My BRIO

I have been driving my new Brio VX AT since the last 3 weeks. I was very impressed at the time of test drive with the design and interior space.I thought an ideal upgrade to my santro.Recently I drove with my family of 2 children and wife to Mysore from Kochi.I would like to share my overall experience with this car.

Exterior Excellent design and was very impressed.It looks big from outside for a small car. 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Plenty of space inside for four people.Better suited for children.Not recommended for a large family.My children did not enjoy the long drive because they are so used to the comfort of my 7 seater innova.The music system is average and good for FM radio.If you are an audiophile like me please upgrade.There are no lights on the gear shift and very difficult to change modes in darkness in the first few drives. You have to look at the dashboard ODO for recognising the drive mode.Good visibility all around.Driver seat height adjust was a blessing for my wife.Boot space although feels very small, I could accomodate two cabin size baggage with ease and squeezed in few more smaller bags.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Drove most of the time in D gear.The D gear is sluggish for accelerating on highways and downshift to D3 needed for overtaking.D3 gear did well on the ghat sections and D1 & D2 were never used.decent performance of D3 gear on hairpin bends.The ECO mode helps you mainatain efficiency and I managed 14.5-15 Km/l overall for my 800 km trip. It gave a figure of 15 kmpl on the highway with ac.Cruising on the highway in D mode is comfortable.I would have appreciated a little more on the fuel tank capacity and that made me make more frequent visits to the fuel station.

Ride Quality & Handling It is best suited for less than 100 km trips on the highway. If you own a bigger car, I would not recommend BRIO to be taken for longer drives.It handles well and never used it above 85Kmph on the highway.It does not feel good at higher speeds on the highway.I enjoyed driving the car through busy Kochi traffic and narrow kerala highways.The ride quality on good roads are good and any bad patches were instantly appreciated by rear passengers at high speeds.

Final Words Excellent car for city drives and short highway trips. I would not recommend for longer drives if you have a bigger second car.The fuel efficiency is very good if you drive in the ECO mode. I would recommend this car for anyone who would not mind spending extra for an automatic and enjoys driving it without looking at numbers.

Areas of improvement Better music system with bluetooth connectivity.Lights on the gear shift and power window switches.

Exterior styling, Interior space, Easy steering.Not so good for long drives, Small capacity fuel tank ,not so responsive D gear.