Premier is one of the oldest brands present in Indian automobile industry and throughout the time it has reinvented itself. And this time it has came up with new affordable urban compact SUV named RIO . . .
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Cherry Red
Mystic Black
Paradise White
Sterling Silver
*Images shown are for reference only.
Actual colours may vary from the ones shown here
Exterior 360° Degree View
Want to have a feel of how the Premier Rio exterior looks like?
This 360° degree view lets you check the outer details of the car without
even visiting a showroom. Enjoy a lifelike experience of how this car
looks like from all angles. Check out how the grille, bumpers, headlights,
side-view mirrors, indicators, tail lamps, etc., are carved out on the car
body. This 360° degree view helps you see the design of doors and handles,
pillars, windows, and the rear profile of the car. This is exactly how your
new Premier Rio will appear. To get a glimpse of the exterior of
Premier Rio from all around, drag the image to the left or right
to rotate the car.
Fuel Economy claimed by the manufacturer, generally quoted in KMPL (Kilometres Per Litre) format.
Transmission
i
Common term 'Gear System', essentially a mechanism that transmits power from the engine to the drive shaft.
Displacement
i
It is the maximum capacity of an engine by volume. Usually quoted in 'CC' or 'Cubic Capacity' (1000cc = 1 Litre).
Safety
i
Features/equipment in an automobile that ensure safety of passengers as well as pedestrians.
Ex-Showroom Price
i
It's the price of an automobile exclusive of duties, taxes, depot charges, and insurance. To get on-road price, click on the 'Get Onroad Price' button.
Overall rating: 3
Reviewed By: Sakshi Singh on 01 January 2015
I was looking for an affordable compact SUV for my daily travel. And Premier Rio fits this bill to the tee. This model is made by assembling CKD from China. The SUV is tall and provide enough head room for the riders, but falls short when we talk about the legroom. The dashboard is a bit old fashioned,...
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Premier is one of the oldest brands present in Indian automobile industry and throughout the time it has reinvented itself. And this time it has came up with new affordable urban compact SUV named RIO. RIO has got its design influence from china (Zotye Nomad) as you give a first look. Zotye bought the rights to produce the Terios SUV from Daihatsu, which was made almost 15 years back. However it doesn’t look bad for the given amount of money.
Rio is assembled in India-Pune as CKD with kits coming from china, comes with 3 engine option and 1 transmission does its duty on all 3 engines. The chassis is conventional body on Frame.
Premier Rio Exterior
Rio was refreshed in 2012 with minor tweaks in styling. It is a compact SUV which measures under sub 4 meter category, from front it looks very much narrow with only 1570mm width because it was designed to comply with Japanese Kei car requirement.
A Kei cars have to be less than 1500 mm in width. The advantage of Kei cars are it gets lower taxes, lenient insurance regulations and exemption from parking certification, which is not very much practiced in India. It has got descent reflector headlamp, a smiling radiator grill, dual tone Fog lamps integrated front bumper with engine guard escaping out which adds to its aesthetics. Big 15 inch wheels, roof rails tail lamp mounted on D- pillars and tail gate mounted spare tyre gives it a muscular appearance from back.
Premier Rio Interior
As you open the doors to step inside you will feel that you have to crawl inside as Kei car’s point of view, but actually you will walk inside as doors open wide. The interiors have got two tone arrangement of gray and beige. The dashboard looks dated as the quality of plastic is just average with few panel gaps.
There is plenty of head room but knee and leg room is not good, only one advantage is driver seat provide good view on road, both legs get hit either sides. Due to Kei car spec it is only good for 4 Person.
The dashboard instrument cluster easy to read but looks dull same goes with AC knobs , Air conditioning is good but when fan set on high creates very much noise, all the door lock and power window switch are awkwardly placed.
The only modern touch on interior is the 2-Din audio player with AUX and USB support. Boot space is a good 454-litres and the middle row of seats fold forward to increase luggage space to 1158-litres.
Premier Rio Engine & Transmission
Rio has got 3 engine option- 1st Mpfi 1.2lts petrol producing 76.6 bhp @ 5800rpm and 103 NM of Torque @ 3500-4250 rpm, 2nd is 1.5lts direct injection Diesel engine with turbocharger producing 65 bhp @ 4000rpm and 152 NM of Torque @ 2250-3000 rpm, and the 3rd one is Multijet 1.3lts Crdi diesel sourced from FIAT with turbocharger and intercooler producing 72 bhp @ 4000rpm and 183 NM of Torque @ 1800-2400 rpm.
Out of all these option the 1.3lts CRDI engine is the most efficient and powerful,
The transmission is standard 5-speed manual in all 3. The layout arrangement is longitudinal front engine rear wheel drive 4X2.
Premier Rio Mileage
The mileage figure claimed provided by ARAI- CRDi4 engine is-23.75 KMPL, Di engine- 20kmpl and the petrol engine gives -15kmpl.
Premier Rio Braking and Safety
Rio is Equipped with Antilock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Brake force assistance (EBD) as standard in all variants. The braking system is equipped with ventilated disc brakes in the front and Drum brakes at the rear, which offers adequate braking force with help from ABS.
SUV is well equipped with generally required safety equipment. All variants get front row-3-point ELR seatbelts with pretensioners and normal belts at rear. Furthermore it is equipped with side impact beams all models, child lock and keyless entry. But Airbags are absent.
Premier Rio Performance and Handling
Rio uses Independent McPherson Strut type shock absorber front suspension with anti-roll bar and 5-Link type suspension with anti-roll bars at rear. The suspension are tweaked to softer settings which offers a stable ride at low speeds but as the speed increases on Indian roads it gives a feeling of being thrown away. As Kei car so does have very good turning radius of 4.7 which is very much helpful in city driving with addition to the 200 mm ground clearance. However on Highway rides it lacks high speed stability and does get ruffled by cross winds.
What do we think about Premier Rio?
Rio with Fiat’s Multijet diesel engine is only the best RiO to buy. However there are quite a few drawbacks, which can’t be ignored. Priced around 8 lacs on road it is not best in terms of quality, driving sense compared to competitors. It is not much refined, fast and luxurious as other vehicle manufacturer. Spaces, Ergonomics, plastic quality are the higher cons parts of this Compact SUV.
Premier Rio Competitors
Mahindra Quanto- have got proven Mahindra Quality and Service, less priced, more powerful 1.5 lts -100bhp CRDi diesel engine.
Mahindra Bolero- proven Mahindra Quality and Service, less priced, more powerful 2.5 lts -72bhp MDI turbocharged Diesel Engine.
Chevrolet Tavera- better quality, service, more powerful 2.2 lts -114bhp CRDi diesel engine,
