[gkoneti]

Another strategic blunder from Honda. Key takeaways from review as per my heart and mind.

1. Weak petrol
2. No magic seats in lower variants
3. Not so "elite" looking aka Polo, i20
4. Previous model design is more matured than current model which has more bling but not quite professional looking. Same goes to City which had beautiful Arrow shot design which got killed to give way for ugly moustache design. God. Very ugly chrome moustache
5. Diesel top end variant is ridiculously overpriced. Are we talking about close to 10-11 lakhs on road now???

Magic seats in all variants, removal of chrome strip on boot, 185 rubber, 1.5 ltr petrol option, 50-100k reduction in price across models would be my prescription for Jazzy sales.

[venkats2001]

Outstanding review! Rated 5 stars!

Needless to say, the Jazz is a huge disappointment. Too many features missing for a 'premium' hatchback. No key less entry, no reverse parking sensors, no cooled glove box, no height-adjustable seat belts, pathetic tyres, no magic seats except in the top-end variant, no rear AC vents...the list is endless.

The ugly wires in the glove box, the dead pedal, and the primer finish in the fuel tank lid...shocking quality.

I think anyone looking for a premium hatchback will opt for the Elite i20 or the Polo.

What a letdown

[opendro]

I totally agree with coolmel. I'm a fan of 4.3m hatch, such as i30, Ford Fiesta. But with Jazz, they achieve the same space of a 4.3m in a sub 4m.

Think of it as a C+ segment car. Why not? It has the cabin space and boot space to compete in that segment. I bet, it will drive as good as a matured sedan too. The only let down is the engine I suppose - 1.2 just adequate and diesel is too unrefined.

I have a friend who bought the previous generation jazz. His requirement was to be able to take his German Shepherd in the rear space. He had only two options - Innova or Jazz. Seriously! Yes, the boot space is as good as a sedan and a hatch boot is usually more usable than a sedan because of the inherent ease of loading and ability to take in taller luggage.

I don't think it will hurt any i20 elite sales. But it surely hurt the sales of cars like xcent, dzire, amaze, and the likes.

BTW, an excellent review - covers all the positives, negatives, missing features compared to rivals and outgoing jazz. Way too detailed! Enjoyed reading it.

[abhi29]

First things first, superb review. Level of details is mind boggling, Honda dealerships should make it a mandatory read for their sales staff . I mean it has everything that is there to know about this car.

Now coming to the product itself -

After all the hype and hoopla, this has been an utter disappointment from Honda . If you want to sell a car in this segment, you have to be Ok / Good at everything and best at few. i20 is Ok or Good in all but outshines everything in the segment when it comes to quality, premium-ness, gizmos etc.

This Honda is seriously lagging in many and just pulling it off in some areas. The top variant with those dangling wires, the after market-ish ICE, placeholders and that so called dead pedal, seriously ? And the lower variants even losing on its only strength of plush seating with those Brio-esque rear seats. Honda has even lost its Fun-to-drive USP with these engine offerings.

I am just not able to think of one valid reason to chose this over i20, that too with a premium.

My guess is majority of prospective buyers will go to the Honda showrooms and then get out and book an i20, Polo or an Ecosport may be, only a few with very 'different' taste or special requirements will stay back.

I am going to keep an eye on i20's numbers in coming months, Hyundai may be seeing even better times ahead.

[adg_andy]

Excellent review- rated 5 stars. The pros as well as the cons are really well laid out. But, the ol' Jazz in a pre-loved condition seems more VFM now

One more interesting thing in optional accessories- I see a Central armrest there

[RavenAvi]

Wonderfully detailed review covering every inch, every aspect of the 2015 Jazz. Take a bow, Suhaas and Vidyut!

I was invited to the local Honda dealership for the Jazz unveiling, scheduled for 1 PM. The car unveiled was in the Sunset Orange shade, and the press and customers were there in full force.

The diesel pricing left me bewildered once it was declared - Honda missed a real trick on a chance to hit the Elite i20 hard! The top 2 diesel variants are grossly overpriced, specially for the features (and lack of) on offer. Honda could have topped off the VX diesel at around 8 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi, which could have delivered a real sucker punch to the Elite i20 - they always had the option of increasing prices later, when the car could have become a bestseller. As it stands, the Jazz feels at least 50,000 rupees overpriced already!

Coming back to the unveil, I was the first person invited to check out the unveiled Jazz by the owner of the dealership. All the stuff regarding the VX has already been explained in lovely detail in our review, so I will stick to some other observations I made:

- The spare wheel of the Jazz is a 14-incher. Very odd when you don't get a full-size spare in your car.

- The Jazz doesn't get pure keyless entry, and the keyhole on the driver's door looks glaringly out of place.

- Rear seating is low, albeit very spacious and comfy.

- Seats felt very firm and bolstered - dare I say the thickest in the segment!

- The AVN unit wasn't quick to respond to the touch. It definitely gives the vibe of an after-market Head Unit. Also, the microphone for calls received/dialled via the HU is placed on the HU itself!

- The USB/iPod cables dangling inside the glove box look cluttery and cheap. Why was this done, when the V variant has them neatly slotted and placed below the Climate Control unit, is beyond my comprehension.

- The Jazz CVT V doesn't get even a single "AT" or "Automatic" badging anywhere on the car. Only the factory sticker on the rear window glass (showing the VIN) confirms the CVT status. I double checked.

- The head unit offered in the V variants is the same as the City's V variant, down to the last detail.

- The SV variant gets buttons on the steering as well.

- Head Unit of the SV variant is the same as the City's SV variant. I suspect it has the mic on the Head Unit as well (same as City SV).

- The Base (E MT) model has a rectangular flap where the Head Unit should be. I am told it's removable.

- Aircon of the E MT resembles large circular knobs of ceiling fans for the manual AC controls.

- The E MT gets black door handles and black ORVM protectors.

- The E MT gets a plain steering. Same design as the VX, but devoid of any chrome, silver inserts, and buttons.

- The rear of the E MT sees only the "Jazz" badging on it.

- Seats in the E MT are fully beige, front and rear. Will be a real pain to maintain.

- The dealership, as of then, had only 6 bookings in hand (I was told). Also, after the unveiling and the initial hoopla, I noticed that most of the
customers went back to checking out the City. Not a good omen for the Jazz, certainly not for Honda India!

I have sent all photos from the launch and the lower variants to the Mods. Hopefully someone from our team will post it by tonight.

Rated this exemplary review a very thoroughly deserved 5-stars!! Hats off!

[nsbhagwat]

Originally Posted by recshenoy

Excellent review as usual. I did a quick comparison between i20 elite and Jazz (ex showroom Delhi). Looks like pricing is on par with i20. I was expecting Jazz to undercut i20 since its a re-entry for jazz and i20 is already a blockbuster with unmatched value for money. I hope Jazz will not be another Mobilio in making after the initial euphoria dies down. At least they should have given all features of i20 like start stop button, keyless entry etc when they are charging such a premium for top end. Touch screen is something which even Renault Quid is going to have. I don't consider it as a big premium feature. Even i10 Grand provides start-stop button why not Jazz?

Also someone rightly pointed out in other thread, Honda targeted young urban customers, but has launched jazz with boring colour options

Excellent review, very detailed, and with fantastic pictures.

To me, the new jazz is a bucket of missed opportunities. The feature list is a mish mash neither here nor there.
3 reverse viewing modes in V but just 1 in VX, simply isn't acceptable. Seems like a non motoring person was put incharge of product designing.

Nikhil

[ToyotaFan]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

- Head Unit of the SV variant is the same as the City's SV variant. I suspect it has the mic on the Head Unit as well (same as City SV).
- The Base (E MT) model has a rectangular flap where the Head Unit should be. I am told it's removable.
- Aircon of the E MT resembles large circular knobs of ceiling fans for the manual AC controls.
- The E MT gets black door handles and black ORVM protectors.
- The E MT gets a plain steering. Same design as the VX, but devoid of any chrome, silver inserts, and buttons.
- The rear of the E MT sees only the "Jazz" badging on it.
- Seats in the E MT are fully beige, front and rear. Will be a real pain to maintain.!

I was desperately waiting for some snaps of the lower E and S variants. Regarding the lack of chrome I would look to see how the looks are affected by it. Also wanted to know whether I can fit in a 2 din aftermarket HU on the E variant. I do not like what they offer on the S variant in the city (same as S I'm jazz) and so wanted to add an HU to the E. The lowest variant comes with 14 inch wheels. Does it look grossly under tired. I would be grateful if you could post the pictures as it will help me clear my doubts.

[keeprevving]

A very detailed review. Deserves 5 stars for sure. Coming to Jazz, the pricing has disappointed me. It does make i20 Elite look VFM. Why is Honda doing that, even though i20 feels premium in every sense. Jazz will definitely attract, but I think market will stick to i20. People looking for more space will definitely like the Honda over the Hyundai.

IMO, Honda thinks Jazz will outperform i20 sales, the same what City did to Verna. But, this I think is a different ball game altogether. Repeating history will be difficult. Only time will tell. If I was in the market for a premium hatchback then:

Petrol ----- Undoubtedly, iVtec.
Diesel ---- Of course, i20Elite.

[Vigkey]

I see a lot of comments pointing out that Jazz is not premium enough for what it offers. To be frank, the only features in i20 Asta I will be missing in Jazz VX is the 195 R16 tires.

- Rear AC vents - good to have, but I don't really think it will be a game changer until there are dedicated cooling coils. Otherwise, it is more of a gimmick and less of a utility, IMO.

- Front Arm rest - definitely useful, especially in the AT car. But, in my Dzire, I never use it. I find it as a distraction and usually keep it up - my dad finds it a very useful feature though. Honda provided this as an accessory for those who need it.

- Parking Sensors - not sure how much difference that will make if the car has a good reverse camera unit. Never used a car with reverse camera - so I am not sure. In our Dzire without the camera - we have the sensors and in that case it is a very important feature. Probably Honda could have given them in the SV variant alone.

- Telescopic steering - never used this feature in any of the cars I drove and never missed the absence. Probably, I can live without it.

- Cooled glove box - again, never felt this as a very useful feature, I always thought it as a gimmick to be added in the list of features. Cannot be a differentiation between premium and non-premium for me.

- Pure Keyless entry and go - will not miss this feature. But yes, it would be a very nice to have feature.

- Auto headlamps and wipers - I have the controls so easily accessible in my hands and I do not wish to depend on the technology to calculate the amount of light and switch on / off the headlight with a lag of 3 seconds. I can do it in half a second myself. As a driver, I know the how and when to use the wipers and I do not need technology to assist me with this.

- Auto folding ORVMs and MID indicating steering position - I mean, if I need technology to help me understand that the steering is not straight, I better not drive a car. Electric folding ORVM is convenience and Auto-folding is over indulgent. No thanks, I do not need them.

Give me convenience features - I will accept them, please do not spoon-feed me.

A few additional features in Jazz vs i20.

- i20 is missing a lot of useful features like instantaneous and average FE, speed sensing auto-locking doors present in Jazz

- Both Jazz and i20 does not get height adjustable seat-belts - come on even my Dzire has them.

- Jazz misses an important safety feature seat belts with pre-tensioners and load-limiting.

- i20 offers R14 tires in all variants up to Sportz (same with Polo, except HL), but Jazz offers R15 in all variants except E. I think Honda deserves some appreciation here.

- What is with Honda skipping some features in the VX which is available in V. e.g. Speed based Volume compensation, Multi-view rear camera display, Separate microphone for blue-tooth calls, dedicated slots under ACC for USB and Aux. Very lazy and shoddy work there.

For me, Jazz is premium enough with the useful features, space, quality and all that it offers in terms of comfort, ride, handling, steering quality, safety, flexibility, etc. However, the amount they charge for these is not justifiable. 60k over i20 is really pathetic from Honda.

All my research over the last 1 year is down the drains and my wait for the perfect car continues. Thank you Honda!!!

After all the cribbing, if I go by my heart and buy the Jazz, that is definitely for what it will offer but I will always have this small pinch inside which will tell me - You paid at least 50k more than what your drive deserved.

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

- The spare wheel of the Jazz is a 14-incher. Very odd when you don't get a full-size spare in your car.
- The Jazz CVT V doesn't get even a single "AT" or "Automatic" badging anywhere on the car. Only the factory sticker on the rear window glass (showing the VIN) confirms the CVT status. I double checked.
- The SV variant gets buttons on the steering as well.
- Head Unit of the SV variant is the same as the City's SV variant. I suspect it has the mic on the Head Unit as well (same as City SV).
- Aircon of the E MT resembles large circular knobs of ceiling fans for the manual AC controls.

Hi RavenAvi,

- Spare wheel being a R14 is in my opinion the worst cost cutting bit in the Jazz. This will make it similar to the donut tires we get in the US cars. The spare cannot be used in tire rotation and forces one to fix the puncture and replace the tire ASAP - the spare will ALWAYS be a spare.

To that, I will also add the unpainted bonnet interiors and fuel lid. Too bad Honda.

- Even City does not get any sort of badge indicating it is an automatic. It is good and bad. Good in the way that Auto boxes are becoming mainstream and does not need an additional highlighting - if we visit the history, stickers like "AC - No hand signal" "ABS" were very common when they were not mainstream. Now we hardly see them. Bad in the way that a status conscious buyer spending over a lakh in premium for the auto box might want a badge to show-off.

- Even the S variant gets steering mounted audio-controls. Same is the case with City.

- Head Unit in Jazz SV is same as the one in City V and VX - the 5" one. Only S gets the 3.5" HU from City SV.

- Isn't the manual AC unit in Jazz similar to the manual AC unit in City and the US Fit?

[coolboy007]

What a well detailed brilliant review , very practical car with loads of space inside but Honda did cut corners in too many places to save on costs. This is not expected from a premium hatch retailing at 10 big ones.

Was casually checking the on road price (New Delhi) of Polo, Jazz and Elite i20 on carwale and was shocked to see the pricing Honda has set for top end diesel.

Elite i20 is 9.13 on road, VW Polo is 8.91 and Jazz costs a whopping 9.78 on road, that is a lot of premium over Polo and the super successful Elite i20. They got away with City's pricing because "City" in itself is a brand but the same does not apply to Jazz. The diesel top end is priced too steeply. Would be good to watch how the sales settle after initial 2-3 month hype.

I would choose a Polo if it were for me and i20 if the car was for my family, Hyundai is working so hard with every launch, the only negative in their cars is the weak handling but they score top marks in almost every thing. Elite looks premium inside out.

[coolmel]

Originally Posted by gkoneti

Another strategic blunder from Honda. Key takeaways from review as per my heart and mind.

1. Weak petrol
2. No magic seats in lower variants
3. Not so "elite" looking aka Polo, i20
4. Previous model design is more matured than current model which has more bling but not quite professional looking. Same goes to City which had beautiful Arrow shot design which got killed to give way for ugly moustache design. God. Very ugly chrome moustache
5. Diesel top end variant is ridiculously overpriced. Are we talking about close to 10-11 lakhs on road now???

Magic seats in all variants, removal of chrome strip on boot, 185 rubber, 1.5 ltr petrol option, 50-100k reduction in price across models would be my prescription for Jazzy sales.

Yours and everybody's weak petrol pointers are just as bewildering. See the specs and its the most powerful engine in its class. Ask previous owners and you'll just get one line from them,' what a gem of an engine it is.' Come on AKP, Adimicra, Aaren anyone?? I think what everyone should be saying is,' Why not the 1.5l Honda??!! '

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by coolmel

Coming from a prospective buyer( I own a Liva ), someone who loves to drive, and is a student of design, this is how I see it.

Either way lets not forget, the Jazz was the only car to be featured in the Wards Automotive top ten list of Best Interiors. Why don't any of the rivals get a complete flat loading boot? Because the manufacturers don't see a need, and that is exactly when people should start adopting good design. Right now thats just a fraction of the population who don't see a need.

I think its about time.

Basically you've pretty much convinced yourself that all features in other cars like the i20 are useless and the ones in the Jazz are all that you need. What's not there in the Jazz is something which you don't need.

Even though you get all these features in an Elite i20 for a lesser price and the Jazz doesn't give anything extra other than the additional space.

Coming to the flat floor and the seats. My Ecosport has a flat floor, when seats are tumbled, reclining rear seats and a 60:40 split.

In nearly 2 years of ownership I have not tumbled the seats even once. The additional benefits of the seats will rarely be used.

On the other hand features such as the remote entry are used daily. Steering telescopic adjust was sorely missed in my case. I am 6 feet tall and when I adjusted the seats to my driving position, the steering was too far away.

Arm rest I need to pay for after I have paid more for the car in the first place sounds silly.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that if you absolutely need the additional space and the flexibility of the Jazz, it does make sense. But if you are ok with the space in the ELite i20 which is already quite good, it is very difficult to justify the additional premium of the Jazz.

[anupams]

Now that's what we call a review. Hats off ! Was eagerly waiting for this and was really worth it.

I am in lookout for petrol hatchback and did shortlist Jazz. I now stand confused as whether to go for Jazz VX or Elite i20 Asta. Glaring omission at this price point is a ridiculous and becomes significant if one plans to keep the purchase for next 5 years. I will be off to take test drive tomorrow and the only factor that I need to check is performance/driveability of 1.2L in city and highway with 3 adults.

[arpit90]

Nice review . From what I believe with the extra boot space and the rear legroom the Jazz is gonna bit a chunk of the sales from the sub-4m sedans rather than the i20. I think the i20 is still a notch above the honda.