Premier RiO

The interiors of the Rio are decent but again the final fit and finishing touches are not very good and the quality of components is poor. There is a good amount of headroom throughout the cabin, but surely not enough legroom for rear seat passengers. The ergonomics seem to be quite good and the dash layout is also well planned, but the steering wheel is very poor in quality. There is no aesthetic value in the cabin.

The Rio comes with a 1.3 litre 4-cylindr diesel engine that can pump out around 72bhp and 183Nm of torque. The engine is well refined but the linkage with the 5-speed manual transmission isn’t the best.

On the road the Rio does seem practical but its engine does not give a sufficient amount of power. There is a huge throttle lag, and the car takes time to respond to your inputs, but the torque does kick in after 2200rpm and then the car does pick up speed well, but as you move through the gears the power delivery becomes poor again. Especially on the highway the car cannot accelerate too well once above 60kmph and the top speed is very low as well. the steering is also very loose and not direct enough, once again making it slow to react to driver inputs. The suspension however seems to be quite good and there is a good amount of feedback to the steering. Over pothole roads the car drives well and the overall ride quality is decent. Because of its small size the Rio is also very easy to maneuver in the city. The brakes however need some serious improvement as you need to press down very hard for stopping power.

The engine is very well refined and you can expect a mileage of around 18kmpl on average.

The Rio doesn’t come with any new age features but it does get power steering, front power windows, an inbuilt audio system, central locking and air-conditioning.

It does get decent safety features such as Brake Assist, ABS and EBD, airbags and keyless entry.

The overall quality of the car is certainly not the best in its segment, as the use of components is poor. But the car is built tough on a heavy chassis and there are not many electrical components. The car dos seem to be quite reliable and servicing and spare parts will most likely be easily affordable.

The car is very practical and comes with a great engine and a strong chassis, so it does offer good value for you money spent, but it’s not the best in its segment.

The Rio was the first compact SUV in India but now the competition is very tough, and other cars offer better driving dynamics and more new age features for roughly the same price.