[vprabu]

Search for a small-big car

I have been in search of a small big car to replace my city car, the peppy A-Star. I always preferred a small car for my city driving to have peace of mind, than to drive my 3 series with a lots of tension. This being a city car, this gets driven around a lot with family members in. So when I wanted a small car back in 2009, the choice was simple, Alto or A-Star. I never liked Alto and hence chose the later for its international looks, peppy engine and good interiors. However, the car was so small that it was criticized all the time as my wife did not have proper leg room. The boot was small that she could not buy the plants she always wanted. So when I looked around for replacement, there was hardly any that matched the requirements. However I kept checking out the cars and went for regular test drives to see if my requirements are met.

Choices considered this time

I test drove the Fiat Punto Evo, Avventura, Elite i20, VW Polo GT TSI. Though Punto Evo was ok, Avventura was not so good. Especially, the gap between the clutch and the dead pedal was always an issue for me and I could never get over it. In addition the driver seating in Avventura was so bad that I was not finding myself sitting comfortably.

The Hyundai guys refused for a decent test drive, other than the 1km drive in the narrow lanes behind their showroom. I could hardly go past the 2nd gear. There were so many features packed in that car. But somehow I never got a "this is it" feeling.

The VW Polo GT TSI was a love at first sight. However, it was pricey and it was not yet solving my problem of less leg room in the rear. In addition poor ASS, issues with DSG gear box made me stay away. So by the time I narrowed down to Jazz after seeing my friends car, it was already discontinued and the wait began.

I had to confess that during the wait time, I could not resist the temptation to book the TSI. I was not sure if Honda would launch Jazz at all. It was last year, then March 2015 then June. It has really tested my patience.

After waiting (im)patiently for the new version of the Jazz since 2013 to replace the A-Star that is almost 6 years old, the launch date announcement made me so happy and I could not wait to see the car on the display. I am never a big fan of pre-booking and I want to be sure that I really like what I buy. So wanted to check out the car in person.

Watching reviews all the time

After a lot of reading on the net on its potential price range, first time in my life I watched the live streaming of the launch function on the July 8th. Went through those nail biting moments, till the prices were announced. Thankfully, there were no surprises. By this time, I had already decided what I really wanted after watching a lot of online reviews in YouTube to the extent that I exhausted the 125gb data bandwidth.

So after all these, the laundry list for selection looked like the following. The car must be,

1. Definitely well built and safe with air bags
2. It has to be an automatic
3. It has to have the magic seats
4. Definitely the Petrol engine (my commute will be 50kms daily)
5. Good looking
6. Nice alloys at least 15" with wider types
7. An interior that is not boring

The model selection

To my horror, the CVT had no magic seats. So in a dilemma to choose between the magic seats and CVT, I chose the magic seats. So the model I ended up choosing was the VX trim and the on road price in Chennai was 8.53L. I chose the extended warranty,road side assistance and the insurance package the dealer offered. I said no to the pricey 3M coating. So everything put together it came to around 8.73L.

Disappointing reviews and lot of negativity

As soon as the model was launched the official review in team-bhp literally turned me off as the photos of the car did not convince me in addition there were a lot of negative reviews, that made me go nuts. I almost dropped the plan of purchase. However something that kept telling me to go and check in person.

Visited the showroom the next day and saw the car on the display. The silver metallic one parked in the middle looking really gorgeous in the flesh than in the photos. Opened the door and got in. That was the Eureka moment, when I felt that "this is it" feeling. I know I am booking it.

So, what I am trying to do in this post is a 'common man' view of how this car fairs up, especially for daily commutes, drivability, practicality, comfort in traffic conditions etc.

Styling and Quality

The styling of the new Jazz is really good and the rear looks Volvoish. The city like front appears wider in person than in the photos. The plastic quality of the interiors are definitely better and magic seats are the best of all. In addition to different configuration options, I could immediately see that cleaning the car is going to be a breeze after those long trips with kids and food around. The switch gear quality is good and they feel good in your hands. They are matt finished unlike others where they are shiny and smooth controls (turn indicator, wiper controls).

Exteriors are equally good looking and steel quality was impressive. As I mentioned that car looked bigger for the eyes. The waist line and the 3cm addition to the length to the previous model, increase in the rear leg room are really fantastic. I would have preferred a full size alloy spare wheel than the smaller 14" steel one.

Test drive

While entering the showroom, the sales person greeted us with a smile and was showing the car and it's features. Needless to say, I had to teach him a lot of things about the car, that he was not aware of.

Walked out to do the TD, and then came the Test drive car, the V trim in non-metallic orange color. The color looked dull and immediately decided that it was not for me. The seats were not as impressive as the VX's magic seats. Somehow we felt VX looked really premium.

After turning the ignition on, I could not feel any NVH and in fact I thought it was not on. It was super silent. From inside it appeared as big as my Innova minus the last row. I was wondering if it was indeed a small car or the Honda guys were lying. Believe me, it was so huge.

Once the gear was slotted through its slick gearbox, the journey began. It was fully loaded with 3 x 6" footer adults and my wife, the official reviewer and the key decision maker. Pulling was decent and the car never struggled anywhere. Suspensions were pretty good as it covered some potholes of Chennai roads with ease. No major thuds during the drive. All of us came back satisfied. Visited again on July 11th along with my expert friends for their opinion as well.

So, it was a go from all and the things started moving at incredibly faster phase.

Delivery in just 4 days

Selling my A-star in two hours on July 11th, a Saturday (thanks Olx) to booking Jazz on the same day to get it delivered in just 4 days on 15th July, things went perfect by God's grace. The wait of 1+ years finally came to an end.

Being the First Jazz delivery of the dealership, things did not go well on the registration front. I had to wait nearly more than 7 days to take the baby for a real spin. This wait was more annoying than the actual wait. I was told that the delay is due to the fact that the car was new and design and other process approvals took time.

Honda gives only one key with remote lock / unlock. Too much of cost cutting.





Dealership Experience

Overall pretty good. The sales man was not pushy. I had to push him for speeding up the things from the Honda end. He was very cooperative to my requests and demands. complied very well. I had to change the delivery date twice due to the fact the no major purchase decisions do not happen during the Aadi month and the last auspicious date was 15th July 2015 in that month.

While the car was waiting for the registration process and I decided to kick start the ‘Matting’ process. Honda does not give the mats with the car, thanks to another cost cutting measure. Hence the DIY project. Thanks to Team-BHP and other online portals for the guidance.

Noodle mat process

Went to GP road / Bharathi road on 18th July and looked for mats similar to what I saw in 3M (Nomad). I could only see one variety and the price varied from ₹60-₹75 per square foot. Headed to Parry's to check out the prices. However the choices were very limited. Hence came back to Bharathi Road (corner of GP road, opposite to EA mall, Chennai) and ended up buying the material at ₹60 per sqft.



Carefully created the template and marked the edges to the fullest coverage possible for each side. Careful attention was paid towards driver side so that the mats don't interfere with the pedals.



Once all the templates were done, they were all laid out to ensure the material I bought yesterday was sufficient enough to cover all sides.
Thankfully it was just right. So the mat area is 20 square feet. If anyone wants to take this route you can go for 20 or 21 square feet. Anything more is just waste of money.

The layout was done in the following order.

1. Front passenger side
2. Driver side
3. Rear left
4. Rear right
5. Rear middle

So, even if run out of the material, only the rear middle will be affected. Align straight edges so that cutting effort is minimal. Except rear right all of them aligned on one side.

Placed the first template and made a straight cut along its edge and marked its shape. Cutting was smooth with tailor scissors. It took nearly 90 minutes overall to finish the project.




If someone wants to buy this material (noodle mat / nomad mat look alike) it is available in 2 ft or 4 ft width. For this purpose 2 ft width is more than sufficient.

Project cost : Rs.1200 and 90 minutes of effort.

Overall, I am happy with the result.

The First Long Drive

Usually, all my first long drive trips were to Thirutani and this time, i wanted to plan a round trip from home to Thiruvannamalai to Thiruthani and back home. The idea is to test the car various climatic conditions, road surfaces, day and night driving, in rains and to check on the FE figures etc. More than all these, getting a smile from my wife was the key as she critically reviews all elements and has a different evaluation criteria for the cars. I have given her score at the end of this review.



The overall distance is around 450 kilometers. Had to take into account the temple timings. While Thiruthani is open from 5am till 8:30pm, Thiruvannamalai closes by 12:30pm and re-opens by 3:30pm. So, this time around, Thiruvannamalai has to be the first destination.

The Map My India navigation was pretty accurate. However, it is better if you know alternative routes so that you dont get into road construction zones and diversions. In my case, my friend advised to take a different route to avoid poor roads.



Storage

Started at around 7:35am, the car had so much of cubby holes, door side pockets to store our 8 bottles of water for the day. This include 2x 1L Tupperware ones and they couldn’t be stored in the front driver and passenger side door sides for some reasons. They had to go back and sometimes in the centre.






Score: 8/10. A lot of options for such a long haul is quite impressive.

Driving Comfort

Topped up the fuel and the range showed around 575kms and started to roll. In spite of the really poor roads, till the highways, Jazz handled pretty well. No major complaints from the passengers. Increased ground clearance ensured that there was no body contacts with raised road surfaces. The driving seat position is good. Though I would have liked a better thigh support. The lack of telescope adjustments might irk some people. Definitely not for me.

The power lag in the second gear needs some planning and getting used to. I have not mastered it and hence had some tough time in some speed breakers. However, the car hit the highways, absolutely no issues. The power delivery was quite linear and the gear shifts were quite smooth, never felt sudden the sudden surge etc. The rpm stayed in the 2k-4k range while the speedo stayed at around 120-130 kmph.

Lower speeds, diversions required some frequent gear shifts and felt the need for more power in the 2nd gear. Surprisingly on some occasions 3rd gear pulled better.



Score: 7.5/10. The lag in low rpm needs some getting used to.

Creature comfort

The rear leg room and airy interiors made everyone feel good. No more claustrophobic feeling of a small car. The lack of rear a/c vents was never felt in spite of the outside temperature shooting around 38 degrees centigrade. So, please ignore this negative point from the reviewers. The automatic climate control did very well throughout. However, where we felt the a/c was not doing its job was when we had to start moving after the car was parked under direct sun for 2 hours in the heat with the reflective sunshade that kept the interiors a bit cool. It took nearly 5-10 minutes to cool the cabin. Car fridge (want to call this like this) is a great idea and we kept cooling our water bottles to quench out thirst. Everyone loved it. A/c when in full blast mode is a bit noisy.

Thigh support is better than other trims in the VX model and from other cars. But a little bit more could have been better. 8 hours of sitting made my wife feel this need. Not a major one though. Magic seats did their trick and my son enjoyed it. However started cribbing when I said no to his desire to to sit in the rear and tried keeping his (dirty) legs not he front seat. He started arguing that it is there for him to use. I said yes, but not with dirty legs . Needless to say, he was pretty upset.



Score: 9/10. A/c vent fridge mode :10/10

Entertainment System

This less intuitive AVN system took time to understand for even techie guys like us. Elderly people, please excuse. Once mastered, it did a great job in providing various connectivity options (USB, iPod) etc. Navigation can be used while the music plays in the background (press the ‘Loc’ button). Annoyingly the iPod play stops when you hit the back button to go to the navigation screen. I almost gave up the idea of playing music from iPod when the navigation was doing its job, till the time I accidentally pressed the Loc button. Too much of Bass on the EQ modes is not to my liking. Had to adjust it in the mode settings.





The cables though exposed can be neatly tucked in a small pouch given in the glove box.



Majority of the reviewers cribbed on poor paint (or lack of it) job in the fuel lid area. Here is the picture of it from my car. Seems decent.



Annoying issues and omissions

Shocked to find no mute button. Then realized the Tune button behaves like Mute for all other options except the FM/AM tuner part. Sadly, the microphone mute option is a clear miss during phone conversation. You have to rely on your phone to do this. A bit unsafe while driving.

Never touch that Save button in the FM/AM, as it tends to erase all your presets without warnings. I am not able to figure out what it does yet. Another annoying thing i experience is that while operating the AVN settings, your hand accidentally changes a/c settings as that is touch sensitive.

Audio just ok

The audio quality is decent, if not great. I always have to fiddle around with EQ settings as the default settings have too much bass to my liking. I find that the clarity could have been better. But for many, it might sound good.



Backup camera / Reverse aid


Backup camera does not do any good. I am still a old timer, who believes in my own judgement. I often find that view is very confusing and if you follow this, you will never back up anywhere. I would have preferred a more accurate parking sensors that gives you distance measurement.

Score: Features 9/10. Ease of Use: 5/10



Ride Quality

Almost silent cabin often made me wonder if the engine is running. NVH levels are very impressive. We could hardly hear any passing by vehicle noises. Too much of glasses caused this? No idea. But it is definitely great. Engine is butter smooth. The exhaust sound when revved hard is very pleasant to hear (though it is hardly audible it the silent cabin). Suspensions did really great. All the bumps were managed well. No annoying thuds anywhere.

Clutch is soft and is very smooth to operate. In bumper to bumper situations it should not cause any pain on your left legs. The foot rest seems like a rubber mat stuck with a glue. I wish Honda did a better job here.



Safety

ABS braking is quite good and stops the car in the straight line. It is quite quick to respond. No cribs here. Steering is quite responsive and sharp and no ambiguity in driving. A typical Honda feature.

After the terrible weather, the rains in the twilight/night en-route to Thiruthani brought smile on our faces. But that did not last long. The windows started fogging horribly to the extent that visibility was reduced to almost 40 percent. Rear fogger worked well. However, Front fogger, outside air setting, heat controls failed to clear the fog. It is time that I read the manual. The wipers have to be kept on to keep the windshields clean. Later a temperature setting of 24 cleared it to a great extent.

No central locking

Missing central locking (cost cutting) in such a premium car is a bit of a disappointment. Always remember to lock using the driver side door lock to lock all the doors for everyone's safety. I felt as if I went back to stone age with lack of these important features.

Toolkits and Spare tire

Spare wheel is a 14" as against 15" and the spare tire is MRF. Thankfully, the stock tires are Bridgestone (175/65R15)





Score: 10/10

The worst part was when we realized that the windscreen cleaning liquid was empty when I tried to clean it after the rains. I am taking it up with the sales guy and Honda to give them peace of mind on Monday. The head lights are not so powerful to instill confidence for some high speed driving in nights. Plus the interior lamps could have been LEDs. I am seriously thinking of replacing them with LEDs that I can buy from eBay for Rs.150.

Update from Honda: Since many customers complain that after washing the windscreens become dirty (?!), they dont usually fill up it seems. To me this argument was a clear BS and I think they are trying to cover up. If you going to take your car for delivery, please check this out.



Lighting / De-fogger Score: 6/10

Respect

I believe in man, machine relationship and it develops over a period of time. The man has to understand his car and car has to understand his master. A car that manages his master expectations enjoys the respect. In this department, Jazz scored very well even in this short period.



Score: 9/10





Back Home

Reached home at 8:35pm after a 8 hrs of driving and the FE figures around the middle of the journey was around 16.8kmpl. After some really bad roads and when i checked it at the end of the travel it is 15.6kmpl.



The journey ended with almost empty tank but heart full of pleasant experience and memories. Now to certain specifics on the following:

Engine performance & drivability in the city and highway

Engine, like its previous generation is definitely rev happy and demonstrates its strong power characteristics above 2K rpm. Since most of our city driving is below 2K, it slightly affects the driving within the city limits. However, one can definitely overcome with a bit of practice. I found proper acceleration and staying at 3rd gear makes the car drive like an automatic. I know it is a bit of exaggeration. Still it seems to work. Interestingly, the engine knocking at low rpm / speeds is almost nil.

Highway performance is quite good and power delivery is linear. I have not pushed the car beyond 120kmph mark. But, I am sure the car is capable. One thing that I have noticed is that the car's characteristics is definitely not agile and hence it is more like a calm, peaceful. If you are an aggressive driver, VW TSI is what you should sign up for.

This 1.2 petrol engine seems like a gem and super silent and offers a very smooth driving experience. This along with the super slick gear box and suspensions makes the driving a pleasure for everyone. The braking is quite good and car is quite stable at high speeds and does not demonstrate body rolls. However cornering confidence is a bit low may be due to thin 175/65 tires. The ground clearance improvement over the previous generation is a big plus and that shows. I have driven the car close to 1300 in 15 days and not even once the body touched the tall speed breaker's surface.

After driving for 1300 in around 15 days, across various roads, weather conditions, here is the summary.

Things I really like about the car:

1. The car is super big from inside, very spacious and offers a lot of options for storage
2. The petrol engine is super smooth and cabin NVH levels are very impressive
3. The tires offer comfortable ride and dont have road noise
4. Magic seats provide various seating position / storage options
5. Clutch is soft and ideal for city driving
6. Look wise, it is definitely looking good
7. Quality of plastics is definitely good, though not the best
8. Road visibility is good. However, some might find the A-pillar a bit troublesome
9. Suspensions make the ride quality enjoyable
10. Car is stable at high speeds and braking is very good and sharp
11. No body rolls

Things I could have been better:

1. Obviously, the 1.5L mill could have been an awesome offering for this car
2. Low end performance definitely needs improvement. I am already considering ECU tuning as some people suggested
3. Map My India maps though good, unable to find destinations that I needed. Needs more landmarks, popular places in the database
4. Cables inside the glovebox is annoying for a car in this segment. Looks like after market installation as many reviews mentioned
5. I would have liked the same size, brand space wheel on alloys (only 14" steel is provided)
6. Steering is missing telescopic adjustments
7. AVN receiver touch screen needs some practice to operate. Often the touch does not perform the operation we need
8. Rear view mirror could have been night friendly (like Elite i20)
9. Lack of parking sensors is a serious omission
10. No microphone mute option for bluetooth telephony and phone cuts off abruptly when key is turned off without transferring the call back to the phone
11. Headlights though good for city, seriously lack power for highway driving

Overall score: 9/10. My Wife score: 10/10 (a must when you want trouble free long drives and ownership experiences ). She has already called up the nursery and working out a weekend trip to pick up pots, manure and plants. I am bit worried about soiling the new car and cleaning.

[Jaggu]

Mod note: Moving out of Assembly line, thanks for sharing.

[ashwin.terminat]

The 2012 Jazz that we have came shod with 55/60W bulbs, going by your highway illumination problems, I am beginning to think Honda fit the new Jazz with 35/35W bulbs?

As for the A-pillar, we've the exact same problem on our Jazz as well. Strange that Honda didn't find the need to improve visibility there. Much like my surprise over them not improving low end torque. Abysmal would be the right word.

[adimicra]

Great writeup @vprabu .. this is the first ownership thread for the new Jazz in Team BHP!

Congratulations and wish you many happy miles with the car.
Please post some pics of the rear with lights on and also one of the footwell area.

As a previous gen Jazz owner, I love my car a lot and it has been an absolutely wonderful 5 years of niggle-free ownership.
However, there are a few things which I wanted to be improved upon
1> Ride quality, particularly at low speeds. Honda seems to have taken care of it well enough
2> Low rpm response - This has not been rectified which is a disappointment. I have got used to the engine characteristics and tall gearing and shift a bit later but it should have been taken care in the new generation. Once you cross the 2K mark, the car transforms into a different animal altogether.
3>Missing features , particularly ACC, map lights in the front, bluetooth calling etc. which have been more or less addressed. Parking sensors should have been provided and it seems like the HU on the VX variant is pretty un-intuitive.


Do keep us posted on your journey with the Jazz!

[vprabu]

Thanks adimicra. I wil post the pictures as requested. Thanks for your feedback and it is very encouraging.

[vijjuvk]

Excellent Ownership Review @vprabhu. Congratulations on your new car and wish you tons of happy mile crunching.

Quick question on the front seat in VX variant - When I checked the dealership, I felt that the front seat squab / pitch is a bit smaller compared to other cars. Appreciate if you can share your views on this.

Happy Driving !!

[vb-saan]

Nice review there, and great choice of colour. The car looks more mature in this shade. Do keep updating the thread, and drive safe!

[narenteam]

Congrats on your new lovely car!
I had a question: Did you TD the diesel car? I hear that the drivability of the diesel engine is simply superb.
Were there reasons you had for not buying the diesel Jazz?

[vprabu]

Originally Posted by vijjuvk

Excellent Ownership Review @vprabhu. Congratulations on your new car and wish you tons of happy mile crunching.



Quick question on the front seat in VX variant - When I checked the dealership, I felt that the front seat squab / pitch is a bit smaller compared to other cars. Appreciate if you can share your views on this.



Happy Driving !!

Thanks. Seat seems comfortable to me and I drove for 8 hours with some breaks in between. Never had any discomfort. BTW, VX seats seem to be better compared to other trims. Only annoyance being the read middle one. Unusually raised a bit.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Nice review there, and great choice of colour. The car looks more mature in this shade. Do keep updating the thread, and drive safe!

Thanks. Sure, I will keep it updated regularly.

Originally Posted by narenteam

Congrats on your new lovely car!
I had a question: Did you TD the diesel car? I hear that the drivability of the diesel engine is simply superb.
Were there reasons you had for not buying the diesel Jazz?

I didn't consider diesel at all, as this is my second car and mostly to be used in the city. However I really wanted to TD the diesel one. The dealer didn't have it for TD till a couple of weeks back. This is for a friend of mine. However based on some owners feedback in Honda Jazz owners forum in FB, they are extremely happy with the car. NVH seems better and drivability seems pretty good.

I will ask my dealer for a TD shortly if available and report it here.

[Dieseltuned]

Quote :: No central locking

Missing central locking (cost cutting) in such a premium car is a bit of a disappointment. Always remember to lock using the driver side door lock to lock all the doors for everyone's safety. I felt as if I went back to stone age with lack of these important features.

Hi,

It is surprising that Honda omitted this feature. Even more surprising when my 4L rupee Wagon R has this feature.

Regards
Dieseltuned

[ram_hyundai]

Good one, I have a personal point to make. Its not to discourage you also. The noodle mats are not a welcome in any car. It increases the normal mat thickness which all manufacturers take into account. I know cases were warranty rejections has happened due to this related to very early clutch failure etc etc. Another reason is that the dust accumulated in these can help in getting your cooling coil busted prematurely. Third reason being that these dust particles are in the air all the time which is not good for health either.
My reasons, nothing personal. But i loved the way you have cut them so perfectly and snugly.

[vprabu]

Originally Posted by ram_hyundai

Good one, I have a personal point to make. Its not to discourage you also. The noodle mats are not a welcome in any car. It increases the normal mat thickness which all manufacturers take into account. I know cases were warranty rejections has happened due to this related to very early clutch failure etc etc. Another reason is that the dust accumulated in these can help in getting your cooling coil busted prematurely. Third reason being that these dust particles are in the air all the time which is not good for health either.
My reasons, nothing personal. But i loved the way you have cut them so perfectly and snugly.

Ram,

Not sure if you have seen the demo of these mats in 3M service or in YouTube. These mats suck the dirt, dust and prevent them from floating around inside the vent only to be pulled into the vents.

Since they settle down at the bottom of the mat, it is important that we take the mats out and flip it once a day to get rid of them.

I have had the carpets (nightmare), plastic ones and 3d (dangerously slippery) and eventually settled on this. The mats look new everyday and provide nice grips. When we cut them for the driver side, we need to ensure that they don't get stuck.

Otherwise, they are the best so far.

[B103]

As observed by you, there are many critical comments about Jazz in the 'i20 vs Jazz' thread. As a Getz user of 3+ years and a City user of 5+ years, I know what experience both brands can deliver.

I understand that different people have different priorities. For me, long term costs and and a trouble free ownership experience is paramount. I see that many people are more interested in the feature list like rain sensing wiper, rear AC duct etc etc.

Many of those Jazz cynics would never have owned a Honda and those are the low hanging fruits that Hyundai want to eat.

Congratulations Prabhu. Enjoy your machine.

[ksriharish]

Congratulations vprabhu for owning this jazzy car. I myself narrowed down to this as we do not have a matching hatchback to this in terms of leg room, trunk space, interiors, features & long term maintenance. But I could not test drive a CVT variant as it was not available here with Hyderabad dealers for a TD. Did you get a chance to test drive a CVT variant and what is your observation in terms of engine performance and drive-ability.

I liked the choice of color you selected. In the showroom this color looked awesome and on-road too with your pictures.

[turboturtle]

Congratulations on the car vprabhu. Crisp ownership review. Liked the way you correlated the drive with pics, mapping it to observations and this leading to the rating points.

Wishing you many more happy, safe and niggle free miles of ownership.