Excellent build and ride - some flaws though

 

This is a review for Honda Jazz Select purchased in Bangalore in Dec 2010.

 

Exterior The car has very good exterior design. Well, every car has its own unique character when it comes to design, hence its a matter of personal choice. I feel Jazz and Punto are the best looking hatchbacks.

 

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Cabin inside is designed beautifully. You get most of the premium features expected in cars these days. Having said that, it would have been nice if more justification is done to the price tag by including auto-climate and USB port as well. Quality of interior is top notch. No complaints on any of the things provided standard. I like the arrangement of various dials, trip related info. Music system is fabulous with perfectly palced steering mounted controls. Space is probably the best among hatchbacks and may be better than most of the (<10 lakh)sedans as well. Seats are designed really well and make room for additional load easily.

 

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Fuel economy is excellent. I get around 15 kmpl consistently. My driving conditions are 40% city, 60% highway, AC on occasionally. Now comes the 2 bad things about this car : gearbox and performance. Gearbox is really irritating. Changing gears never gives you a good feeling since it is never smooth. This is something I did not expect at all from Honda. Performance is not that great. People say you have to rev up the engine but it is never an option driving in cities.

 

Ride Quality & Handling Ride quality and handling are very good. The car is very stable at all speeds and you never realize the speed at which the vehicle is moving. Turning radius is small making it easy in our cities. There is one strange thing I notice though - if the road is not really really smooth (which is 95% of our roads), you get this whole feeling of sitting in a plane cockpit...there is this continuous sound of tyres running on road. I find this a bad thing.

Ground clearance is another problem in city like Bangalore where spead breakers come in all sizes. Especially when the car has 4 or 5 passengers, handling the speed breakers becomes a test of your skills.

 

Final Words This is an excellent car for those who are willing to pay a premium for the quality and brand perception. You can always argue that it is a waste of money but there are many things men waste their money on (spending lakhs of rupees on marriages, buying expensive phones/cameras, self driving to office daily when they can take public transport). So money is not the point her. It is about liking the car or not. To me, this is the best thing. I'm not going to compare Jazz with any other car (I20, Punto, Fabia, Swift) since I have only test driven these other cars and would be foolish for me to pass judgement on them just after driving 5 kms each.

 

Areas of improvement Cabin noise and ground clearance.

 

Fuel efficiency, space, build qualityLow on power, price