My New Honda Brio SMT (O)


Thread Starter #1
Joined
May 7, 2012
Messages
100
Likes
3
Location
Bangalore
I didnot get the option as to how to start a new thread. Can someone tell me how to do that ?
Anyway below is the review of my new Honda Brio SMT (o). Will be posting pics soon
====================================================================
What I like
===========
Cute looks of the car (both rear and front), but looks are very personnel
Excellent ride comfort
Silent engine, both during ride and when idle
Good space inside
Its small dimension from outside is a very easy to manuver in cities
Good quality interiors
Descent Mileage and the In-built economy metre
Feels like a driver's car, rather than a family car

Dislikes
=========
Gear shift to first and reverse is bit hard
No driver seat height adjustment (though not important for me since iam 5.10)
Boot space is small (but still ok for me, since i drive mainly for fun and within city)
No rear wiper (again yet to drive in rainy season)

Contenders
===========
Iam new to driving. When i started learning driving in Maruti driving school, i eyed upon the New Wagon-R and Hyndai i10 as my top most contenders for the car.
But as I started to learn more about cars, and after discussion with my collegues, my taste started to change. I started disliking Wagon-R due to its huge shape
I researched about other cars as well, but each had some negative points in my mind.
But I was pretty inclined towards i10 and thought to book it, when i realized it was really overpriced and also had terrible mileage, though the ride quality was good i heard.
Then one day i got an promotional email from carewale.com regarding the launch of Honda Brio.
Initially I didnot cared about the email and thought a Honda car is not of my class and its for people far ahead in terms of budget.
Then one day the Honda guys brough the BRIO to our office premises for display. I didnot test drive it, but the looks and the interiors caught my attention and I was pretty impressed
I immediaely went within few days with my friend and took a test drive and booked it the next day.
I was inclined for Rally red , but my wife pressed for Urban Titanium. Indeed it was a surprise for my wife, how my mind changed suddenly from Wagon-R and i10.

Booking & Delivery
===================
I always thought the process of booking a car and delivery is very tedious and complicated.
But thanks to Whitefield Honda, the sales guy was very co-operative and proactive. I had a waiting period of 20 days for my car.
He informed me about the car status proactively without me bothering him
I took the delivery of my car on April04. Since I was new to driving, they arranged for a driver to drive it back home
Took to the church the same day for blessings.

Exterior
===================
Looks are very personnel and This car has a look which not everybody will like (Specially risk-averse people), I mean its not conventional.
For people who want to stand out and be unique, here it is.
Though i like the glass hatch, in my opinion it would have been better if they could have given the glass hatch a metal outline or frame.
Personnely i like the looks very much, specially the front grill and H badge.

Interior
===================
Inside looks much bigger, than what it looks from outside.
Infact my neighbour's i10 was parked next to me and when i looked from 2nd floor down, Brio looked much wide and longer, though i10 scores on height
I think it looks small from outside mainly due to the big glass hatch
The interiors are descent and neat, atleast better than i10 i guess
The seats have integrated head rests, which is minus to the looks I feel. The audo is ok, though iam yet to test the USB, usally i put FM most of the time.
Rear seat can seat 3 people for short distance, but for long trip 2 is comfortable.
The seat heights are like sedan, and if you ae someone used to riding tallboys like wagon-R and santro, will take time to get used to it
Gear box is bit stiff, specially movement to first and reverse gear. Indeed the reverse gear gives a click sound once enagaged

Ride
====
Engine is super silent when idle and even when riding. No rattles heard so far.
Steering is butter smooth, though iam not sure how it will be under high speeds (if its too smooth)
Turning radius is too small, taking a u-turn is effortless
The maximum speed I rode till now is 60kmph, hence cannot on the perfomance when being at a higher speed than this

Mileage
=========
It has a inbuilt fuel average mileage metre (though not sure how accurate it is).
During the initial rides from the showroom, the mileage was showing as 13, but then it increased
Now its between 15.2 to 15.8 in city with AC on (90% of time). ON a pleasure ride on highway to Hosur and back it showed me 16.8.

So far 850kms completed. First service completed.

Funny incident
---------------
Couple of weeks back i took a drive to Nandi Hills with my wife. From the hill base we were driving up mostly in 2nd gear or 3rd gear.
Just before the top of the hil, we had a terrible hair pin bend, litterly blind and vertical and guess wat, the car just stopped at the blind turn and we were
just vertical with our heart-beat stopped. Car was slipping back slowly. Immediately i started my car, with legs on my break, released my clutch to half and stepped on my accelerator and the car
just zoomed like rocket towards the gate. A great relief.

Will post additional posts and pics soon
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
6,377
Likes
489
Location
NYC
Congrats John for your new Honda. Excellent writeup, but where are the pictures of your baby Honda? Do post number of pics of your ride soon.
 
Joined
Mar 3, 2012
Messages
16
Likes
4
Location
Chennai
Congrats John. Its a brilliant car.

Funny incident
---------------
Couple of weeks back i took a drive to Nandi Hills with my wife. From the hill base we were driving up mostly in 2nd gear or 3rd gear.
Just before the top of the hil, we had a terrible hair pin bend, litterly blind and vertical and guess wat, the car just stopped at the blind turn and we were
just vertical with our heart-beat stopped. Car was slipping back slowly. Immediately i started my car, with legs on my break, released my clutch to half and stepped on my accelerator and the car
just zoomed like rocket towards the gate. A great relief.

Will post additional posts and pics soon
About the hill starts, its better that you practice. Even I found it difficult at starting, but one of my friend took me to a isolated road, and I practiced it quite a few times and was more confident after the practice.

You could also try hand brake - half clutch technique, this one is very easy to master.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2012
Messages
2,650
Likes
461
Location
Gurgaon
Congratulations John for your new acquisition and a very nice work on the write up buddy. Do post some pictures.
 
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
331
Likes
49
Location
Bangalore
Funny incident
---------------
Couple of weeks back i took a drive to Nandi Hills with my wife. From the hill base we were driving up mostly in 2nd gear or 3rd gear.
Just before the top of the hil, we had a terrible hair pin bend, litterly blind and vertical and guess wat, the car just stopped at the blind turn and we were
just vertical with our heart-beat stopped. Car was slipping back slowly. Immediately i started my car, with legs on my break, released my clutch to half and stepped on my accelerator and the car
just zoomed like rocket towards the gate. A great relief.

Will post additional posts and pics soon
Hi John,

This happens to the best of people while learning to drive.
Next time, if something like this happens, pull your hand brake immediately. This will ensure that you wont slide back when your car halts, and you can take a breather.. Next, start your car either by going neutral, or by pressing clutch in 1st gear. Keep your hand brake on till this point, then slowly release the hand brake and accelerate & de clutch. You should move in front easily.
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2011
Messages
2,546
Likes
1,315
Location
M.P.
Congrats on your purchase. Nice,sweetly written review, just like your car. Drive her gentlly for the first 1500-2000 km and idle the engine for 30 seconds when it's cold before moving on and you will be rewarded with a healthy engine that will live really long. Awaiting more pictures. And yes, tour Tee matches the colour of the car[thumbsup]
 
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
331
Likes
49
Location
Bangalore
This colour looks so super with the brio .
Bro are you planning to put guards on your bumper I saw a red brio yesterday it had this guards at the corner of front bumpers.
I agree with Raja,

I suggest, get those front corner protectors at least, coz I feel the bumper is really edgy. Adding to the Honda's ground clearance, it will really protect your bumpers.

http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...wnership-review-optimized-20120501_081724.jpg

Notice the front bumper of my blue baby..
 
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
7,026
Likes
2,847
Location
Mumbai

Top Bottom