[darksoul]

Had to choose between the Brio and the i10 last month, for my wife. We went for test drives in both cars, across 4 dealers in Bangalore (2 Hyundai, 2 Honda)

Overall, while the Brio has a lot of good things going for it, we chose the i10. Here's why:

1) My wife preferred the driving position of the i10, much more comfortable with the adjustable seat height

2) No discounts on the Brio - for the same on-road price of a mid-end Brio, we got the i10 Asta after discounts/exchange bonus / corporate bonus etc

3) Dealer arrogance - both the Honda dealers we visited were least interested in explaining the car's features or even attempting to sell one to us. We had a much better experience at the Hyundai dealerships

4) After Sales Support - Yes, Hyundai may me slightly more expensive, but we're very comfortable with the quality of the Trident Hyundai service as we've been going there for many years now

5) Practicality - Larger boot, comparable interiors, peppy engine, more toys inside. (bluetooth / ABS / airbags / parking sensors etc)

While the car is still new, the first couple of full tanks we've tracked have given us 14 km/l in back-to-back Bangalore city traffic, AC always on.

[joslicx]

Heres my take between the two. In the family, we own both the cars.

Brio first, (own the V variant)

The Positives:
1. Engine. Borrowed from Jazz, delivers great mileage and great to drive.
2. Quality: Better than i10! Hyundai still cannot match Honda standards.
3. Ecomony of Ownership: Hondas are quite economical to maintain.
4. Badge: Honda wins


The negatives:
1. No defogger or rear wiper. Though you can use products like rain-X.
2. Stereo looks garish esp the silver.
3. Only one remote key
4. Boot smaller than i10 (not that i10 has huge boot or anything)
5. No AT option if somebody wants one!
6. Not enough dealerships/service points everywhere. It is a handicap in smaller towns.

Now coming to i10 (I own the Sportz but will talk about Asta to keep comparison valid with Brio V)

The positives:
1. Loaded as much as some much costlier sedans including options on things like sun-roof, AT etc. So people at least have more OPTIONS.
2. Good engine with excellent pulling characteristics. Short throw gearbox is good as well (in terms of ease of use.)
3. On Service/dealer front, more options (so that if one is bad, you can still go to other guy. this might not be valid for Honda, esp in middle tier or smaller cities so you might have to put up with the dealer even if it is not good!)
4. Boot bigger than Brio.

The Negatives:
1. Costly, for what you get (its not much bigger than Santo and not a premium car but look at the price difference!)
2. Costly to maintain. Paid service is as much as 4.5k everytime (twice a year). In comparison, for H City it is less than 2k. Hyundai fleeces its customers via service!
3. Costly spares
4. FE: At best expect 12-13 in city or even less (I get about 12 with AC all the time or about 13-14 with minimal AC.) H Brio easily beats it by wide margin. This means for every 100 KM you drive, you will save about 2-300 rupees.
5. Seats are not as comfortable. This is my personal observation. Others might disagree.
6. Rear seat is bad! People at the rear complain all the time. Thats understandable as its a hatch but still Honda beats it on rear seat comfort.

If you ask me, buy i10 for the automatic tranny if it is to be used as a city car. If you want manual, then go for Brio.

[carboy]

I never would have imagined that Hyundais are more expensive to maintain than Hondas. Can someone give an example of what is it that's costly with Hyundais?

[v.anand]

Brio Vs i10, no comparison. Brio beats i10 hollow. i10 has got lot more gizmos and features but thats not what I look for in a car primarily.

Brio as a car is fundamentally better engineered. Its got better engine (though performance is similar FE is much higher as proven in Jazz), lot better steering setup and lot more settled ride and handling charecteristics. Looks, I prefer Brio better but that is subjective. As for features, its got everything one needs to be comfortable and covers most necessary things. BT may be missed but for a car of its size, parking sensors are unnecessary unless one is a learning driver.

As for features, Brio is better equipped than the mighty Polo 1.6 also (which reminds one how VW underchanges its Indian customers) but has a new car premium which keeps everyone on the road curious.

O.T.: One funny incident, this man on the road screeches his two wheeler to a stop to have a glance at my parked Brio, gets off the bike and starts touching it all round. When I go near the car and unlock it to start and go, this man begs me to let him sit inside at the back seat, at a flash opens the door and sits pretty for 2 minutes. All this while I was like .

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by carboy

I never would have imagined that Hyundais are more expensive to maintain than Hondas. Can someone give an example of what is it that's costly with Hyundais?

I can't give you exact details as I don't have them, my uncle owns an i10 Magna 1.1(earlier editions with rear wash/wipe and defogger) and an Innova, the T being the primary car does more distance a year, but when considered on an annual basis, the i10 is much costlier to maintain. This is not an i10 with loads of electronics -its reliable with no issues even after an accident, but regular servicing is costlier than the T's major service.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by carboy

I never would have imagined that Hyundais are more expensive to maintain than Hondas. Can someone give an example of what is it that's costly with Hyundais?

For my i10, Free service bill came out to 1400! And paid service each quarter costs 4500+. Forget Brio, even Innova service doesnt cost that much! Labor charges itself are around 1000 for Hyundai. I had an Alto earlier and free service on an Alto was about 140 rupees and paid service about 1200.

Parts arent cheap either.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by joslicx

For my i10, Free service bill came out to 1400! And paid service each quarter costs 4500+.

Once per quarter? How much kms do you run every month?

Originally Posted by joslicx

Forget Brio, even Innova service doesnt cost that much! Labor charges itself are around 1000 for Hyundai. I had an Alto earlier and free service on an Alto was about 140 rupees and paid service about 1200.

Parts arent cheap either.

My Major Service for Swift comes to around 4500 (once every 20000 kms).
How much does a major service cost for a City/Brio etc?

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by carboy

Once per quarter? How much kms do you run every month?




My Major Service for Swift comes to around 4500 (once every 20000 kms).
How much does a major service cost for a City/Brio etc?

Oh sorry, its not per quarter. Its every 6 months. Hyundai service interval is 6 months or 10000 KM (if I am toppling again). Thanks for pointing out the same.

From what I have gathered on City threads, service costs are around 2k.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by carboy

I never would have imagined that Hyundais are more expensive to maintain than Hondas. Can someone give an example of what is it that's costly with Hyundais?

I drive and maintain an eight year old Santro Xing. It has completed 44,000 kilometers, as of yesterday. A regular service costs us 5k-6k. We also own two Hondas. A Civic and a Jazz, and both cars' service-bills don't exceed 6k put together.

The Jazz has done around 10k and is a year and a half, and the Civic, 55k is 5 years old.

I've noticed that Hyundai overcharges a great deal on all cars that they service. The labour charges are through the roof. And you wonder why, because it's not like they do a great job either. (Advaith Hyundai)

I've had some niggle or the other creeping up every time, the day I get my car back from service. It's a fresh niggle that replaces the old one, and it's a niggle that I deal with (but bugs me to no end) till I get the next service done. At which point, I discover a new one!

It's a viscous cycle. With our Hondas, it has never happened.

Our old Ikon was expensive to maintain too, and the spare-parts were amazingly pricey. But they did a great job servicing our car, at least. And our yellow carb'd Zen was a joy to own and drive. Service was never a headache.

What I believe is that Hyundai gives this free-hand to its service networks to charge exorbitant amounts. or maybe not. I can never put a finger on what's actually wrong. But I'd blame the whole system.

Hyundais are generally great cars to own and drive for a period of 3-5 years. After that, they get terribly expensive to run and maintain.

But that doesn't make Honda a great company. They're good. But they need to correct their pricing strategies. It appears that they've got the Brio's prices wrong. But you gotta blame the State Govt. for slapping a massive road-tax/registration charge on each car. The Brio S(o) MT, costs 6.05 lakhs on the road! The top-end V (MT) costs 6.40. A bit pricey for a hatch that has no rear-wipers, small-ish interiors, an optional(!) parcel-tray, and feels devoid of some deal-breaking features/equipment.

It's still a great product, but it's potential is stemmed by the optimistic price-tags that they're known to slap on some of their products.

[DCEite]

I personally think Brio E MT is the variant that is most value for money, when compared with other segment hatches.

In the E you get:
- Front Power Windows,
- Tachometer
- Internally adjustable mirrors
- Same size tyres as in the top model (all models have same size tyres unlike Maruti which provides puny tyres on lower variants)
- Fuel efficiency indicator
- ECO Lamp indicator
- Engine immobilizer
- Driver seat belt reminder

In the S model, only worthwhile feature is Integreated audio and rear power Windows. For self driven or small family, rear power Windows don't matter much, and after market stereo could be had for about 12k (Pioneer+JBL combo).

So S MT does not make value sense at around 30 K(after adding aftermarket stero to E) more than E, other than the Chrome bits.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by joslicx

For my i10, Free service bill came out to 1400! And paid service each quarter costs 4500+. Forget Brio, even Innova service doesnt cost that much! Labor charges itself are around 1000 for Hyundai. I had an Alto earlier and free service on an Alto was about 140 rupees and paid service about 1200.

Parts arent cheap either.

Hey Toyota charges 900 bucks as labour charge for regular service. I just got my Innova serviced last week. Costed me 4700 net for a regular 80k kms service. The only good thing is that this is an annual cost. But then Toyota does recommend servicing the car every 6 months or 5k kms.

[v.anand]

^^Whats expensive is the ones that come with safety kit. Its the same with all manufacturers charging premium for safety equipments. Hence V MT when compared to likes of i10 and co. is not really overpriced.

@suhaas307, you are right about high prices for V MT in Bangalore and most of it is due to road tax thanks to computation based on ex-showroom price. In places like Delhi, for the cost of S MT one could get V. But this is the case with all cars in its segment and not Brio alone. Hyundai gives discounts to market the deal look sweet and Honda sales team throws stinking attitude. Etios Liva top end is 40 to 50K more than Brio top end. What say?

By the way, rear parcel tray is not optional. It comes standard in current batch cars S and above.

[ani_meher]

Brio baby! Millions of i10s already on road, and with a newer and cheaper option from honda nonetheless should tilt the scale in Brio's favour.

I would have definitely gone for Brio simply because it is lively, and would look new for many years to come. i10 i guess was never a looker, and it is already too much in population!

Pls add a poll. It would have shown very clearly the opinions by now.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by DCEite

I personally think Brio E MT is the variant that is most value for money, when compared with other segment hatches.

In the E you get:
- Front Power Windows,
- Tachometer
- Internally adjustable mirrors
- Same size tyres as in the top model (all models have same size tyres unlike Maruti which provides puny tyres on lower variants)
- Fuel efficiency indicator
- ECO Lamp indicator
- Engine immobilizer
- Driver seat belt reminder

In the S model, only worthwhile feature is Integreated audio and rear power Windows. For self driven or small family, rear power Windows don't matter much, and after market stereo could be had for about 12k (Pioneer+JBL combo).

So S MT does not make value sense at around 30 K(after adding aftermarket stero to E) more than E, other than the Chrome bits.

You'r right. the S MT does not make sense. They should have introduced the S(o) MT at the price of the S instead. It makes more sense, considering that it comes with Airbags and ABS. The V makes the least sense. For 30k more, all you get is alloy-wheels, fog-lights and different upholstery.

In the S, you do get steering-mounted audio-controls though.

Originally Posted by v.anand

By the way, rear parcel tray is not optional. It comes standard in current batch cars S and above.

When I had test-driven the Brio a month or so ago, Dakshin Honda hadn't even heard of a parcel-tray. Not even on the V variant. Which is weird, considering that it comes standard on the S and V.

[v.anand]

^^ @Suhaas, the alloys in V is quite nice. Door pads also get black and beige treatment. Another extra in V is steering height adjustment which S(O) lacks IIRC. Considering these, I thought 30k was worth it for V.

The gear shift in Brio is quite rubbery and imprecise. It needs more effort to put the 2nd gear. Is it the same in Jazz? I have never heard this issue in any reviews and dont remember the feel during TD. Should I get it checked at the dealership? Or is it this way initially and would improve with miles as in case with my earlier Palio?