The Best Premium Hatchback

I was in the market looking for the most practical premium hatchback so I laid down my options which were Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai Elite i20 & Honda Jazz. I didn't consider Volkswagen Polo as it's pretty outdated & is low on space. Finally, I opted for Honda Jazz & the main reason was the roominess in this car, Jazz is so spacious that it can put the cars segment above it to shame. I didn't go for i20 because of the scarcity of legroom on the rear seat & I'm not a pretty big fan of the build quality of Maruti cars. My experience at the Honda dealership was pleasant, I got the car delivered within 1 week. I opted for 1.2 petrol top of the line VX trim with a manual transmission in metallic grey color. I purchased it in December 2018 & got a hefty discount of 1.2 lakhs with all accessories pre-installed without any charges. I know my main criteria for a new car was practicality but I'll start by discussing the driving dynamics & engine performance. The 1.2-litre engine produces 89 BHP & 110 NM torque & honestly, it feels pretty underpowered under 1500 rpm I need to downshift quite a lot. The steering is light & has good feedback. On highways, the car feels pretty stable on triple-digit speeds. The transmission is smooth in operation & mileage is also good, I'm able to extract 12-13 kmpl in city driving & goes up to 17-18 kmpl on highways. Now finally let's talk about practicality, Jazz has a massive boot of 350 litres which is more than Vitara Brezza & Ford Ecosport. The legroom can give a hard time to C segment sedans & it is more than Hyundai Verna's, Vento & Rapid's legroom. The interior is the same as that of Honda City's & feels premium. On the driver side, the cup holder is just in front of the AC vent which keeps your beverages chilled for long. The instrument cluster is really beautiful, I bet no other car under 20 lakhs get such amazing instrument cluster. The mid shows average mileage, real-time mileage, temperature etc. The coolest part of the interior is the AC controls, it gets capacitive touch controls with an OLED display which looks lovely although it does feel a bit distracting talking about displays let's move on to the infotainment system, it gets a 7-inch touch screen unit & supports android-auto & Apple Carplay & also gets in-built satellite-based navigation but I do think Honda needs to work on their infotainment system as it isn't that smooth to use & the display quality isn't great either in comparison to Hyundai's infotainment system. The AC cools the car in no time but there are no rear AC vents. In terms of safety, Jazz gets 2 airbags & ABS. The seats are best in the segment as they are the same which are used in Honda City & are comfortable. There are 2 USB ports for charging your phones. There is quite some storage space in the front centre armrest. There is also a sunglasses holder which comes in handy quite a lot. The thing where I'm disappointed by Honda is that the VX trim in diesel gets more features than petrol such as push-button start, cruise control which are missing on the VX manual petrol trim which is a bummer. But I don't mind losing some features for the practicality Jazz offers. Talking about the exterior I feel that's a subjective topic but I'll share my views, I like the tallboy look of the Jazz & the LED tail lamps looks sleek, the use of chrome on Jazz makes it look extremely beautiful. The indicators are on the ORVM & they are electrically adjustable & retractable. It gets Halogen headlamps & I do wish that it should have a projector setup. The tyres are really undersized at 175/60 R15 which do make the car feel less stable on curves, I got the tyres changed when I purchased the car & upgraded them to 195/60 R15 & I do feel more stable on curves. The wipers work pretty well & t also gets a rear wiper & washer. Also, I expected a bit more refinement from this petrol motor but it's a bit on the noisy side. Moving on to the pros 1) most practical car 2) good mileage 3) premium interior. Moving to cons 1) no rear AC vents 2) not so smooth infotainment system 3) undersized tyres 4) diesel top variant gets more features. But I can forget all the cons because of how spacious Jazz is, in my final verdict I'll just say if you want a spacious & practical hatchback Jazz is the best option in the segment.