Honda cars had been in the news for all the wrong reasons till last month, when car sales numbers started to look more respectable. For a brand which was a market leader in every segment that it was present in, I found it quite disheartening when its pricing strategy for the Jazz and the City seemed to be the reason for their underwhelming performance.
A quick repositioning and re-pricing strategy later, the Jazz is finally finding its foothold in the premium hatch category and the City's August sales number also indicates a strong revival in demand. But for Honda to truly strike it out and get more buyers under its umbrella it needs to be in the mass market segment.
And like Toyota, Honda Cars too has waited more than a decade to enter India's largest passenger car segment. However, the wait is finally over with HSCI (Honda Siel Cars India) all set to launch the new Brio. And importantly, from the initial impressions I get after driving the funky Brio, I think this hatch feels like it is better finished and more urbane than the Toyota Liva.
Design
The Honda Brio was showcased as a futuristic concept in the previous, 10th edition of the Auto Expo held in Delhi last year. Of course, the final production version of the Brio doesn't quite have all the sci-fi features that the concept featured, but it has carried forward much of the design concept. The Brio's design is classically Honda. Starting from the shape of the headlamps to the aerodynamic profile, to the broad bonnet grille with the H logo in the middle and the character lines, the Brio's design features can all be traced back to other Honda hatches. Yet, the Brio is distinctive and very unique in the brand's line up.
A number of simple, relatively straight lines that are meant to enhance the perception of length and width of the Brio have been integrated. There is also a lot of clarity and purpose with merging lines that give the Brio's design a lot of sophistication – like the front bumper lip that seems to merge into the shoulder line and the aerodynamic profiling for the door mirrors that merge with the base of the windscreen.
The rear design of the Brio is the most simplistic. Triangular tail-lamps that have been peeled back and into the side panels try to offer some relief with a circular, cutaway, integrated stop lamp. The hatch door is frameless and all glass and it ends just a couple of inches above the base of the tail-lamps. The glass hatch door sports the Honda logo and Brio badging. The oversized rear bumper gives the Brio a squat, wide stance, as does the more prominent rear wheel arch. A rear wiper option is not offered with the Brio.
Construction
Like the Honda City and the Jazz, the Brio too incorporates the company's G-Force Control (G-CON) technology. There has also been extensive use of high tensile steel in all the key areas of the frame and chassis. Dampers, trailing arms and the rear hatch area have been bolstered with enhanced rigidity to contribute to a steady chassis performance. Though the rear glass doubles up as the hatch door, it is made of high strength safety glass and will be as safe as a regular metal frame and windscreen.
The ground clearance has been raised to 165mm for the India-spec Brio, up from 150mm in the Thai-spec model. The rear roof spoiler has been changed and is smaller than the Thai version. Though the front doors are larger than the rear doors, the centre pillar has actually been placed further towards the front of the Brio. The rear doors also open wide and are almost perpendicular to the body when fully open. So, the rear seat-to-door clearance is said to be a class leading 285mm, making entry and exit easy.
Similar focus on practicality, a typical Honda trait, is also evident in the tailgate (hatch) height being set to create a boot that is enclosed on all four sides, that is meant to prevent stored luggage from shifting during the drive. As a result, the loading lip is higher. The available boot space is also deceptively less, though two medium sized suitcases should fit comfortably.
The front body structure along with the bonnet slab is equipped with Pedestrian injury mitigation technology, which is designed to absorb and reduce impact forces so that injury to the pedestrian is reduced.
The Brio is 3,610mm in length and 1,680mm wide, and though this compact does not feature a tall-boy design, it is still 1,500mm tall (compared to the bigger Jazz's 1,535mm). The roof line only tapers off marginally at the rear, so passengers will still get enough headroom at the rear. There is almost no rear overhang and at the front too the overhang is small, enabling a wheelbase of 2,345mm.
Interior
The first impression I got when I opened the doors of the Brio is that it feels roomier than its compact dimensions would seem to allow it. It is due partly to some clever packaging and also due to Honda engineers managing to liberate the most space from the available 2.3 metres of the Brio's wheelbase.
The other reason for the roomy feel in the cabin is the amount of light that comes in from the large glass area. The steeply raked windscreen, the large front windows and the all-glass rear hatch gives the cabin an airy, well-lit feel, even on a cloudy day, as was the case during my test drive.
The other feature of the Brio's interior that has enabled Honda to free up more space, especially knee-room, is thinner seat backs. By optimising the S-spring, Honda officials claim that thinner squabs were constructed without any compromise on the support provided to the passenger. The seats at the front are bucket-type with impact mitigating integrated headrests.
The dashboard layout also bears the Honda signature – simple, focused on practicality and uncluttered. The interior has a two-tone theme, but is dominated by light beige. The top half of the dash is grey, as is the centre console and steering wheel. Good fit and finish and quality plastic used gives the interior an upmarket feel which is free of compromises.
Triple analog 3D instrument meters, the trio of airconditioner controls on the centre stack and the exclusive 2-DIN audio system with USB and aux-in are noteworthy features. The chunky steering wheel fits neatly into ones hands and also offers audio system controls in the top-end variants. The glove box is narrow and a bit cramped, but there are a number of cubby holes to store all sorts of stuff on the go.
Performance
Inside the bonnet of the new Brio is the same 1.2-litre petrol engine from the Jazz. The 1,198cc, 16-valve, i-VTEC engine from the Jazz has just been tweaked to deliver marginally better low speed performance. It also helps that the Brio is about 125 kg lighter, weighing in at 930 kg (compared to the Jazz).
The engine in the Brio now produces 65 kW of peak power (about 88PS) at 6,000rpm and the peak torque of 109Nm is available at 4,600 rpm. Valve timing changes have been incorporated, and the gear ratios of the 5-speed manual gearbox, which is also a carry over from the Jazz, have also been tweaked for better low speed performance in the Brio.
Driving the new Honda small car in city traffic, empty straights and windy, hilly roads, I found that the Brio has a fairly wide power band to handle all these conditions without the need for changing gears frequently. It feels amazingly comfortable at low speeds, managing to get down to about 15 kmph on second and about 22 kmph on third without any semblance of knocking setting in. In fact, I set the Brio on first and let it roll up what seemed to be a 15-degree incline (part of a deserted section of the road) and just took both my feet off the pedals. The Brio kept rolling up, with the ECM clocking up the revs every time the sensor sent it feedback that the vehicle slowing down could lead to engine knocking.
The extent of low-end torque available and to the extent that the engine and gearbox together make it behave like an automatic are features that will delight city users who are going to be crawling in slow moving traffic more often than zipping on the highway. There is also ECO lamp that glows when the Brio is being driven in fuel-efficient driving mode.
Bottomline
The Brio is said to be capable of delivering fuel efficiency of 18.4 kmpl, compared to the Jazz's 16.7 kmpl. So, one key buyer need in the segment has been taken care of well. The cabin is roomy and fairly well insulated for a car in this segment. Suspension set up includes McPherson struts at the front and H-shape torsion beam at the rear. The ride is not the most pliant, but is fairly dynamic again for a car in this segment. The Brio is likely to be offered with four variants, with the top two variants featuring all the safety features like ABS, EBD and dual front airbags.
I hope Honda will price the Brio aggressively within the Rs 3.8 lakh to Rs 4.8 lakh price band. For buyers who are waiting in the wings to buy Honda quality in the small car segment, here is the best option.
UPDATE:
Our guesstimate about the price range for the new Honda Brio was the closest, with the HSCI announcement on Tuesday confirming that Honda wants to take the fight to the competition. The Honda Brio will be available in four variants – EMT, SMT, S(O)MT - with optional package and VMT.
The Price of the Honda Brio (Ex-Showroom, New Delhi) are
Variant ‘E’- Rs 3.95 lakhs
Variant ‘S’- Rs 4.35 lakhs
Variant ‘S (O)’- Rs 4.90 lakhs
Variant ‘V’- Rs 5.10 lakhs
The Brio is being offered in six exterior colours - Energetic Blue, Rallye Red, Urban Titanium, Alabaster Silver, Taffeta White and Crystal Black Pearl
The Honda Brio comes with a 2 years or 40,000 kms warranty as standard value for all customers.