[zaphodb]

Opened this thread half-expecting to see magic seats doing a comeback. What's Jazz's USP always been? That it has more space than anything in its segment. And magic seats were never marketed the way they should have been. Throw in projector lights and little updates here and there and they can still sell this one. That is, until they bring the updated Honda Fit/Jazz to India in a sub-4m avatar.

[ChoosetoCruze]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Edit:

Trust me they do. There are still people who want a reliable workhorse with sorted mechanicals. And Jazz isn't really bad on features either. I agree the manual is too slow but the CVT is ultra reliable as per ownership reports. The number of such people might be very few but probably Honda is happy with them and hence didn't discontinue the model.

Voila. This is the target Jazz customer.

Speaking of features, I wonder how many features does the average driver use during their daily commute. I’d really like to know. There are features which are useful, features which are good to have, and there are features which are mere gimmicks/useless which won’t be used after the 2nd month of ownership. I’d like to see how many useful features the Jazz has/lacks.

Originally Posted by Parts007

Comparing the volumes of Jazz with that of i20 and Baleno is a futile exercise. Jazz has never been a volume chunker in the past. Even in it's peak period it had clocked 1500 units/month and it has settled for a volume of 600-1000 units/month over the years.

Honda's production capacity will definitely not match either Maruti or Hyundai. Also, Honda will be more than happy selling this car to Pre-covid volumes, which I am sure it will, as there are buyers still looking for a car that is spacious, practical and provides a hastle free ownership experience.

I share your views.

Originally Posted by Anjadekar

It looks like the Magic Seats have been ignored again, which is disappointing. That really was a unique, standout feature whose utility was immediately apparent. While the sunroof is a nice addition, this design really is showing its age. Factor in the anaemic engine and it is difficult to see many takers for the Jazz, which is sad because this car has the potential to be a brilliant, practical, everyday workhorse.

I get it, magic seats were fantastic. But do you know how many times I’ve missed having them in my Jazz? Zero. I’d rather have wireless Apple CarPlay which is used daily, rather than magic seats, which may be used once or twice a year.

Again, the target audience of the Jazz doesn’t care about the features of the car or the under powered engine. Think of the Jazz as the Corolla of the hatchbacks. An appliance that will start every single day & take you to your destination in comfort, without any fuss, over the entire length of its usable lifespan. Unlike some of it's competitors.

[arnabchak]

Another lame effort by Honda.
1) No Diesel on Offer. Though the price difference between petrol and diesel is minuscule, one can't ignore the torque aspect.
2) No magic seats. Another USP gone begging
3) Not much difference on the looks part.
4) I am sure that that top end will be another pricey affair.
5) The uninspiring 0-100 run of 15+ seconds

This is an ideal time for Honda to do a serious price correction and position the Jazz in a better competitive manner.
Honda is at a precarious position and only the City is bringing in some numbers. Jazz can help the charts a bit if positioned right.

[Turbo_anup]

The apathy shown to Indian market is now becoming trademark for all Japanese manufacturers - Honda, Toyota, Maruti. Of these 3 - Maruti is only trying as it does not have an option. But even their latest releases like brezza, scross seems to have failed to enthuse customers. The koreans seem to have taken the baton from 2010 onwards from them & there is no looking back.

No wonder there has not been much promotion and marketing on both jazz as well as wrv, given how half-hearted launches these are

[naikameya]

I remember an article by GTO that talked about how the successful brands who lost their way are the ones that moved away from the fundamental USP that they started with. For Jazz it was the space (Magic seats), finesse and safety. Probably these are still there but dilluted to an extent that they do not really matter.
It provides very little reason why a buyer should not try something else.

Honda should open their previous-gen Jazz brochure and see what they were selling. Honda, please contact me if you don't have one.
Back then their tagline was 'Why so serious?' I think they should change it to ''Why so obvious?

[blackasta]

So LED headlamps, LED DRL, LED fogs and a sunroof is what's new? This was the chance to bring the Magic Seats back Honda !!
Probably the ZX would get all of these, and the current lineup till VX would remain more or less unchanged.

I see a lot of people expecting performance from the 1.2L Jazz - request them to please try the S mode on the CVT with paddle shifters. There's more fun in driving a slow car fast than driving a fast car slow. Try it with fatter 195 section tires, as I feel the OEM 175 section tires are too skinny to attempt and hold triple digit speeds. The chassis is capable enough.

And rest of the times you can just flow with the traffic with your windows rolled up, zero engine noise seeping in the cabin, while you enjoy some music.

5 healthy people, or 3 people with a big dog can easily fit inside (checked firsthand), and the cavernous hatch can gulp a lot of luggage.

I would anyday take a boring but reliable car for my office commute (90% use of my car) than an unreliable but exciting one. Pity that I can only afford a single car garage, or else I would have surely got the exciting Germans or Czechs !

[motor spirit]

Booking open ! what a shame that people have to go ahead booking with just few pictures available in the website . If it was a teaser , Its understandable .
The least they could do was to release the brochure along with the pictures, so that people know which exact variant they can go for & help to rest all the market speculations about specifications to be offered .
C'mon Honda , Do you want to still gauge customer response & feedback before you decide your prices .

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Bonus is the Sun Roof but they could have considered a cross version too by improving on the GC.

Increasing the GC may not have too many tangible effects besides pandering to aesthetics. The 2015 model has a stiffer suspension and in my 3.5 years of ownership exceeding 50000kms, has yet to scrape despite crossing several humongous speed breakers throughout its life. The 2009 model though, used to scrape on these very roads (as would my 2008 civic).

Originally Posted by naikameya

I
I remember an article by GTO that talked about how the successful brands who lost their way are the ones that moved away from the fundamental USP that they started with. For Jazz it was the space (Magic seats), finesse and safety. Probably these are still there but dilluted to an extent that they do not really matter.

Honda should open their previous-gen Jazz brochure and see what they were selling. Honda, please contact me if you don't have one.
Back then their tagline was 'Why so serious?' I think they should change it to ''Why so obvious?

Having owned both the generations of the car i.e. 2009 and the present(don't know many others who have), I can vouch for the fact that space and safety haven't been diluted. What the present version loses out in width (compared to the older one) it gives in length. In fact, there is no other hatch in India which is more spacious than this. For a family of 4 very tall people, this factor alone ensured my return to this car.
On the finesse part, yes, you have a point. The old car was truly premium (switchgear and plastics), the tactile feel of the rotary dials was superb. The present iteration is definitely a step down in terms of feel (can't find a single fault in reliability/functionality though).

[Turbokick]

I dont know for what reason Honda updated the SOHC 1.5 ivtec engine to BS6 norms !

All new city is having the DOHC setup which is claimed to be brand new.

So Honda can easily use the SOHC (even if detuned) 1.5 unit in Jazz (as well as WR-V) and give a shot at the market. Brilliant engine in a very practical car. The way new compact SUVs are priced and the way market has responded to them I am sure a slightly expensive Jazz/WR-V with right specs would well !


And yes do bring back the idtec asap. Petrol-diesel gap may have diminished but the kind of stellar economy the Honda diesel is capable of (Maruti diesels are no longer there), high running cars may still demand that.

[rjainv]

I feel I see a bit of contradictions here in the discussion.

We want Honda to add 1.5l engine to Jazz. And I can totally relate to it. 1.2 L engine with manual gearbox is lazy to put it mildly unless we really work through gears in aggressive way.


However, we also talk about Honda having a knack of screwing up good products with bad pricing, and want Honda to load up features while keeping price low.
But if they put in a 1.5 L engine, the price is going to shoot way beyond where most of us want to see it, both because of increased ex-showroom price as well as higher taxes.

[Yieldway17]

I don’t understand the clamor for bringing Diesel variants to Jazz. Last year only less than 10% of Jazz volumes were in Diesel. It’s another thing that Honda pushed Diesel buyers to WR-V and Amaze but the numbers speak themselves. Jazz will probably be Petrol only like its international variants.

Also, 1.2L I VTEC’s 15s 0-100 is tune for WR-V I think? Probably due to its increased kerb weight and GC. Jazz has/had 12-13s with the same 1.2L engine if I’m not wrong?

I’d love to have the 1.5L, even a detuned version in Jazz. No premium hatchback competes with Jazz for space and comfort and giving it a little more oomph for reasonable pricing (which will be the most hard of all) will see Jazz climb up the ladder. Blings at the end of the day are blings and Honda is not really Hyundai or Kia to go blings first. But Honda is also not interested to improve this car’s heart properly which is a loss for this much under appreciated car.

[daredemon]

Originally Posted by ChoosetoCruze

With all due respect, the target customer for the Jazz is the one who values unmatched interior space, comfort, the legendary Honda reliability & fuss free ownership. It is literally a *Fill it. Shut it. Forget it.* vehicle.

Now, I agree that the Jazz is underpowered, sluggish & that the competition has moved on. But the typical Jazz owner doesn’t care about the car’s performance. All they value is piece of mind & no nasty surprises during their ownership. For that, the Jazz does the job perfectly.

Yes I agree that it should be sold with the 1.5L engine. Yes I agree that it is still overpriced. But then that’s a discussion for Honda, in my humble opinion.

@choosetocruze: You totally read my mind. I would match your above description of being a happy & satisfied Jazz owner. I just love my car & i am happy that i bought the Jazz. For me fuss free ownership & maintenance is of more importance. I feel Jazz is expensive from competition point of view, but i got a sweet deal on discount (stock clearance) and free insurance plus saved on tax as registered outside mumbai.

The silent engine is the best part from Honda. Couple of times i have cranked the engine while it was still on .

It would be an individuals own perspective of how he feels about a car & the brand image it carries. Maybe if I ever switch to some other brand I might like it too, but for now I am finding a reason to swap my Jazz with the new one

[neil.jericho]

I am a happy owner of a 2015 Honda Jazz CVT that has done 31K kms on the odometer. I have done just a few upgrades to it - bigger 195 section tires on day 1, an audio upgrade and a headlight upgrade.

For in city use in Bangalore and Cochin (the 2 cities where the car has spent most of its commute), the D mode on the car is perfect. For highway drives I used to use the S mode but have now moved to the D mode for a more relaxed drive. The car is super comfortable on interstate drives and the CVT takes a lot of fatigue out of the drive as compared to any manual hatchback.

I have done a few sporty highway drives with the engine being pushed and the shifts being done with the paddle shifters and against most peoples expectations, the car is fun in those conditions, as blackasta has mentioned.

I have never had any occasion where I felt that I missed the Magic Seat offering from Honda.

On the topic of the 1.5 L engine in the Jazz bay, I too have often felt that the Jazz probably deserved a bigger engine but if I had to buy a hatchback today and Honda offered the option of the 1.2 or the 1.5L engines, I would still go for the 1.2L one since most of my limited driving is in the city and I dont need the power benefits of the 1.5L.

The BS4 and BS6 Jazz may not have been as exciting or sporty as the competition and hence the car may not be a big favourite on the forum but I feel there is a segment of buyers who want a sensible and spacious no nonsense hatchback and the Jazz fits the description.

[Anjadekar]

Originally Posted by ChoosetoCruze

I get it, magic seats were fantastic. But do you know how many times I’ve missed having them in my Jazz? Zero. I’d rather have wireless Apple CarPlay which is used daily, rather than magic seats, which may be used once or twice a year.

Again, the target audience of the Jazz doesn’t care about the features of the car or the under powered engine. Think of the Jazz as the Corolla of the hatchbacks. An appliance that will start every single day & take you to your destination in comfort, without any fuss, over the entire length of its usable lifespan. Unlike some of it's competitors.

I don’t understand why it has to be either/or. Wouldn’t this same refresh have been much more compelling with the following?

• Peppier 1.5L engine
• Magic seats
• Higher quality interiors with a better ICE system. As @handsofsteel points out, the interiors are not as good as they were on the older Jazz.

The above package in a BS6 refresh, while keeping the current generation external styling (foregoing the divisive 2021 redesign), would have made for a fantastic everyday car. I would have seriously considered it as a replacement for my ageing Polo 1.6 from 2011.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

... I don't see anything that the Jazz offers over the Baleno to command a premium, except for that sunroof. ...

Does Baleno have cruise control and steering paddles? Do these features cost nothing? You may have your reasons not to like Jazz that's ok but please don't say it doesn't offer anything over Baleno. And, Honda CVT is much smoother than Baleno and i20 CVT. I was told Jazz CVT comes with a steel belt whereas the other 2 come with rubber belts. Some one can do some research and see if it is right. Jazz engine is most silent among three. Space is best among three. Sure, Honda has lousy marketing and they failed to bling-bling their cars like Koreans do but this car will give you absolute peace of mind and reliability.