The original Honda Brio was a quirky little buzzbomb meant to slot underneath the Jazz/Fit in developing markets in Asia. But while it benefitted from funky styling and punchy performance, it lacked the space efficiency and sporty persona of the Jazz. And for the avid Honda tinkerer, the 140kph speed limiter was something of a buzzkill, limiting the sporting potential of Honda’s most affordable toy car.
The second generation—launched in 2019—fixed many of these flaws. Except the speed limiter, sorry, racer-bois. But in every other way, the Brio 2.0 was more befitting the Jazz legacy. Bigger, better, more refined. But with the market moving forward at a breakneck pace, can this year’s mid-model change keep Honda’s most affordable car ahead of the pack?
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Styling
The facelift hasn’t changed the Brio’s looks much. Not that much change was needed. It’s still more attractive than most. A taller grille and segmented LED headlights give it a more mature look, and the smoked tail-lights and tidier rear diffuser are quite nice. A blacked-out roof and a roof-lip spoiler give the RS variant a little more aggression, but the bulging fog-lights aren’t as neat-looking as the new faux corner vents on the standard car. The 15” split spoke wheels are a fair bit fancier, though, with their new gunmetal hue, and round off the package nicely.
Interior
The Brio’s interior is still one of the best in the economy class. Best, but still squarely economy class: meaning hard plastics sprinkled with bits of gray urethane and slivers of silver and red cladding. Sort of like a Honda City interior in ¾ scale, with a bit of RS flair thrown in. The front seats are well-shaped, with good bolstering, though the foam underneath the fabric is a bit soft. Driver ergonomics are about as you’d expect. Everything in the right place.
The rear seat squab is pretty good, with more lateral and knee support than the bench in the new Wigo. I don’t mind the lack of center armrest and split-fold mechanism, as the Wigo doesn’t have those, either, but the lack of child seat mounts is rather disappointing. Considering that even the ultra-cheap Suzuki SPresso comes with ISOFIX/LATCH. Without that feature, you’ll need to creatively tie that seat in with a retractable shoulder belt, which is a pain-and-a-half, and risky if you don’t know how.
The 258-liter cargo bay is one of the better ones in the class, with a wide lip. You can easily reach into it from the back seat, but with no tonneau cover, you can’t keep frozen groceries back there for very long. Again, not a problem you’d have with an S-Presso or Wigo.
Engine performance
But neither of those cars has a legendary L-series engine. Under the hood, you’ll find an 89hp 1.2-liter variant of the same trusty four-cylinder that’s been powering small Hondas for the past twenty years.
With a green engine, average fuel economy hovered around the 13.5km/L range. We saw highs of over 21km/L on the highway, making the official 24km/L claim plausible.
Our CVT-equipped car recorded a 0-100kph time of 12.2sec, about half a second up on automatic 1.2-liter competitors like the Suzuki Dzire and the Mitsubishi Mirage.
That said, unless you shift into ‘S’ or ‘L’ mode, the transmission is hesitant to ‘downshift’ to overtake, and VTEC doesn’t ‘kick in, yo’ until you get over 4,000rpm. While you’re waiting for that to happen, the SUV you’re trying to overtake has belched out a plume of black smoke and has accelerated to cut you off.
Ride and handling
Whatever its shortcomings in terms of raw power, the Brio does justice to its Honda lineage by being fun to drive. As it should, considering the original front end geometries were lifted straight from the Jazz. While the electric tiller isn’t the most tactile, the ratio is perfectly suited to holding a line at high speed, every millimeter of steering wheel travel representing a hair of steering angle change.
On twistier roads, the Brio proves nimbler than your common supermini. I won’t venture to say it’s as good as the Jazz, but Swift aside, it’s closer than any of its competitors to that junior warm hatch ideal. Ride comfort isn’t a strong suit for small cars, but the Brio’s suspension deals with big movements well, only falling short on sharp bumps, but not as badly as many competitors.
Around town, you’ll enjoy the Brio’s excellent visibility and light steering. While there’s no backing-up camera, you do get rear parking sensors, though these often feel superfluous on a car of this size.
Extra features
Aside from those rear sensors, there’s little in the way of driver aids. No front sensors or camera, no blind spot warning, or even cruise control. And don’t expect advanced options like the Honda Sensing Suite. And convenience features are limited to remote unlocking. No automatic keyless entry or ignition.
What you do get, however, is a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system that’s been updated with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Sound out of the four speaker system is passable, but nothing to write home about. About par for the class. What isn’t par is the complete lack of ISOFIX/LATCH provisions in the rear seat. Again, not a problem other small cars have, and an odd oversight, especially given that the new Child Car Seat Law is now in full effect.
Verdict
That, coupled with the lack of cargo space for bigger strollers, compromises the Brio as a family car. And the price of this specced-up RS Black-Top lands it squarely in range of subcompact sedans like the Toyota Vios and MG5, and even small crossovers like the Geely GX3 Pro and Toyota Raize. Even the base CVT is over 800k. But temper your expectations and option the manual transmission S model, and the Brio is perhaps the best hatchback for the money, with a combination of power, economy and utility that’s rare in this day and age.
Sure, it may lack the Swiss Army Knife utility of the legendary Jazz, but we’ll begrudgingly grant it “Jazz-lite” status. There’s still little quite as fun in this fairly limited size class. But Honda will really have to up the ante with the next-gen Brio to stay ahead of the game, or at least to keep the Brio relevant in an increasingly crossover-crazy market.
SPECS: 2024 Honda Brio 1.2 RS CVT
Price: P853,000
Engine: 1.2-liter gasoline I4
Power: 89hp
Torque: 110Nm
Transmission: CVT
Layout: Front wheel-drive
Seating: 5
Score: 7/10
More photos of the Honda Brio 2024
