Honda Jazz (2011) review
by David Finlay (4 April 2011)
It's probably not the first car you think about when your mind turns to superminis, but the Honda Jazz has in fact been one of the most popular cars of its type in the UK for several years. It has also become the best-selling Honda in this country, overtaking the Civic, and - undoubtedly the least significant statistic in this paragraph - it's also my favourite Honda.
Altogether, it's exactly the kind of car a manufacturer wouldn't want to spoil during a mid-life update. Fortunately, Honda hasn't done that. The fact that the basic structure remains as before means that several key qualities remain unchanged, notably the phenomenal amount of room that the Jazz offers both for luggage (up to 1320 litres loaded to roof level with the rear seats folded) and for four large adults. Every time I start grumbling about lack of space in a rival supermini, I find myself wondering why other manufacturers can't do such a good job of packaging as Honda does.
There are a few changes to the exterior, mostly to keep the car looking fresh but in some cases to make a small improvement to the car's wind resistance. The rear seats recline for the first time, leather upholstery is available (though only on the more expensive models, and even then sometimes only as an option) and the old i-Shift automatic system which went down like a bucket of cold sick with most customers has been replaced by a more acceptable CVT.
And, in a new development, there's now a hybrid version, using the same basic technology already found in the horrid Insight and the significantly better CR-Z sports car.
With a 1.3-litre petrol engine and an electric motor, the CVT gearbox and a form of stop/start which cuts the engine only when the car is stationary and your foot is on the brake, the Hybrid is only slightly slower than the 1.4 petrol Jazz but has by far the best official fuel economy and CO2 emissions in the range at 62.8mpg and 104g/km respectively.
These are good figures, but not extraordinary ones. Most other hybrids do better, and there are several conventional diesels - many of them significantly larger than the Jazz - which break the 100g/km barrier and are therefore exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty and the London congestion charge.
Honda says that it could have brought the Hybrid under 100g/km, but this would have meant fitting a larger battery for the electric motor and therefore compromised on luggage space, which it felt would annoy customers more than the fact that they have to pay a small amount of road tax each year.
The Hybrid looks slightly different from other Jazz models, and is also the only one not built at Honda's factory in Swindon (it has to be imported from Japan instead). According to a company spokesman, it signals the start of a new era in which hybrids will be seen as a perfectly normal alternative to conventional petrols and diesels rather than an unusual choice, but there's a bit more work to be done before that happens.
Principally, Honda is going to have to get the suspension right. The Hybrid is 70kg heavier than any other Jazz, and although the dampers and anti-roll bars have been "optimised", it says here, to take the extra weight into account, it hasn't worked. The ride and handling of the Hybrid are very poor, and it doesn't take much on a damp road to make the front tyres feel like they have reached the limit of adhesion.
The news is better for the range in general. I've driven - on some very entertaining routes in Northern Ireland - the Jazz in 1.2 manual, 1.4 manual and 1.4 CVT forms, and they all felt great. The pre-facelift Jazz was already pretty good on the road (certainly a lot better than the first-generation car, which was hopeless), but this one is distinctly better, especially over really severe bumps.
Prices for the non-Hybrid models range from £11,295 for the 1.2 S to £18,555 for the leather-upholstered 1.4 EXL-T CVT. Insurance is Group 13 for the 1.2s and Group 16 for the 1.4s, and they are all in VED Band D. The Hybrid costs between £15,995 and £19,305, depending on trim level, insurance is Group 16 for all but the top-dollar HX-T (which is in Group 17), and the VED Band is B.
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