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-   -   Urban Titanium Honda Brio V-AT (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/128504-urban-titanium-honda-brio-v-2.html)

A very crisp review. It's good you bought those protectors for the new car. They really come in handy these days. The door guards are a definite must. :thumbs up

In today's age, one can definitely get a bumper painted x times as, the monetary damage won't be much. As for the doors, will be quite a setback and over time, compared to the rest of the OEM paint, might look lacklustre:Frustrati

From my experience, when a certain patch of the car is re-painted, it looks good only for some days. After a few days, a layman can clearly spot the re-painted area.

Wishing you many happy miles with this beauty!

In general once you go for 'higher'cars it is better not to meddle too much. Let me give you the history - Accent - just a radio-CD (used the supplied speakers) and a power outlet; Santro - Radio-CD, antenna, speakers, power outlet; Civic nothing.

Congrats, SG sir! Brio looks best in UT shade. I do notice there's a slight variation in the colour, this one has bit of a warm yellow tint to it, earlier UT was lacking this warm yellow tint . I know for sure since in my office parking I frequently see 2 Honda Citys both in UT but the shade difference is there, one (newer) has the yellow tint, the older does not.

PS : 2.0 bar is 29.4PSI , so it's more accurate to label is 29 rather than 30PSI.

Congratulations Professor. You seem to be a die hard Honda fan like me. Bit surprised when I noticed that the weight of a Brio is pretty close to that of a City!!


Couple of questions:
(1) There is a 26K difference in price between the S(O) AT and V-AT in Bangalore. Do you see value in opting for a V-AT rather than S(O)-AT?
(2) By any chance, is the Brio engine and AT technology newer than that in the City?
(3) Devoid of paddlers, is the Brio AT fun to drive?
(4) Is there a way to rev this engine since there are no paddlers?
5) Do you feel the same confidence in corners like the aristocratic Civic? This question because of the rather vertical stance of Brio in comparison with a ground hugging Civic

Nice review on the AT. Its a great little city car, with unbelievable amount of space!

Congratulations Professor! I believe this is probably the best city commuter available in India today. Would be looking at buying one for my wife sometime soon.

As for Honda providing AT only on versions with ABS, it is for an entirely different reason. You can see that even all AT cars from Maruti have ABS as standard.

Usually, in case of an MT, the vehicle speed signal is taken from an exciter ring - sensor combo placed on the output shaft of the transmission. In case of AT, the speed signal (if taken from the transmission) is quite rough and is not reliable for usage even in the speedometer. Therefore, OEMs add ABS so that the wheel speed sensor signals can be used to drive the speedo. :)

Regards
Viju

Couple - I see five!

1. I keep my cars for 6-8 years and prefer to opt for the higher (or highest) version. Alloys and front fogs definitely justify the difference.
2. The engine is the same as the Jazz, the AT is derived from the City / Civic.
3. It is a very nice city car. The all round visibility and manoeuvrability is excellent. The only better thing I cam hope for at the moment is an AT version of the City Hatch - aka Jazz.
4. Depending on your right foot. You can push it to kick-down and go all the way to the redline. Of course 1, 2 and D3 are also there.
5. No issues here. Remember for my wife and me it is a local runabout. Right since 1999 we have had a large and a small car Esteem VX/ Zen AT/ Accent/ Santro AT and now Civic V AT and Brio V AT.

I have been in touch with Customer Care Honda regarding the fog replacement instructions and the AT shifter. Images from the manual are attached.

Fog: while the first line about turning the steering opposite to the location is correct, the next two seem to have been lifted from the rhd manual. They do not agree. I in my post had specifically pointed out lines 2 & 3.

Reply: The procedure as is mentioned in owner's manual is correct as the replacement of the fog-light bulb is irrespective of left hand or right hand drive of the vehicle.

Shifter: The graphic gives the impression that D3 is also without needing the Lock Button, which is not true and is the way it should be. The graphic is confusing at best!!

Reply: The graphic is absolutely correct as it mentions the arrows indicating when and how to down shift and up-shift. We request your understanding on the same.

Congratulations SGIIT on your spanking new Brio. Excellent choice for a in-city runabout. I recently drove it and was very impressed.

Generally in these ATs, what happens if you press the shift button even where it is not required? I would assume that's harmless but any downside to this?

Congratulations Dr. G. Nicely put review. Precise and concise.

Dont you find the green eco indicator to be an unnecessary irritant. When I drove the Brio I found it hard to concentrate on my driving as I would throw a cursory glance every now and then at the console if I was in eco mode or not. Believe me, I tried hard to not to do that but the eyes would wander there eventually.

Apart from that I had no other peeves with the Brio. Found it to be a gem of a car (was used to an i10 at that time and compared to that Brio feels in another league). I loved the steering, it was so good for the narrow roads of Jhansi. Our car had MRF ZVTs and found them a trifle uncomfortable on the highway. What tyres have you got?

Again congrats and wish you a great time with the car.

Nothing happens, but I have now developed an instinctive feel having driven ATs for 13+ years.
The same, but so far I have not taken it out on an open highway. Make sure the pressure is 29/26 (maybe a couple of psi above that).

Not really. I have over the years developed a habit (now involuntary) of periodically scanning the dash with my eyes. As for the Eco light it is at least 100 times better than the instantaneous kpl indicator on a Jazz. The Eco light does not distract me.

I didn't really get this point sgiitk. Are you trying to say that for moving from D -> D3 and from D3 -> D you need to press the shift button? Actually that is not true. You can move from D3 to D and D to D3 without having to press the shift button. That's how I did it when I was driving the Brio AT and it worked fine.

You cannot go from D to D3 without pressing the shift button. This has also been confirmed by Honda CC. In my view this is the way it should be, but not according to the graphic. As for the other way round in any AT you can move towards N and D without pressing the button, as the transmission becomes less restricted. You can go from R to N without the button as well. Once in N or D you can only move between the two, anywhere else the button is required.

Got the Osram NightBreaker+ H4s on the 17th. Installed them on the next day. I have had only one chance to drive with them at night. Light is definitely brighter. I have some late night driving tomorrow and fog is bad these days. I will report back.

For those who may not be knowing NB+ (and Philips XtremeVision) are drop in replacements with the same wattage for the 60/55 H4s. They use a different gas mixture so run hotter with a higher output in terms of light. Also, the light is somewhat 'bluer'. I preferred NB+ since I trust Osram more than Philips. Also the NBs are of German origin, while the XVs are mostly sourced from China.