[CowlFlap]

Originally Posted by joslicx

I dont think defogger is an absolute must really. One can use A/C for same. I had defogger in my i10 and I live in Bangalore and here it rains a lot and I can tell you I rarely ever used the defogger .

Might I add, the AC in the Brio does not appear to be the most effective, unless you raise it a few notches to a higher setting. Have others noticed this too?

[TheCelestial]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

...

And let's really quit this Honda and it's quality stuff, I have a sun visor thats tearing, Seat thats pretty much lost any lateral support and gives you a hunch, Lots of rattling in the dash area specifically over the centre console, and for anyone who is into fuel efficiency believe me this is not the path I would recommend at all.
....

Regards,

What FE figures are you getting? Before my first SVC , I used up about 64 Lt and the car was 970 on the odo. That makes it about 15.1 kpl. This included a small 200 km roundtrip outside the city, on really really bad roads. With 5 people and 1 kid on board, never had a problem with GC. None of the co-passengers complained of any discomfort.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by CowlFlap

Might I add, the AC in the Brio does not appear to be the most effective, unless you raise it a few notches to a higher setting. Have others noticed this too?

Totally agree with u on this. I drove a Brio with sunfilms and still it was barely keeping the cabin cool. In comparison my i10 with films would cool like a chiller.

I still think Brio is overall much much better than the overhyped i10. Hyundai has improved it with the recent facelift but still not in same class as Brio. I would buy the Brio over i10 anyday.

[arup.misra]

I'm pretty close to booking a Brio (as a second car). Had been on a couple of longish test drives over the weekend and here's what I observed

a) Ground clearance is definitely better than City (I own that too). Even with 4 people on board I didn't scrape it. Casually glided over in 2nd gear.

b) Found the low end torque not really put to the mark. A little drag from the red light proved that its wasn't the fastest. Things are different if you get it closer to the red-line. However not all drivers are going to red-line it correct?

c) AC certainly isn't that impressive. My TD vehicle was standing in the hot afternoon sun for a good one hour. It took a good 10 min+ for the AC to cool. Definitely a notch down than the City.

d) Took another TD in the evening with family in tow just as the heavens opened up. Didn't quite find the absence of rear defogger or rear wiper a let down. Mind you I've been driving Indica without defogger / rear wiper for 60k+ km in worst of weathers. This is not really a deal breaker for me

e) What is most irritating is the absence of the stick to adjust the OVRM's. This is especially a problem when you have two drivers with different heights.

What are your thoughts guys?

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by arup.misra

What is most irritating is the absence of the stick to adjust the OVRM's. This is especially a problem when you have two drivers with different heights.

Internal electrical adjustments for OVRMs are provided in S(o) MT and V MT variants. It makes much better sense to consider these variants keeping in mind the additional safety features like ABS and airbags.

[rony180]

@arup.misra, i've been driving the Brio SMT for the last 2 months (1600 kms on the odo) and i've also taken it as a second car after my 2005 City. Below is my take on your observations -

Originally Posted by arup.misra

a) Ground clearance is definitely better than City (I own that too). Even with 4 people on board I didn't scrape it. Casually glided over in 2nd gear.

Yes, agreed ground clearance is better than the City. The road bumps on which i scrape the bottom with my City, I can glide effortlessly with my Brio.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

b) Found the low end torque not really put to the mark. A little drag from the red light proved that its wasn't the fastest. Things are different if you get it closer to the red-line. However not all drivers are going to red-line it correct?

Yes, the low end torque is less than what's needed for bumper to bumper traffic. But however, that's something we would need to sacrifice for fuel efficiency. However, things are better without the a/c on, but in this tremendous summer, you would hardly want to drive without the a/c. Nonetheless, I did not find the Swift P, Polo P, Fabia P to be any better in this regard. The only hatch that really had a great low end torque was the Figo D (IMO and based on my limited test driven cars).

Originally Posted by arup.misra

c) AC certainly isn't that impressive. My TD vehicle was standing in the hot afternoon sun for a good one hour. It took a good 10 min+ for the AC to cool. Definitely a notch down than the City.

Initially even I found the a/c to be not that effective, but now it feels just great. Maybe it took a bit of time to get to its full flow. With 35-40 degrees being the outside temperature now in Kolkata, Brio cools the cabin quite well. Actually quite a bit of the cooling capability depends on how we are using the a/c. When the cabin is heated up, if we allow the outside air to flow in for a while with the windows down and then gradually switch on the a/c and roll up the windows, it should work well.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

d) Took another TD in the evening with family in tow just as the heavens opened up. Didn't quite find the absence of rear defogger or rear wiper a let down. Mind you I've been driving Indica without defogger / rear wiper for 60k+ km in worst of weathers. This is not really a deal breaker for me

Yes, having this would have been good, but not that big an issue and definitely not a deal breaker. It would really not matter that much for people who are used to driving without a rear wiper/defogger.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

e) What is most irritating is the absence of the stick to adjust the OVRM's. This is especially a problem when you have two drivers with different heights.

Agreed. A very big miss from Honda. Its very irritating to roll down the windows and adjust the ORVM's everytime. Miss my City's electronically adjustable ORVM's. AT least a manual stick would have done the job!

A few more points to help you in your decision -

1. Honda's after sales service is excellent and premium. I have never had to take my car to the workshop. The always pick up/drop the car back. Not sure if all car manufacturers provide this but its something really satisfying.

2. The interior space utilization is excellent for a car of its size.

3. The ride quality gets bumpy on uneven roads. Swift, Polo better than Brio in this regard.

4. The engine is super-refined and quiet. However, push the Brio up the RPM, and it will never say no.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by arup.misra

a) Ground clearance is definitely better than City (I own that too). Even with 4 people on board I didn't scrape it. Casually glided over in 2nd gear.

I have now driven ~850+ kms on my Brio and last evening, the car took five passengers for the first time. There are some atrocious speed-breakers and steep dips on the road leading up to the ORR when coming from Hebbal/Esteem Mall but the car didn't bottom out.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

b) Found the low end torque not really put to the mark. A little drag from the red light proved that its wasn't the fastest. Things are different if you get it closer to the red-line. However not all drivers are going to red-line it correct?

You are right, not all drivers will red-line it but having said that, the low-end torque could have been better (especially when loaded with five passengers and with the a/c) but it is nothing to complain about.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

c) AC certainly isn't that impressive. My TD vehicle was standing in the hot afternoon sun for a good one hour. It took a good 10 min+ for the AC to cool. Definitely a notch down than the City.

Have found this lacking as well. The a/c (although it cools well) takes a considerable amount of time to chill the cabin when the car has been baking in the sun.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

d) Took another TD in the evening with family in tow just as the heavens opened up. Didn't quite find the absence of rear defogger or rear wiper a let down. Mind you I've been driving Indica without defogger / rear wiper for 60k+ km in worst of weathers. This is not really a deal breaker for me

I have not driven in the rains as yet (the monsoons seem to be eluding Bangalore at least for now), but from personal experience, I will find the lack of a rear wash/wipe an irritant since I am used to using it in my erstwhile Santro.

Originally Posted by arup.misra

e) What is most irritating is the absence of the stick to adjust the OVRM's. This is especially a problem when you have two drivers with different heights.

This is definitely a deal-breaker for me. Honda should have at least provided internally adjustable ORVM even on the base variant.

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Internal electrical adjustments for OVRMs are provided in S(o) MT and V MT variants. It makes much better sense to consider these variants keeping in mind the additional safety features like ABS and airbags.

+1 to this. The safety features are a great VFM on the S MT(O) and the V MT variants, but like I said earlier, Honda should have provided ORVMs with internally adjustable stalks right from the base variant. Don't understand the cost-cutting logic of Honda here.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by gpa

This is definitely a deal-breaker for me. Honda should have at least provided internally adjustable ORVM even on the base variant.
Don't understand the cost-cutting logic of Honda here.

Slightly OT, but had to say.. Never understand the logic of some car manufacturers omitting such 'utilitarian yet cheap to add on' features in very good cars! Eg: the internal adjustment stocks for OVRMS, Dead pedal, decent size bottle holders etc. Is this some design related thing? Could not be plain ignorance, after all they spend so much money in research to understand what the user wants!

[gpa]

Originally Posted by TheCelestial

What FE figures are you getting? Before my first SVC , I used up about 64 Lt and the car was 970 on the odo. That makes it about 15.1 kpl.

Here are the initial FE figures on my Brio after 850 kms of city driving.

Trip: 369 kms, fuel consumed: 30.27 lts, FE: 12.19 kmpl
Trip: 408 kms, fuel consumed: 31.76 lts, FE: 12.84 kmpl

These stats have been achieved keeping in mind an altered driving style with constant shifting of gears and varying the rpm of the engine to suit the running-in period of the car. The a/c was sparingly used and the car was driven in light to moderate city traffic.

I use the tank-full to tank-full method to measure the FE and do not rely on the trip computer. However, the trip computer is fairly accurate and indicated 13.4 kmpl and 13.2 kmpl on both instances before I pulled into the bunk for a refill.

[anandtheleo]

Hi,

Got the mileage figures for my friends Brio. His overall figure has been 11.6 km/l, which he feels is pretty low for a hatchback. He has clocked 3500 kms, I have told him that he can expect the mileage to increase post 5000 Km mark.

Any particular reason why the mileage is low. How come people owning Jazz are able to extract more mileage out of their cars (from ownership threads here) compared to the Brio.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by anandtheleo

Hi,

Got the mileage figures for my friends Brio. His overall figure has been 11.6 km/l, which he feels is pretty low for a hatchback. He has clocked 3500 kms, I have told him that he can expect the mileage to increase post 5000 Km mark.

I don't think the would be noticeable/significant increase in FE after run in period in the modern MPFI engines. At least that has been my experience (which included 2 Honda cars).

[S350L-E240]

Before 5K Kms it was close to 12-13 After that it had gone down to 8, and then after some work it ranges between 9 - 11. I'm told it's normal and Honda is testing a lot of cars to sort this.

I suppose they goofed up when they tried to De-Tune from the Jazz? (Only an assumption)

Originally Posted by TheCelestial

What FE figures are you getting?

I guess ask him to get used to it as that here is considered "Normal" for Brios.

Originally Posted by anandtheleo

Hi,

Got the mileage figures for my friends Brio. His overall figure has been 11.6 km/l, which he feels is pretty low for a hatchback.

[eyesice]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

Yes some may say it feels more planted etc. but seriously in this segment how does it even come into picture? It's not like one buys an i10 for the family and the Brio for the track, fine it maybe a little agile but lets not make it sound like it's miles ahead of the others because it maybe 15% more agile than the i10, but every thing else as a package and the i10 walks over this car.

I wanted to say this ouright and you have put it really well. My office mate has a base model of the Brio and I have the base model of the i10 kappa2, and I must say, the Brio surely feels cheap and less comfortable compared to my i10! Ofcourse the Brio might be better to drive but come on, both these cars are going to spend most of their time in the city and the Brio is no match for the i10 overall.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by S350L-E240

Before 5K Kms it was close to 12-13 After that it had gone down to 8, and then after some work it ranges between 9 - 11. I'm told it's normal and Honda is testing a lot of cars to sort this.

This is very surprising to hear. Would it have something specific to do with his driving style rather than the Brio?

Also, what was the work that you refer to? Was the engine remapped/tuned in some way?

The ARAI figures for the Brio is 18.4 kmpl, but in the real world with efficient driving practices I believe that one should easily be able to get a figure of 15+ kmpl.

[whencut86]

I have done about 1600 kms on my brio and I am getting the following mileage figures
* Between 12-13 kmpl during normal runs
* 11kmpl during peak traffic at times
* 10-11 with 5-6 people inside the car

Also, I once had 7 adults inside for a short run and forgiving the lower torgue the car did pull alright. The car did not scrape speed breakers and pot holes with 6-7 adults inside. But once it slightly scraped when i went over a huge bump on the road. Apart from that I have not faced any issue with the ground clearance.

All criticisms apart, for someone who really needs ABS and Airbags at a lesser price, the S(O)MT is total VFM. I think I can live with the absence of a rear defrogger and rear wiper. But ABS and Airbags at a price of 5.75L on-road, I felt was the key factor in making me decide to go for a Brio.