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-   -   Honda Brio Vs Hyundai i10 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchbacks/108492-honda-brio-vs-hyundai-i10-18.html)

I agree with comments from IshaanIan. I was in similar situation in Nov and I went for a Brio (this was for my wife), following were the additional factors
1. Brio has great all round visibility (i10G’s dashboard is higher hence less view)
2. I felt Parking with Brio is very easy ( I asked my wife to park Brio & I10G at a location with limited space )
3. Back seat comfort of I10G was better however 90% of the time this car would be driven solo

In my case Key less start was a concern with my kid around although I loved this when I was in US (Maxima & Jeep grand cherokee).stupid:

I recently booked the Honda Brio (S-MT). Reasons for the choice and other options considered are given below.

Use of vehicle -

The car is intended for use primarily by my wife, who is used to driving manual transmission cars and does not need an automatic. The car does limited running and hence mileage is not as much a consideration (the previous car that was being used by her was an Alto which had done 40,000 km in 10 years). We have two big cars in the family and boot space is not a consideration at all. Good interiors, ease of city driving, visibility and ease of parking are the key factors. It is unlikely that the car will ever be used by more than one person and if at all used by the family, will be for short runs in the city with two kids at the back. No highway use envisaged at all.

Options considered (All petrol, given the amount the car will be used) -

Maruti Swift - Vxi
Hyundai Grand i10 - Sportz
Honda Brio - S-MT

Ruled out due to personal preferences - Micra, and Punto. We did not even check the price or test drive these cars.

The dealer discounts etc are not a relevant factor in deciding choice of car for us as we will first see the suitability of the vehicle and then work on the pricing.

The Swift was the first car from the shortlist to be test driven and ruled out. My wife found it difficult to look out of the rear when reversing and also harder to park. The car was also the most expensive of the 3 and buying the Brio over the Swift would have allowed use to fill petrol for a year with the pricing differential.

Grand i10 - Great car. If anyone intends to have the car as their only car, then Grand i10 over the Brio any day due to increased boot space and also interior space. However this is not a factor for us and our car is intended solely as a second car. We found the suspension a bit strange and the car tended to wallow. The brakes were also of a type that would take time to get used to, and there is a case to buy the grand i10 only with abs. Keyless entry, start and stop buttons etc are in our personal view gimmickry and never a consideration in choosing the car. Rear Ac Vents will never be used by us.

Brio - The car that we booked. Great all around visibility. Very very easy to drive and park. Fit and finish was superb. Interiors feel premium. My daily drive is a Honda Civic and this feels like it is a smaller sibling of the Civic. We are used to Honda service and support. Lack of abs not an issue.

Car expected today or tomorrow (ten days from Booking). 2014 car. Vin number verified as being 2014 manufactured. Red colour. Time for delivery extended due to special number request and otherwise the car should be available within a week. While there are no discounts on the 2014 manufactured cars, the dealer (Dakshin Honda) was able to give me a good exchange price for the Alto which is surprisingly far higher than what even Maruti offered (which I suppose can be taken as a discount). I arranged my own insurance due to my contacts and also as I had an NCB certificate available with me due to sale of another car. I obtained a bumper to bumper zero dep insurance from Royal Sundaram which is recognised by Honda for cashless claim in case ever necessary. No loan availed and this made the payment and delivery schedule much faster as time taken to process loan, fund transfer etc is all eliminated. Alto that is being sold is traded in with Honda itself and total price reduced by this extent. (The price of sale of Alto will be kept confidential and hence I will not be in a position to give you the final purchase price of the Brio, so please do not request for the same).

Will post an ownership review in due course.

I too am currently in the market for a new hatchback. But since ABS and Airbags are a must, I am targeting the highest trims of all hatchbacks.

Out of the top 4 choices, I have -
— Hyundai Grand i10 Asta 1.2 Kappa VTVT (O)
— Maruti Suzuki Swift ZXi
— Volkswagen Polo Highline 1.2 (P)
— Honda Brio VX MT

Out of these 4, I am currently slightly biased towards Polo since the drive quality seemed very peppy, even though the rear space felt slightly cramped.

Now, I have been driving a Honda City for the past 4 years or so. But now I am planning to pass it on to my Dad, and buy a premium hatchback for myself. I also have the habit of hitting the highways pretty often.

Even though I am yet to test drive the Grand i10, the above review kinda got me confused. Personally, I am not a big fan of the Brio's looks, and interiors. Compared to the Brio, Polo has rear parking sensors, BT connectivity, telescopic steering adjustment, Auto aircon, and both front & rear adjustable headrests.

Of course, there's a considerable price difference between the two, but as long as the on-road pricing doesn't cross my budget of 7.5L, I would like to buy the best available out there.

What do you think?

Buy the Swift. The Polo unless bought in GT flavour, really isn't any great shakes. Also if you tend to travel on highways, or open roads, the free revving K series motor in the Swift will do wonders especially with a remap. The 3 cylinder Polo on the other hand, will feel out of breath really soon, also really noisy and harsh.
Remember that there is a facelift on the cards for the Swift which is supposed to add bluetooth, 16 inch alloys, parking sensors (never figured their need in a hatchback though), cruise control, keyless entry and go, DRLs and a whole bunch of other stuff you can show off. So I'd recommend waiting for it since it offers more kit. Otherwise you can even get larger discounts on the current model. Anyway the facelifted Swift is scheduled to launch sometime in March. :)

Facelifted Swift will still sport 15" alloys.
No cruise control will be on offer at-least in the manual.
Parking sensors - lot of after market options available.
DRLs - nice to have. Would give it a fresh feel.
Keless go - nice to have. Would feel modern and new.

Thanks!
I too thought 16" alloys would be a little far fetched but those are the speculated improvements.
I did not think there was going to be an automatic version of the Swift. Are you saying that with the AMT technology, Maruti has plans of snapping that on to the Swift's gearbox?
Well it is always nice to have things like this offered as oem fitment. Especially with parking sensors since that reduces the headache for someone to ensure proper fitment, seamless fit (very difficult to find cheap aftermarket sensors that fit flush with the bumper), and also proper painting.

Any chance you can share why you think there will be no cruise control? Is it speculative or have you got any sources? :)

Damn! With so many upgrades in store for the Swift, my purchase is gonna get postponed all the way to March, in case I finally decide on the Swift.

And if I do end up waiting until March, I just might end up missing the Jazz by a whisker :-(

If you are buying the 1.2L petrol, I think nothing beats the Swift. The engine is just too good. And the ZXI variant gets you everything. I would prefer it hands down compared to Polo (except for the TSI variant).Wait till Auto expo announcements. Or the other way to look at it: Fish around Maruti dealers to see if there are good deals floating around for the current ZXI. If a facelift is on cards, good deals might be around too. It might be worth while to check them out.

I'd go with the i10 grand asta because it has everything youre looking for and a very peppy engine. it handles well in high speeds and it works pretty well in bumper to bumper traffic too. The brakes feel grabby though and it takes time to get used to them.

Since you hit the highway often why not stretch a little and get a swift diesel or an i20 diesel?

Hi Shayon,
That your purchase has been unfortunately postponed might be a blessing here. Why not wait for the Jazz and pick it up. I am not sure when the Jazz is hitting the stores, but other than that if you are looking for a premium hatch then pick up the TSi as some have already suggested.
Also will this be your only drive. If you have the Honda City available then you might as well pick up the city smart Brio.
Cheers

Guys,

Need your quick suggestion. I recently booked an i10 (not grand) Sportz. I am in two minds whether to go for Stingray VXI or retain the booking.

i10 positives vs Singray: 4 cylinder engine. 1.1 L

Stingray positives vs i10: 14" Alloys, projector.

POst diwali benefits, on road price is coming to 5.5 lacs roughly for both models. I would be closing it soon, hence please do respond with your views soon.

Thanks in advance,
Abhishek.

Hallo, Abhishek. Here's my (very honest) POV:

The ''beater'' car in our family is a late 2013 WagonR VXi. October 2013, to be precise. And to frank- I don't really like the car at all. Nope, I think I hate it. But there are times when I love it. :) When new, the car had a serious lack of low end torque. By serious, I mean S E R I O U S.

Whilst the things have improved a lot since then, the car still isn't what I'd call ideal. Low end torque still isn't great- involuntarily everytime the car is taken out, it HAS to stall once.

The steering feels very, very vague. Steering feedback does improve a bit with upgradation of tires, but then- the car does not have particularly great low end torque as it is- with upsizing of tires the engine does struggle a bit.

The tall height does ensure that your head keeps bobbing about, particularly if you're driving a bit spiritedly. Fact is, at times I do feel particularly uncomfortable due to tooo much vertical movement (body roll) caused by the car.

In short- to give you an idea: The engine overheated once, in a very, very typical traffic situation. Certain warning lights came up on the instrument cluster.

It wasn't the car's mistake, to be frank. It was the summer of 2015; a typical midday in May. Crawling traffic. I mean, one can walk faster. But the road itself was totally jam packed, and yeah, it was a slight incline. AC was on full blast.

A very foolish thing that we did was- that the car was on second gear, when under such circumstances, it should've been in the first gear.

Okay, the engine couldn't take the load. Certain warning lights popped up on the instrument cluster. I could smell a burning stench; took the car aside, and waited for a while.

And yeah- after a while the car started, and moved on as if nothing happened. As a preventive measure, replaced the (pathetic) factory filled coolant, at the local FNG.

So; to conclude: The WagonR/Stingray is a very, very light and flimsy car. The quality levels are not particularly great. The AC does not chill very nicely; the engine does not belt out particularly great low end torque; the interiors are nothing great; the AC vents are very easy to break; and before I forget- the vertical movement (body roll) is quite a bit. Naked wiring all over the engine bay. The friendly neighbourhood electrician can do a better job of taping up all the wires, I kid you not.

MASS is a bunch of illiterate underinformed looters; who will keep on pushing stuff such as ''silencer coating'' and ''full body Teflon coating'' down your throat, everytime you take your car for a service.

I'm unsatisfied with the overall authorised service experience, to be frank.

______________________

Where it does not disappoint: The car is VFM. It does what you ask of. No complaints.

_______________________

But tell you what- the low end torque issue isn't that bad on the i10. If the performance of the WR is slightly inadequate, the performance of the i10 1.1 is adequate. The i10 feels better overall. Body roll isn't that severe. And yeah- in the interiors, the overall plastic quality is MUCH better than the WagonR.

Overall, the i10 is a FAAARR classier car, that is built waayyy better than the WagonR.

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Final conclusion: Go for the i10. After a couple of years, you may spend a bit on alloys and tyres, to keep the car looking a bit ''fresh'', so to speak.

I'll conclude with a 'lil joke on MSIL (which is true);

I once asked a technician at the Maruti Authorised Service a simple question. What is a torque wrench? How does one use it?

He actually couldn't reply. Gave very weird answers.

I felt a bit uneasy, trusting my (very) well maintained car in the hands of such a guy. Sigh.

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Thank you Fintail for your detailed response. :) Would appreciate if few other too put in their views.

Regards
Abhishek

Forget both and pick the Honda Brio or Grand i10
The i10 has horrible ride quality and flimsy build. It is no longer a good buy when we have better and plusher products in market.
Haggle around, I am sure you can pick FTD Honda Brio at same price.

To be very honest, If I was in your place I would avoid both the mentioned cars.

i10 is already a generation older. Uses an older iRDE2 engine. We just don't know when Hyundai will pull the plug on this car. Driving dynamics in this car aren't to my taste either.

On the other hand, the Stingray is a sales dud. Till now I have seen only one Stingray on road in my city. And yes as Fintail mentioned the 3 cylinder engine on this one isn't very great either. Car feels very uninspiring to drive. (Just my view, no offence to the current owners. For the record, we have a F10D WagonR at home :D)
Driving dynamics aren't that great in the Wagon R also. Though I haven't driven a Stingray but assuming that Maruti won't have made any changes in the suspension or steering department on Stingray as compared to the normal WagonR.

IMO why not look for Grand i10 instead. That car is here to stay and the 4 cylinder kappa2 engine has great driveability. Look wise, it blows both the older i10 and Stingray. I am sure there must be great discounts going on this one too.

If budget is the issue, then try looking for the Ritz. That car is superior to the WagonR in every single way. I heard Maruti has plans to discontinue this car so you might get a good deal if you bargain hard with the showroom guys.
Although I can make out that it hasn't been discontinued as of now as it had 1400 dispatches last month from the factory as per our monthly sales thread.

Also please take detailed test drives of every car that you consider. We don't buy cars everyday. :)