Honda Brio

This is the first time we are moving away from two wheelers and are discussing mileage on a car. Let’s see if there is interest. Honda launched the Brio in the Indian market back in September 2011 just before the festival season. Although the car has got rave reviews, the production has continuously suffered a hit due to supply issues in the aftermath of Japanese earthquake and Bangkok floods.

Brio means ‘cheerful’ in Italian. The Honda Brio is a 1198cc 4 cylinder engine car that derives a maximum power of 88PS at 6000RPM. The resulting max torque is 109Nm at 4500 RPM. The car has a 2345mm wheelbase and ground clearance of 165mm which is just about okay on Indian roads. The car weighs 920kg at the very least and has a total seating capacity of 5. The lowest variant of the Brio comes at a price of Rs. 4.1 lakhs ex-showroom at Delhi.

Manufacturer Claim on Fuel Economy

Honda Brio comes with a manual transmission as well as automatic transmission. In India though, MT is the most preferred mode and so we will discuss only this. According to Honda India, the MT variant can deliver around 19.4 kmpl under standard testing conditions. AT reduces the mileage a bit and only delivers close to 16.5 kmpl under standard conditions.

Customer Feedback

Let us kick it off with a review from CarWale. The author commends the Brio for its pretty generous leg space for a car this size as well as for its “killer looks”. However, the disappointment shows on the mileage front. The customer reports an economy of just 10.8 kmpl even after the first servicing.

MaxAbout echoes the Carwale review on the design front. The website notes the “outstanding styling” and “stunning design” as great plusses for the car. However, unlike the earlier review, this report claims a city mileage of around 13kmpl on the Brio that goes up to 19.4kmpl on the highways. This is exactly what Honda claims on test conditions and so now I’m not sure if MaxAbout really went about testing the mileage or if it just from the manufacturer.

The ZigWheels review takes a somewhat middle path. The reviewer tested the car with air conditioning on in the congested streets of Pune where the fuel consumption was noted to be around 13kmpl. On the highways, this was noted to go up to 16.7 kmpl.

In his review of the Brio after 5000 kilometers, Team-BHP member Shiv
notes that the car is “super silent” and has a really good steering. On the fuel front, the reviewer reports 13.5 kmpl on the city roads and between 17-19 kmpl on the highways. The reported numbers here seem to perfectly align with those reported from other sources.

There are around eleven reviews of the Honda Brio on Carzy. Overall, the reported FE figure here is much better than what has been reported elsewhere. The reported number varies from around 15-16.03 kmpl on city roads and around 17-18 kmpl on highways.

Finally, let’s take a look at what MouthShut customers have got to say. There are close to 43 reviews for the Brio on this website and the customers have overall given this car a 4/5 in terms of fuel consumption. On city roads, the customers who have reported the mileage have done so in the range of 11-13 kmpl. On the highways, the corresponding number is between 17-19 kmpl with AC on and much more when it is turned off. Overall, the reports have been positive about the Brio.

So there you have it. I’ve aggregated the results from various sources in the table below.

So would I recommend it? Some reports show the number to be pretty low at 10.8 kmpl. However, a majority of the reviews note the number to be around the 13kmpl mark which is just about okay for a 1200cc car. So my recommendation is a thumbs up on the fuel front.