) and booked our Honda brio in Tafetta white on December 3rd 2012 at Vision Honda in Kottayam. We were told our car would be put together only by January and delivered in early Feb.

Finally on February 11, we received our Brio in Full Glory. Sad part was, forget about discounts, they did not even give a box of tissue paper for free. Paid 6.86 lakhs onroad. Bought another 11,700 rs. worth of accessories.

Accessories bought from Honda.

Tail gate spoiler: Rs. 8500


Side protector: Rs. 2600


Rear cargo protector: Rs. 600


Accessories purchased from outside

Chrome exhaust: Rs. 350


Star 3D mats- sigma variant for Rs. 2400 from carmatsindia.com


Sill scuff plates with LED's from eBay for Rs.1445


since its installation required drilling a few holes, we cut the wires and installed it like normal scuff plates.

Got a pair of Osram Nightbreaker plus H4 headlight bulbs for Rs. 800 from autotrends.in. It does have a better spread than stock. Will post pictures of it later.

Got car seat covers done from a shop near my house. It was stitched and installed in front of me for Rs. 6000. The material used comes in three layers with PU on top with cotton and foam below. Initially we wanted to go with autoform but dropped it after the dealer quoted an exorbitant price. The colour combination and style was inspired from pictures posted by another TAI brio reviewer bReeze AkA brIo. http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...da-brio-love-first-drive-8-months-9k-kms.html



Nappa/Perforated Nappa Leather steering cover – done at Stanley, Ernakulam for Rs. 4000




Honda offered us 3M underbody coating for Rs. 3600 which we refused. Instead, got it done at 3M car care in Ernakulam with 5 yr warranty for Rs. 3022. They took ample time to apply the coat and their attention to detail was impressive.

The car came shod with MRF ZVTV 175/65r14, and all including the spare tyre was changed to 185/65r14 Michelin XM2’s with nitrogen on delivery. Went with michelin for comfort. C drives were also considered but its soft side walls were a cause of worry. The ride after replacement was bumpy and on checking the tyre pressure, all four had 40psi in them. I decreased it to 29/26 Front/rear and now its very comfy. I got Rs 2550/tyre for the MRF’s and bought the new tyres for Rs. 4800/tyre. Initially I was planning to go with 195/60/r14 xm2's seeing lot of people on different forums who were upsizing to 195 section tyres. I assume brio comes with 5.5J alloys like the the honda city which if shod with 195 section tyres (whose measured rim size should normally be 6j) would decrease the section width by 5mm (0.2 inch). Also the price difference between 185/65r14 and 195/60r15 XM2 was around Rs. 1100/tyre. I do not know if fuel efficiency was hit after the upsize. I hope the low rolling resistance would make up for the increase in section width.





Initial Impressions after 400 kms on the odo.

Handsome when viewed from the front and like a frog ready to take a leap when viewed from the rear. Its styling is highly polarizing. People just love it or hate it.


Plastic quality is good. Better than many hatchbacks and a huge leap from the Ikon we had. The switches and knobs are all well made. Fit and finish is good. The position and shape of rear power window switches are quite unusual.


Ergonomics are Spot on. Every thing is oversized and easily accessible. A/c knobs and controls are within reach. Driver seat offers good visibility. Driver seat height adjustment would’ve helped shorter drivers though. The ICE setup is basic but works well. Not many menu and such to get yourself lost. Buttons are huge and steering mounted controls are an added convenience. Sound quality is good. FM reception is excellent. It detected my USB drive flawlessly (1 GB).

Rear windows dont go down completely


Rear doors dont open as wide as the front doors


Obvious cost cutting


Driving Impressions

I cannot be a fair judge with just 400km on the odo. Though with my limited experience i could say that there is not much perceptible lag with the autobox even in D. The engine idles at around 1000rpm and cruises at 60-70 kmph at 1600 rpm. I still haven't seen it climb above 3000 rpm even while climbing steep slopes possibly because I'm a little light on the accelerator. Eco mode is almost always on when I drive. The first tankful gave 11.1 km/lit. Ride is a bit stiff in the rear. Breaking is excellent and I think michelin does make a difference here.I haven't driven in the wet though. Steering is very light but precise and weighs up really well as speed increases but no where close to the ikon IMHO. There is no perceptible body roll and its really fun to drive around corners. NVH levels are on the higher side during cold starts but later settles down to an low pitched hum. I have cranked the car twice till now thinking the car was off. We did not have a family ride in the car yet, but I could confidently say that there is lots of space inside. Front seats offer amazing leg room. Rear seats are also surprisingly spacious with enough knee room. There is definitely more interior space than a swift IMO. The A/c is a chiller at "2" without affecting the performance.

I've read many good reviews of honda brio on TAI, some of them quite detailed. Here I just wanted to highlight my very short ownership experience. I wil keep updating the thread.

Few more pictures of the exterior.

 

[Vishwas]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Hello jaixon, welcome to TheAutomotiveIndia,

Congrats for your new Brio A/T,its the first in our forum and the ownership review has come out well, appreciate the detailed review, thanks for sharing with us and Brios are raining in TAI a lot now-a-days!

That's a pretty good deal you got for your Ikon too.

We wish you a happy and safe motoring with your Brio and please don't forget to update this thread regularly,

 

[Raja]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Superb pics and lovely write up of a sporty little cute car , welcome here and enjoy your stay rating your thread 5 *

 

[Gurrala74]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

@Jai

Welcome to TAI !! excellent pics and nice write up buddy !!

Wish you many more happy miles with this Honda's small Auto wonder

Keep updating the thread regularly !

 

[allhyundaicars]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

congrats on your car jaixon

and it was a good decision that you decided to go to 3m center and let the professionals worked on your car.

and the rear spoiler really adds to the looks of the car. it's looking amazing in white. and i'm not just saying this.

 

[jaixon]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Thank you all for reading this thread. I would like to addd to allhyundaicars post that it is wise to go to a 3M car care center if you could and get the underbody coating done. I know a lot of people think underbody coating is of no use and is something that dealers push you to make money. I had that thought too. But my dad was adamant that the car needed one and to my surprise, at 3M while inspecting the underbody, they showed me 3 places that had rust on them, which they scraped off using a sand paper. I was stunned coz the car was manufactured in January and we took delivery in Feb. Rust in just one month !!!!!

 

[gns_blr]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Congrats Jaixon on you Decision to go for BRIO.
Your car looks awesome in white. IMHO most suitable colour for BRIO. Hard to maintain though.
How was the ownership experience? How about the dealer? In Bangalore they are offering freebies with BRIO MT. May be AT the reason you haven't received any offer

 

[jaixon]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

The dealer experience was strictly ok. Only gripe was that they did not give any freebies for the automatic. The manual gets around 30-40k discount with loyalty bonus, exchange bonus etc. They were saying the autobox was in huge demand. The vehicle was also not delivered like I would've like. It was dirty and had lot of grease every where. I had to stand with the service guys to get the car cleaned before delivery. The car is a dust magnet. Gets dirty in no time !

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Congrats on your ride. Surely would fall in love with this pot with every drive.

Sill scuff plates with LED's from eBay for Rs.1445

since its installation required drilling a few holes, we cut the wires and installed it like normal scuff plates.

You dont have to drill holes for their installation. I have got it installed from a reliable technician. All he did was remove the fibre around the side steps, and take the wire along the existing ones beneath it, to the fuse box area. And trust me, its amazing at night with the blue LED . Am sure, you missed out on this by cutting the wire off.

The colour combination and style was inspired from pictures posted by another TAI brio reviewer bReeze AkA brIo. http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...da-brio-love-first-drive-8-months-9k-kms.html

Thank you. This combination was done after giving a lot of thought. Maintenance is minimal

Your seat combination looks good.



TC and safe

 

[Gurrala74]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Dear Breeze

Please avoid long sentences highlighting instead please use quote function for easy readability.

Thanks

 

[bReeze AkA brIo]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Dear Breeze

Please avoid long sentences highlighting instead please use quote function for easy readability.

Thanks

Point noted, and edited. Inconvenience regretted.

 

[vijay]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Jaison,congratulations on your AT honda, a superb review to read with good set of pictures.Enjoy your ride.

 

[visran]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Congrats Jaixon, wonderful choice of going for Brio AT as it comes with great engine with the convenience of auto box.subscribed to your thread please keep updating this thread regularly.

 

[jaixon]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

You dont have to drill holes for their installation. I have got it installed from a reliable technician. All he did was remove the fibre around the side steps, and take the wire along the existing ones beneath it, to the fuse box area. And trust me, its amazing at night with the blue LED . Am sure, you missed out on this by cutting the wire off.

Thank you. This combination was done after giving a lot of thought. Maintenance is minimal

Your seat combination looks good.

TC and safe

Thanks again for the the pictures you uploaded. I was literally going crazy about the colour combination that has, like you said, minimum maintenance and hit the jackpot on seeing your pictures.

 

[freakdude]

Re: Our First Automatic ! Honda Brio VAT

Many congratulations on the white beauty. You have excellently narrated the experience and the awesome pics just added to the flavour. Wishing you many happy miles with your ride.

freakdude.