The Honda Brio was launched on September 27 back in 2011 and Honda is now celebrating its 1st anniversary. To add to the celebration, Honda is all set to launch an automatic variant of the Brio on October 18.
The Brio AT will be featuring the same 5-speed transmission as in the City. The gear ratios will be varied to mate with the 1.2-litre motor. Its a torque-converter unit rather than a CVT to minimize the cost. According to figures, the Brio AT returns 16.5kmpl as per IDC (Indian Driving Cycle). Although its less than the manual variant, its still pretty good considering what the competition offers. Further its not going to disappoint those performance enthusiasts either. The 1.2-litre i-vtec motor with 88bhp on tap is an absolute gem both in the city as well as in the highways.
There is not going to any changes in the exterior or interiors. The interiors are well designed under Honda’s “Man Maximum Machine Minimum” principle and is spacious considering its compact dimensions. The overall quality of plastics is also not bad.
Driving a manual is always fun over driving an Automatic variant. But, in traffic as in the current Delhi/Mumbai driving, most of us end up praising the automatic variants over the manual variants. So, the demand for Automatic cars is increasing especially in Metro cities. For a customer looking to buy a Automatic hatch, it was always a bit of dilemma. There are just 3 hatchbacks in the country which offer Automatic variants: The A-star, i10 and i20 . The problem was that A-star turned out to be basic and i-10 being small in terms of interior space. The i20 turned out to be out of budget for majority of the buyers. The Brio will therefore, slide in very well into the middle, offering what everybody needs. Space, Performance, Handling, Fuel efficiency and of-course Reliability. So, what matters the most is going to be how Honda prices it. We expect Honda to price it 50K over the current Manual variant. A good pricing will make it sell decent numbers.
The Brio was just the perfect City car in every sense.We believe the automatic variant will just make the package even more exciting.
So, what do you guys think ? You guys think its the perfect hatch to get Automatic transmission currently ? React to all this.
Also see – Spied – Honda Brio Automatic at a Chennai dealership
Image Courtesy – Overdrive
