Honda Jazz 2015 South Africa
What is it?
The car that first realized and reacted to the now omnipresent downsizing trend. The Honda Jazz became the car of choice for those ageing C-segment sedan owners seeking an economical, compact car that offered similar levels of interior space. Escalating the early popularity of the Jazz was the automatic gearbox which at the time was something of a novelty for the segment. The Honda Jazz is the brand’s most crucial product and the one that Honda consistently delivers on but with increased growth within the segment, there’s no room for complacency.
What’s it like?
Appealing to younger buyers isn’t a problem specific to Honda but it did largely plot this new car’s course. The old Honda Jazz, by virtue of being so brilliantly sensible on metric levels, earned a reputation as a late-life purchase decision but one not chosen for its sex appeal. A top to bottom visual makeover allied to new alloys and searing paints is tasked with changing that perception.
Truthfully we’ve always found the angular styling and wedged nose of the Honda Jazz to be timeless and we’re relieved they didn’t cave to the pressures of the current curvy trends and compromise the very thing Jazz became famous for – Space! Speak to any Honda Jazz owner and they’ll regale you with stories on how they’ve fitted ladders, tables, animals or even slept in theirs and the new one, retaining the configurable rear seats, is mystifyingly better. Wheelbase is 30mm longer. Interior cabin 80mm to the good. Some cars don’t grow that much in their entire lifespan. We’re also told there’s more room for rear passengers’ feet through raising and lowering parts of the new floorplan and repositioning the fuel tank.
F1-derived engine tech seems a long way off in the Honda Jazz with only 1.2-litre and 1.5-litre petrol fours being offered locally. We only drove the latter and despite more aggressive VTEC mapping performed with less fluidity and elasticity than the current crop of small turbo engines. Hyper revving highway speeds also exposed the relatively short five-speed gearing against the segment-norm six-speed. The CVT transmission has been beefed up with a torque converter but without one available on launch, we can only vouch for the manual’s sticky, short-throw feel.
Seven model derivatives of Honda Jazz merge through four trim options. Moving from Trend to Comfort exchanges the steel wheels for alloys, improves the audio system and adds further colour coding. In addition to these, Elegance adds cruise control while Dynamic increases wheel size to 16-inch and adds the 7-inch touchscreen with HDMI support for cellphone-developed applications. All models include Bluetooth.
Should I buy one?
Amazing that twelve years later and there is still no car that is as ingeniously packaged as the Honda Jazz. However the young generation, whether knowing why or not, have been reeled in by the promise of ‘turbo power and turbo efficiency.’ They want the latest engine technology and they want the F1-inspired MPV that the Honda Jazz could have been. That’s how you get their attention…then you knock em’ out with the splendid new cabin and unrivalled space.
Pricing: Honda Jazz
1,2 Trend Manual R179 900
1,2 Comfort Manual R204 900
1,2 Comfort CVT R221 900
1,5 Elegance Manual R234 900
1,5 Elegance CVT R249 900
1,5 Dynamic Manual R249 900
1,5 Dynamic CVT R264 900
