Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Official New Car Reviews (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/)

-   -   Honda Brio (Automatic) : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/127657-honda-brio-automatic-official-review-9.html)

Honda should give the same discount it gives to MT to AT as well. Otherwise, on road price difference between MT and AT will be 1L, which will make AT look very expensive.

@nithi; Yes, you pay only 1.75L more on the i20 for the AT! Even the i10 has a premium of about 75k on the AT for the pathetic 3+1. Once the new car fever subsides expect some discounts to show up!

@hellraizer; I have a Civic AT for 2+ years and find it brilliant.

But the i20 also includes a bigger and more powerful engine with the AT.

i20 AT has 1.4 Liter engine and does not qualify for small car tax exemptions.

i10 and i20 are in top 10 best sellers, easily selling around 8K per month. Hyundai may not worry too much about the sales of AT as the MT is already selling well.

I thought Honda will price AT aggressively and try to improve the sales of Brio AT. But the price suggests otherwise. Anyone will think twice for paying 1L for AT in this segment.

If Brio is not making any impact on the sales of other petrol siblings like i10 and selling only around 2K a month, something is very wrong at Honda. I seriously doubt a diesel Brio will make any difference in future.

I wish Honda does something quickly, before it is too late, to improve the sales of this cute little car.

The i10 Sports AT costs only 56k more than the MT as per this page.
Considering there are no feature additions, and the absence of paddle shifters (as against the City AT), I think around 60k over the MT should have been reasonable for the Brio AT. Additional road tax, insurance, and the discounts on the MT take the difference to over 1.2 lac on the road here.
Anyway, we're just waiting for a few months to see if the discounts cometh. By then we'll also have some ownership reports on the Brio AT.

Unfortunately, the OTR price in Bangalore is ridiculous. Booked the V-MT for 6.1L which includes RPS, side and bumper protection, chrome tail pipe, floor mats, car cover. I understand the convenience of an auto box. To my dismay, the Manual car drove well with lower NVH and more responsive. Am pretty sure of this. Having driven the city automatic for almost 1 year, the Manual was rather a welcome break. I loved the power delivery and the response in the Manual variant.

As an i10 owner - I would beg to disagree with you. The i10 AT box may be dated, but it's in no way pathetic. I find the 4 speed box mated quite well to the engine, and though the lack of more gear ratios result in lower FE, there is no gear hunting or other vices one would normally associate with an AT box.

Yes it is the 1.4Gamma. Hyundai are not even offering an extended warranty on this. Shows how much they trust their own technology. The only plus is discs all round.

Also, the reported kpl in town is at most 8.

@blackasta; I have suffered the same box in my Santro since 2005! I am sure you have had the i10 for a shorter duration. Might have been Ok in the early 2000's but not today. As for gear hunting drive at around 60-70kph on the highway. It will hunt between 3 & 4 depending on the accelerator pedal.

You've had the car for 7+ years and don't seem to find a reason strong enough to let it go as yet. Isn't the word 'suffered' too strong to use given the context ? The autobox on the Santro does the job quite well - for its intended use.

6-8 years is my normal ownership. Both my cars add up to only 14000km or so a year, with the smaller doing the bulk of it.

I am now happy to be replacing the Santro with a Brio V AT, hopefully next week.

Before the Santro I had something even worse, Zen (Carb) AT (1997 bought in 1999) with a three speed box. I would have changed the Santro last year but for the fact there was nothing good in the segment. The i10/i20 do with a 3+1 as does the Dzire eCS. The last surprised me since the AStar has a proper 4-speed. Also, the i20 is a 1.4 Gamma which barely does 8kpl and even Hyundai do not trust it since they do not have a extended warranty option for it.

In the context of 2010's it is indeed a case of suffered, and definitely not enjoyed. AT technology has moved a lot in this period. I am not looking for any DSG, etc. just a proper and decent AT box.

I agree - I have the same transmission in a 2007 Santro AT. I think it does a brilliant job, especially in the city.

There is no doubt that AT technology has moved on and the Santro AT isn't the most refined or the quietest in the segment. However, this hunting behavior you speak of doesn't happen with mine. It holds gears well and kick-down works as advertised (I've never had a problem overtaking.)
I was tempted by the Brio AT as well but two things have given me reason to pause. 1. there is nothing wrong with the Santro and it gives me 11.5 kmpl consistently with A/C in the city. 2. I like the height and the view of the road that I get in the Santro, which will be a problem with Brio as its lower.

@nithi; Discounting in ATs was different. I barely managed 6k incl. goodies on my Santro in August 2005. The Civic was different with a decent discount of a few thousands in 2010.

Its a winner, hands down. For those who are in market for an AT hatch, its the one to pick, the "H" badge still holds value here..

@itsashishsharma

There is no point making sweeping statements. All Honda cars, Brio to CRV, come with 5-speed AT only... this is called economies of scale. They are not offering anything new to Indians, yes it is more advanced in small cars, but in cars over Rs.10 lacs (Civic onwards) their economies of scale fall back on them, when the more advanced Germans offer better driving experience & economies with their so called agricultural engines.

Brio AT is the best to have in the small cars as the most advanced AT in hatches, no doubt.

@cardeep; Remember the ATs in the Civic, City and Brio have totally different ratios, so are not really the same. If by German you meant the VW family (Skoda, VW, Audi, ...), the service is a big question mark. There are enough threads about both Skoda and VW here. Their engines (excl BMW and Merc) are not agricultural but possibly less cutting edge than the Japanese and the Italians. Possibly capacity based taxation has something to do with this.