The Honda Brio : Some thoughts..

                                              Honda launched the Honda Brio recently in India.. It was aimed to be a car for a person with a budget below 6 lakhs and a person who wanted a compact, easy to drive and comfortable city car... When the Brio first launched, truly, I wan't quite amazed by it. I still felt that the top contender in this segment was the Hyundai i20 which was still going strong... But, after having a look at the car, I'm quite impressed with what Honda has achieved... It was an excellent package for city driving - the   i-VTEC engine combined with a well built interior seemed like an amazing combination...
                                             
                                            Then, my aunt was looking out for a compact car for city driving. At first, I told her that she HAD TO GO FOR THE I20... But in a while, my perspective of the Brio changed... And as I looked through its brochure, I felt that I had to check this one out !

So, moving on to the Interiors...

PS: image borrowed from Team BHP... sorry about that...

At first, the interiors look quite different.... Stuff I noticed about the Dash:

- Good quality plastics (mostly)
- Off centre stereo wasn't to my taste
- Aircon vent positioning wasn't very nice
- Good quality, solid looking steering wheel with audio controls on it...
- I felt that the glove box was kind of small
- General performance of aircon = excellent !

The Stereo in detail:

- Quite good sounding audio !
- Comes with USB, AUX or FM for your musical needs... I don't think it has Bluetooth
- No CD slot...
- Audio controls mounted on steering wheel (in certain variants)

The rest of the interior:

The seats seemed quite OK, except for the fact that I felt that the front seats come with less under thigh support.... the doors are well built and seem sturdy except for one tiny fault I found in them.... there's visible body metal in the bottle holders ! That was the only negative I felt on the door panels... Door handles seem to be sourced from the standard Honda part bin and are well built.....

Moving to the Exteriors:

The Brio's exterior is something which some people may like alot as well as some people may hate.... I personally liked Honda's new approach to the tail lights which make it look like Tuner lights... Seems pretty cool..... Also, something to be observed in the Brio is that the rear hatch door is complete glass..... Nice new touch on Honda's part.... Makes the rear portion of the car look big...

The Hatch !

Some Concluding Thoughts...

        The Brio is an excellent car for someone who needs a car for the city; AND it is not your car for weekend escapades....with the rear seats up, luggage place is pretty small. If the Brio's going to be a family car for a family of 5, look else where (i20 maybe)... Honda has an amazing car on their hands and it would be an excellent move on Honda's part to release a Brio Sedan version positioned below the City....

- Naayl Humza,

  14 year old car enthusiast !