Honda Jazz
Brands are a powerful concept. I was recently chastised by the Honda fraternity for a less than raving review of the new Ballade. Curious isn't it how Honda is becoming perceived as the new "Toyota", a Japanese brand that can build reliable cars and seemingly do no wrong? Even when they do. It must be so tough living up to these reputations as a manufacturer. The bar is set high. Reputation will have some ability to force oversight of small setbacks. Under these circumstances innovation becomes risky, the very innovation that put you on this exulted pedestal of a good reputation.
With the re-camped Jazz, on test here in CVT format, we have an insight into how such reputations are won. The car is off the bat, both innovative and class leading. Build quality seems superb. Fit, finish and design are right up there. The dashboard is fresh looking with some oddball layout that doesn't fall at any time into an ergonomic nightmare. Controls fall easily to hand without any reference to the manual. Storage spaces abound with no less than 10 cupholders! There are dedicated places to leave phones and iPods, many of them hidden from prying eyes. There is even a hidden stowage in the back of the passenger seat that will require a trip to the manual, hidden as it is behind thumbscrews. The seats, Honda's so called "magic" seats, the word "versatile" must have been used by someone else already, are excellent. Rears fold completely flat (in non-hybrid variations) the rear bases also flip up movie theatre style, to allow stuff between the rear setback and the front seats. This is facilitated by the rear doors opening a full 80 degrees. The passenger seat reclines completely back if the base is slid forward allowing objects up to a full 2.4m to be conveyed inside without resorting to opening windows or the hatch.
Driving is a pleasure, with the iVTec engine carried over from the previous model, the big deal is the return of the CVT gearbox. The 1400 engine does a decent job, putting out 73kW and 127Nm. This gets you to 100 in 14 seconds, although that gearbox makes it feel quicker. As for economy, it is almost identical to it's hybrid sister at 4.7l where the hybrid gets 4.3 on the extra urban. Hardly a worthwhile difference. The bigger chasm is in urban driving where the CVT returns 6.7 and the hybrid 4.6. The hybrid is however 70 kg's heavier and costs a mere 56 thousand Rondt more. That would, at a petrol price of R10 per litre, equate to 5,600 litres, that the hybrid would become cheaper if driven in the city exclusively at a saving of 2.1 liters per 100km's, in a mere 26,6000 km.
Back to that CVT then. It operates as a CVT should. Allowing you to accelerate at constant revs, while the engine is in it perfect torque and power sweet spot. The thing just works. In s-mode the point is optimised for speed vs economy as per usual. The thing just works and feels right. It has a silly manual mode via steering wheel paddles which just ruin the point of a CVT. There is an excellent kick down when full throttle is applied. It hardly even attracts CO2 tax, coming in at a miserly R700 odd bucks. Safety and pedestrian safety are class leading.
At around R188,000 the CVT is a solid option, with a fresh face, solid reliable engineering and as an Eco-Warrior in my opinion makes more sense than a hybrid. It comes equipped with a 4 year 60 000 km service plan.
