Honda’s got Brio

Hot on the heels of launching the new, face-lifted Jazz and revising the prices of the City, Honda let a few, including yours truly, test drive its new small car, the Brio, in Vishakapatnam. After being briefed about the car and its features, we set out on a coastal route to check out what it feels like. Or at least we tried to.

Halfway through the set route, there was road that was probably only a few kilometres long but had no traffic and consisted of smooth stretch and switchbacks every few metres. What better place to test a car, and test I did the little fella, up and down that road at least fifty times to see what it’s made of.

Exterior
The first thing you notice head-on is Brio’s strong resemblance to the Jazz. And for what is a small car, it doesn’t look much smaller, which is a very good thing. Move to the side and there’s a window line that gradually moves up, but not so much to make the rear seat passengers feel like prisoners. At the rear, you’re greeted with protruding tail lights and an all-glass tailgate. Rearward visibility is excellent because of this, but the flipside is, one careless reverse shift or someone failing to brake in time could mean the whole backside is gone. Granted there won’t be shards flying through the cabin because of laminated glass, but replacing will be costly, especially considering that insurance will only cover 50% of the cost. Nevertheless, the car looks good, even fantastic in brighter colours as light accentuates the creases.

Interior
The not-so-small car image gets endorsed inside. Light colours and curved thin pillars make the interior seem much larger. The whole interior is engineered to a cost, but that’s not apparent. The front seats are designed with integrated headrests to reduce moving components and, in turn, cost. They also have concave seat backs to liberate more leg and knee room for the rear passengers. For the driver, controls fall easily in range, and are intuitively placed. The up-level variants even get steering mounted audio controls for the music system. Sitting in the driver’s seat, outward visibility, both front and back, is excellent. The back seat, at first glance, seems narrower, but any wider and it would be rubbing against rear wheels. Leg, knee and shoulder room are good, but those couple of inches of width are what differentiate this from a proper five-seater. Sure, there are five seat belts and three head rests in the back, but try squeezing three normal-sized folks and you’ll surely hear some complaints.

Ride quality
The roads leading away from Vizag weren’t nearly as bad as most city roads, so it’s hard to make a judgement about how it rides over bad roads. Over good roads that lead to a beach, however, the car responded well to inputs. Suspension set up is on the softer side, which is good for comfort, not so over city bumps and dips. The car is very effortless to operate. Even on congested city roads, it won’t induce much fatigue. Press on gas and the steering still stays very light and effortless — much to our chagrin.

Performance
Open the hood and you notice the same 1.2 litre iVTEC unit that powers the Jazz. It is a good performer in the Jazz, so you can imagine how it feels in the much lighter Brio. It pulls very strongly from idle all the way to the red line. iVTEC helps driveability in the lower rev range and makes sure the engine doesn’t gasp higher up. This wide powerband means after a crater of a pothole or a mountain of a speed breaker, you won’t have to change gears — the motor pulls strongly even from 1200 rpm. Push hard and the chassis responds well, tackling switchbacks with good composure and under-steering predictably as you near the limits of adhesion. Brakes are progressive and offer good stopping power and ABS is there to help when crossing the limits of tyre traction.

Features
The top of the line ‘V’ trim we drove came equipped with all the bells and whistles. A two-tone interior, ABS, dual airbags, a stereo with AUX-IN and USB inputs and steering-mounted audio controls. From the outside, though, the only distinguishing features of the top level trim are the fog lamps and alloy wheels shod with 14-inch rubber. As you go down the hierarchy, you’ll find that while it’s decontented a bit, it’s not visible at first glance. On the inside, the only thing missing from the ‘S’ trim is the two-tone seats. On the safety front, there’s also passive safety equipment such as crumple zones that diffuse the force of the impact away from the passenger cell. The doors are braced with cross beams for protection during side impacts. Likewise, at the rear, what is seen as a high opening for the rear boot is a strengthened beam protecting against rear impacts.

Verdict
Pricing for this hasn’t been announced yet, but rest assured, with the Jazz’s price now reduced, the Brio will be priced with a decent enough gap between the top-end Brio and the base Jazz. At that potential price point, it’s a brilliant car for city use, offering a good features list, effortless operation and power across the rev range. Its use as a long distance cruiser is limited by it’s cargo space more than anything else. The Brio will be launched later in this month and will be a great alternative to the other small cars in its segment.