Why I want to sell my 18-month-old Honda Jazz: Do I upgrade to a C-SUV?

I am looking at automatic compact-SUV options like the Renault Kiger and Mahindra XUV300.

BHPian mbudhraja recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi Everybody,

I am utterly confused, and some sensible advice will really be helpful. I am based out of Bangalore and we bought our first car – Honda Jazz VX CVT - after a lot of deliberation last year (February 2021). I dearly love the Jazz and had shared my 8K ownership review here. While doing the research 2 years ago, we were strictly restricting our search to below 10-11 lakh cars as it was our first car and we are a family of 2 in Bangalore and the budget seemed reasonable enough.

The Jazz has been serving us well for the last 18 months (11K km). I am a sedate driver and I drive with a feather foot. My speed within the city even on the higher side never crosses 60 – 70 km/h. Hence Jazz has ticked almost every box for us. The cabin feels so premium, that we are yet to have a similar experience in any of the cars even at a segment or 2 above.

Here’s the conundrum now:

While the Jazz is a breeze to drive, the roads of Bangalore are going from bad to worse. The sorry state of affairs is such that while Jazz was supposed to be a perfect city drive and not so much an inter-city one, it has turned out to be the other way around. Whenever we do a road trip outside Bangalore (Yercaud / Pondicherry / Chikmangalur / Wayanad), it’s only the bumpiness within Bangalore that’s a concern. The moment we hit the highway, there is no challenge whatsoever.

I recently test-drove a few of the compact SUVs when my friend was buying one, and to my utter surprise and awe, none of the usual pothole or speed breaker jerks could be felt in these C-SUVs.

The incredibly big and numerous pot-holes, rubber speed breakers and series of rubber road marks really make driving very painful and tiring within the city. This is where I was swayed by the experience in these SUVs.

So the question in my mind – Should I upgrade to a CSUV within less than 2 years of buying a new Jazz? For that matter, is it even an upgrade?

My thoughts on this:

1. This all might be in my head – I have no other concerns with Jazz. I love the car.
2. If I do decide to change the car, there’s a lot of “convincing the wife” to be done.
3. I am spoilt by the CVT gearbox and the premium beige Honda interiors and I am not sure if I ll be easily content with any other car. I have seen the likes of Kushaq, Venue, Sonet and XUV300 and none of these has the same interior feel.
4. We do not need a second car, so the thought was always that we will keep our car for at least 9-10 years. If we change now, the next car should be something we keep for the long term.
5. One of the reasons to be tempted to upgrade now is because my wife recently joined a company where the car lease policy is incredible. The company will in a way fund 25% of the leasing EMI. The policy will not continue for long

If I do decide to upgrade:

• The leasing benefit is only on new cars, so used cars are ruled out.
• I want to keep a tight budget despite the leasing benefit. I do not want to spend more than 13L on road in Bangalore – so I am not considering the new Brezza, as it’s quite expensive for the offering
• I do need an automatic – can’t go from a CVT to a manual / AMT. So Nexon is ruled out
• My wife won’t agree to switch to an unsafe car – so Sonet and Venue are ruled out too
• I had heard that XUV 300 AMT is relatively smooth – I did a test drive of it and given I usually drive at low speeds, I could feel a lot of jerks compared to my Jazz at lower speeds and bumper-to-bumper traffic.
• If only It was a few months ago – I would have upgraded to an S-Cross TC, made all the sense. The S-Cross, Old Brezza and Urban Cruisers are mostly out of stock now

All of these leave me only with one choice only - Renault Kiger (ruling out Magnite too as I believe Renault’s service availability will be better than Nissan’s). The Turbo CVT top end of Kiger will cost slightly less than 13L on road. The Jazz will sell for ~9lakhs in Spinny. The corporate tax benefit on the leasing policy will ensure that I am not paying a lot extra.

But - and it’s a big but – is the Kiger an upgrade over Jazz?

While Jazz is as premium as a hatchback can get, the Kiger is as economical as an SUV can be. Both of them come with CVTs, but I am confident the Honda gearbox must be much more reliable. Kiger is a looker, and Jazz looks great too - but it’s an acquired taste for many. Jazz 1.2L NA is butter smooth, and Kiger’s Turbo in the manual seemed too rough – the CVT Turbo combo felt a lot better.

I am not too sure about the look and feel inside the Kiger over Jazz – it screams cost-cutting. Can the quality last for a decade with limited rattling?

Will want to hear the expert views, please. Will also want to hear the view of current Kiger owners – I personally feel it is a very practical car and one of the very few reasonably priced cars.

Here's what BHPian ellip5i5 had to say on the matter:

My personal opinion is that you should hold onto the Jazz. The Kiger just felt like it isn’t built to last when I test-drove the CVT turbo. My 5.5-year-old Ignis felt sturdy in comparison.

I’m not sure if this is the same engine as the Kwid (with a turbo), but that engine has aged very badly and sounded agricultural on my friend’s car. Hence a little apprehensive about the way the mechanicals age too. Would certainly lean on long-term Renault owners for their opinions.

Alternatively, if you could wait for another 6-9 months, you could upgrade to the upcoming Honda SUV.

Here's what BHPian bijims had to say on the matter:

I would strongly recommend you keep the Honda Jazz and avoid the Renault Kiger. Honda Jazz is an international product based on the Third generation Honda Fit in global markets and is a highly competent car in its own right with the Honda reliability and i-VTEC engine.

Although Compact SUVs are the norm these days and everyone is after them, I definitely don't feel the Renault Kiger CVT be an upgrade over the Jazz, mainly because of the cost-cutting involved and the immense amount of part-sharing with the cheaper Kwid. The 1.0-litre 3-cylinder turbocharged engine with CVT gearbox may offer more power and torque over the Jazz, but considering your usage scenario, it doesn't seem to be worth it.
The only reason I see you upgrading is because of the ground clearance and the Kiger's ability to handle potholes and bumps on the road quite effectively., But there are much more reasons I can think of why you should keep the Jazz.

The N.A 4-cylinder 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol engine would be much more reliable in the long run over the turbocharged 3-cylinder 1.0-litre petrol in the Kiger.

The interiors of the Honda Jazz are ergonomically sorted whereas I couldn't say the same with the Kiger.

The quality of the interiors and cabin plastics is way better in the Jazz than in the Kiger.

So for long-term ownership, the Kiger will in no way prove to be a better contender than the Jazz, the Jazz will happily give you many more miles ahead, whereas the rattles and cost-cutting will become more pronounced in the Kiger as years go by.

Therefore, I recommend you definitely keep the Jazz and avoid the Kiger, if you are insistent on an upgrade to a Compact SUV, you should ideally increase your budget and go for the Maruti Brezza VXI AT. If the S-Cross or Toyota Urban Cruiser are available, that would be a much more value-for-money proposition as well. As far as I have enquired, the S-Cross AT is out of stock almost everywhere, but the Toyota Urban Cruiser AT is still readily available in showrooms here in my state of Kerala.

Do enquire at all possible dealerships near you if you are OK with the Urban Cruiser AT, it is definitely a great VFM proposition right now.

Here's what BHPian condor had to say on the matter:

I suggest keeping the Jazz. The Kiger is no replacement, forget being an upgrade, to the Jazz. Bad roads will come and go faster than a car replacement.

Btw, I had a short ride in my friend's 10-year-old Jazz. It was as good as new when I had gone for the PDI with him.

You talk of safety - and then you mention Kiger in the same breath?

I really do not see any reason to even think of changing the Jazz.

Here's what BHPian aniyo had to say on the matter:

I understand your situation. Let me give you a perspective.

I owned a Honda Brio with the same engine and I really liked the car, nothing special but good for commuting and a nice chuckable car.

When I was upgrading my natural choice first was the Jazz, my brother had one in the USA (Fit in the US) that was one with a 1.5L engine. Also, my friend in Chennai had a Jazz CVT so I had an experience in that car as well. Incidentally, he too had a Brio before Jazz.

See no CSUV is going to offer all-around space as Jazz does, nor will they offer the refinement and reliability of Jazz. So whatever you buy there will be a compromise.

What you get in the CSUV is a better choice of engine and peace of mind when driving on bad roads. This was an important consideration for me when I dropped Jazz for Nexon.

Not that I scrapped the Brio a lot, just that I don't have to worry about one extra thing which made my drive relaxed.

Honestly, if you are going to own a car for 9-10 years you should look at a bigger car like XUV or Harrier which will suit your needs in years to come.

In the current situation, it doesn't make sense to sell Jazz. Hold on to it for a couple more years and see what good EV options you have then

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.