With the Brio and City, Honda manages to bring their unmistakable brand DNA—a fun-to-drive character coupled with strong environmental performance even to their two most affordable offerings. Although they’re not exactly the cheapest models in their respective segments, they do come across as solid value-for-money choices, especially when you’re looking for a great first car. Here are five reasons why these two Hondas deserve a closer look next time you find yourself shopping for a brand-new car.

Fuel efficiency is once again in the spotlight when it comes to a new car. It’s a very important consideration not just because of pump prices per se, but also because of Manila’s horrendous traffic. And while other cookie cutter sub-compacts have dreary drivetrains, both the Brio and the City have an impeccable package.

The Brio currently has the largest engine in its class. The 1.2-liter SOHC i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine produces class-above power at 90 horsepower and 110 Nm. This makes it an excellent punter around the city, but still confident enough to hit expressways. Getting most out of the engine requires wringing the accelerator, but the engine’s smooth even at high rpms. In our experience, a mixed city and highway run returned about 12.9 km/L on Petron XCS—a solid figure.

Meanwhile, there’s the City and its 1.5-liter DOHC i-VTEC 4-cylinder engine. Despite having the most powerful in its class (121 horsepower), excitement isn’t its middle name. Instead, it’s all about sensible motoring. And like the Brio, the overall mechanical polish is good. Despite the bigger body and engine, the City almost matches its smaller sibling fuel economy-wise thanks to a dedicated “ECON” mode. With it, fuel economy figures go up to 11.6 km/L; without it, it goes down slightly to 10.6 km/L, both also done on Petron XCS. Either way, it makes the City one of the most fuel efficient sub-compacts available out there.

Who says convenience technology should be limited to vehicles costing a million pesos and more? With the newest Brio and City, Honda has put emphasis on improving creature comfort features, particularly in the realm of connectivity.

Starting with the Brio, Honda has finally given it Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but with a caveat. The 7-inch Kenwood system isn’t the best looking nor the most high-res, but it gets the job 75 percent of the time. The CarPlay tray icons are on the wrong side (they’re on the right instead of the left), indicating the head unit’s made for right-hand drive markets. Generally, this is a non-issue because reaching for the icons on the far side of the screen is easy enough given the Brio’s modestly-sized interior, but somehow it interferes with the usability of some apps. For example with Waze, the “Route” and “Report” icons aren’t responsive. Weird.

On other fronts, the Brio does get some updates for 2024. The Brio RS, for example, gets standard LED headlights and fog lights now. It’s a small detail, but helps lend it a more technically superior feel. If we’d be totally honest, we would have wanted additional features for this P 853,000 model; features like a rear parking camera and a push-start system.

Thankfully, there are no major issues with the City. With the 2024 update, it gets pretty much everything you’d want in a sub-compact. It gets fancier gauges with a 4.2-inch full-color TFT display and an 8-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto! Safety’s been enhanced too with the addition of Honda Sensing (more on that later). If ever, we’d just add reverse parking sensors and a LaneWatch camera (it only has a reverse camera as standard) and call it complete. Rear disc brakes and an electronic parking brake would be are nice too, but that’s probably reserved for the e:HEV model.

If there’s one aspect that sets both the Brio and City apart from everyone else, it’s the interior space. Far and large, they’re the best places to spend traffic in, especially if you need to ferry five regularly. Both offer a decent amount of stage spaces for small knick-knacks and devices.

On the City, it grows to the point that it’s nearly identical to Civics of the past. The sheer amount of legroom shames much larger cars. On top of that, the decision to install a horizontally-themed dashboard with a lower cowl, and thinner A-pillars do well to increase its feeling of space, all the while improving visibility. If there’s an issue, it’s that the centrally-mounted fuel tank. The seating feels somewhat awkward. It’s not uncomfortable, mind you, but it’s not at par with Honda’s Man Maximum, Machine Minimum ethos. Towards the back, the cavernous trunk that can swallow more than a week’s worth of groceries. If need be, it can take in two full-sized suitcases for that airport run.

On to the Brio, the passengers find the back a hospitable place to be it. Despite being classified as a sub-B or even A-segment hatchback, there’s far more knee and headroom available here than the rest of its segment competitors. Oh, and get this: there are adjustable headrests—three of them—in the back. In fact, the Brio’s space is limited only by the interior width so seating two adults and a kid would be the most ideal (you can still fit three in a pinch, however). When it comes to luggage space, it allows large pieces of luggage to fit with almost no issue. The rear seats can also be collapsed for additional space too, but mind you, there’s no split-folding function here.

Before, compact cars are usually the go-to vehicles for young families; today, with starting pricings going up past one million, these sub-compacts and sub sub-compacts are the way to go. Thankfully, carmakers have begun to understand that upwardly mobile families still consider safety as a top priority and have started to equip their entry-level vehicles with the same sort of safety equipment normally reserved for more expensive models.

Despite its size, the Brio is engineered with Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering or ACE concept. It helps distribute collision energy evenly and redirect it away from the passenger compartment, while at the same time, minimizing damage to other impacted vehicles. This is accomplished by using numerous grades of steel (typically four) which crumple in key areas and remain rigid in others. This is on top of the standard dual SRS airbags and ABS with EBD.

Meanwhile, the Honda City builds on its impressive 5-star ASEAN NCAP rating by adding a couple of active safety features such as Agile Handling Assist which lightly applies brakes to the front wheels to add stability and responsiveness, Vehicle Stability Assist, Hill Start Assist, and of course, Honda Sensing. Honda Sensing is the brand’s blanket suite of advanced driver assist system that unlocks seven functionalities, some of which are unique in its segment: Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), Road Departure Mitigation (RDM), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Auto High Beam (AHB), and Lead Car Departure Notification (LCDN).

Aside from being frugal at the pump, Honda Cars Philippines has made sure they’re easy to maintain as well.

Consider this: based on Honda’s online PMS calculator, a full three years of Brio ownership costs P 48,343 or an average of P 16,114.33 per year. Projected over 60,000 kilometers, that’s roughly just P 0.80 per kilometer! Despite having a bigger engine, the City does even better at P 47,323 or P 15,774.33 per year. Over the same mileage, that’s just P 0.78!

Factoring in the cost of gasoline at P 65 per liter, it totals to P 5.844 per kilometer for the Brio and P 6.39 per kilometer for the City in terms of running cost. Not bad, considering a second-hand PPV will set you back double (P 12 per kilometer) in terms of fuel and maintenance. And that’s not even considering other forms of monetary savings. For example, the City enjoys preferential insurance rates thanks to Honda Sensing.