Things to expect from the 2024 Honda Brio and City

The Honda Brio and the Honda City are both getting new updates this year, and the facelifted models are more than just a nip-and-tuck update. New for 2024, the pair of volume sellers will get marked upgrades over their pre-facelift counterparts. With a launch scheduled on July 13, 2023, let’s give you a brief run-through of the features to expect from these facelifted models. 

The Brio in particular has been going along smoothly since 2019, but four years in, it’ll get some remarkable upgrades. Meanwhile, the City is already the complete package for most people, but Honda’s pushing for even more safety systems on its cars, so the update goes even deeper than a set of new bumpers and badges. 

A mainstay in the Honda lineup, the new City is deserving of an update. Moving into the 2024 model year, the subcompact is looking to break new ground and break a few of its competitors’ hearts with new looks and standard features. 

*Honda CIty RS e:HEV pictured* 

The Honda City has been in the market since its 2020 model year. The subcompact sedan has become a best-seller for the brand in recent years, that is until the launch of the BR-V, which has gone on to become one of the brand’s best-sellers. 

Not to be outdone by its seven-seat brother, the City comes with a new design that is sure to turn a few heads on the road. With a new grille that joins the rest of the lineup’s updated design language, the RS variant, in particular, gets a few choice touches on the grille, on the bumper, and on the rear diffuser, going for a more aggressive tone this time around. The RS ducktail spoiler is still present, and it still meshes well with the grille, bumpers, and the gloss black touches on the mirrors and all other parts of the car. Expect the new City to look sharper overall, in the RS variant. Lower trim levels will also get sharper looks thanks to the new bumpers but with less aggression in their design. 

We’re still going to get the four-cylinder 1.5-liter dual-overhead-cam gasoline engine that’s been seen in the City, HR-V, and BR-V. The motor makes 119 hp and 145 Nm of torque, and it’s mated to a CVT for the entire lineup. This is great since the motor was so well-received in the City, and it’s a peppy performer for its class making the most horsepower of the naturally-aspirated crop of subcompacts. 

There are some minor touches made to the interior that will give you a sense of newness in the cabin. The dashboard is still the same elegant design that we’ve come to expect from Honda, but the model gets a few classy touches. It’s interesting to see Honda dialing back some of the red accents in the City, then adding a really striking bar colored in a nice shade of red on the dashboard. 

The rest of the interior is rather familiar, but the gauge cluster is updated for 2024, and the head unit is as good as it was back when the model first launched. The RS variant is what we’re referring to here, and in its top-spec trim, it gets a few notable updates that make it just an extra bit newer and more updated. 

However, the biggest headlining feature of the entire Honda City lineup is the standardization of the Honda SENSING suite of features. Honda is not shy about pushing its SENSING technologies to even its most mainstream of cars, and the City is the latest in the lineup to get the system standard. Back then, you could only get the SENSING features in the top-of-the-line RS, but now, even the S, V, and definitely the RS will all get SENSING as standard. 

What that means is adaptive cruise control, forward collision mitigation, lane keep assist, and more will be standard across the lineup now, and Honda wants to assure all of its customers that the City will keep its occupants safe as much as possible. However, it remains to be seen whether the price of the new City will go up or go down. Honda assures that the wait before the launch will be worth it considering all the new features that will be added so we’re pumped up to see that. 

Not to be forgotten in the lineup, the Honda Brio is still one of the best-driving small hatchbacks in the market today, and the model still has the capability to compete, but Honda is giving it some major enhancements to stay up to date with the rest of the field. 

One of the updates that we’ve been personally begging Honda for is the inclusion of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The new head unit will get the new pairing software as standard and it will also finally allow the car to measure up to its rivals. We will still get the six-speaker audio system on board which is still expected to be one of the better setups in its class, at least to our ears. 

More mesh on the front now, with the new RS grille being the star of the show. Finished in black, as always, the RS variant sports a mesh pattern that is exclusive to the RS, along with a lip and an updated rear diffuser. 

Just like the City, toning down on the accents just a bit. Instead of the orange that we’ve gotten used to with the 2019 rendition of the hatch, we’ll be seeing red trim for 2024. That being said, Honda has also toned down the RS branding even on the inside, with the gauge cluster losing the familiar logo. The cloth seats are still the same, however, the accent colors are changed for the update, matching the red dashboard trim with red stitching and a red-patterned upholstery. 

New for 2024, we won’t get halogens on the RS variants anymore, instead, halogens will be given to the lower variants, giving users the incentive to go straight to the RS for the best kit available. The headlights and the foglamps will both be equipped with LEDs, which will definitely give the Brio a fresh look plus enhanced nighttime driving capabilities. 

Even if it is a small car, Honda’s adding a much-requested convenience feature to the Brio, in the form of parking sensors positioned on the rear bumper. These sonars will beep as you get closer to an obstacle.