What they said when the Honda Jazz was new… (Jan 31 2002)
HONDA has distanced itself from the opposition with the arrival of snazzy small car the Jazz.
To most of us this appears to be yet another supermini to take on the likes of the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Citroen C3 and others. But the Japanese producer is confident that courtesy of some unique features, the new baby has no direct competitors.
Cornerstone of the Jazz is something they label "intelligent space" and, as if to underline this belief, the press presentation featured 18 catsuit-clad contortionists squeezing into the car to set a claimed new world record.
So what's the deal with this clever space caper? The trick is that Jazz is actually the world's first production car with a central fuel tank, which sits beneath the front seats.
And before you say "that sounds rather dodgy", well Honda assures me that the car's layout provides a very rigid body with "complete perimeter protection". The fuel tank is, they say, in the safest possible location.
Upshot of this is sufficient room for Honda's piece de resistance, the Magic Seat. And it's a slick piece of wizardry too. Considering this is after all a supermini, the flexibility is terrific.
For starters, the back seats don't sit on the floor like in most cars, so you can actually stow stuff underneath them. Three easy steps allow you to collapse either section completely into the footwell to boost boot size, and should you want to load items like large plants betrween front and back then the rear cushions just flip up cinema style. Even then the boot space is streets ahead of other cars in the segment. Very versatile.
Right, so the Jazz is more Tardis than car, but how does it perform on the road, and what chance does it have of success in the UK?
As to the latter, Honda expects to sell 13,000 this year and believes demand will exceed supply. Drive the car and you can understand the optimism. At its heart lies a new 83bhp 1.4 litre petrol engine called i-DSI (dual and sequential ignition).
Wheras the recently introduced i-VTEC engines of the Stream and Civic Type-R models have been designed for a balance between performance and efficiency, the type of powerplant in the Jazz targets the ultimate degree of fuel economy. This one is a twin spark unit with compact combustion chambers delivering rather average acceleration of 0-62 in 12 seconds but an outstanding fuel figure of a Combined 49.6 miles per gallon.
Only five-door models will be imported from Honda's Suzuka plant in Japan and, initially, a five-speed manual gearbox is the only transmission, though a seven- speed CVT auto version is planned for the autumn.
The Jazz is at its best in urban territory, the sort of habitat where most of its time will be spent. In common with most Hondas it drives nicely, has light steering and feels well damped, though motorway refinement is not a strong point.
"Dynamic layered style" is the adopted interior theme and while the mix of light and dark grey works quite well, the overall feel of the switches and gearstick does nothing for me.
Buyers will have a choice of three trim levels, the cheapest S spec starting at £8,995. Even that version is well equipped with electric front windows and door mirrors, central locking with deadlocks, immobiliser, dual airbags, rear wash/ wipe and radio cassette as standard kit.
SE grade (£10,295) adds ABS, air-con, electric sunroof and remote locking while the SE Sport gives you 15-inch alloys, side airbags and intermittent rear wiper operation for an extra £1,000.
Honda has good reason to believe Jazz will prove a hit over here - it has sold 100,000 of them since it wenton sale six months ago in Japan, where it has also won two Car of the Year awards and displaced the Toyota Corolla from the No 1 sales spot.
Words: Mike Torpey
Copyright