All new Honda Jazz: An Analysis

This post is little long overdue. I had checked out the all new Honda Jazz earlier this month at Buddh International Circuit. I have written about BIC experience here, Hangout with Honda event here and also about the Radisson Blu where we had stayed, here. But a post dedicated to Jazz was missing. In this post I am trying to review Jazz in little more detail, based on my short drive in BIC and what I have observed.

I had already seen Jazz at Singapore in June. The Singapore edition- shown in this post, gets projector headlamp and DRL next to fog lamp. These are given a miss in India edition. When asked I got a diplomatic answer that after their extensive survey/study of Indian consumers, they didn't find real need to offer the same in India.

Above: India Jazz
Below: Singapore Jazz

Compared to Ciaz automatic I had driven earlier, Jazz's CVT gets a Sports mode, but sans L and 2 mode for extra torque. But then, Jazz gets paddle shift, you can manually downshift if need be. So this isn't really a concern, provided driver is familiar on using paddle shift.

Above:Honda Jazz CVT
Below:Maruti Ciaz Automatic

Below are some pics of outgoing Jazz for comparison. In all departments, All New Jazz is a league ahead. It is bigger in dimension by few mm in all departments, including wheelbase and gets a far more superior design. 

Jazz was a premium hatchback in Honda's stable when it had only city, civic and CRV in India. After Amaze and Brio entered, diesel versions included, Jazz had to take a backseat to free up production lines for Amaze. (Also because Jazz was only available in petrol and was priced way above competition) So for some time Jazz was not to be seen in Honda showrooms. Now Honda is back with all new Jazz, with over 90% localization and a dream earth diesel engine on offer, Jazz has been priced very aggressively to take on the Hyundai i20 elite. New Jazz has been priced between 5.3 lakh to 8.6 lakhs ex-showroom Delhi. (Add roughly 20-25% to that for on road price in your city). (The earlier generation Jazz had a price tag of 6.6 lakhs Ex Show room Delhi). Jazz is available in traditional Honda variants like E, S, V, SV, Vx etc. AT is available in two variants- S and V. (petrol only). E and S variants will be missing airbags. E variant even misses ABS. (E Variant's job is to give an impression that Jazz is very cheap and make people walk into showroom).Comparitively VW gives airbag as standard in all variants of Polo. So if you're not keen on top spec VX variant, then SV variant is the ideal consideration which has critical safety and other features. SV variant will be costing about 2 lakhs more than cheapest advertised E variant. Jazz is priced slightly higher than the corresponding variants of booted Amaze, mainly for premium feel.

New Jazz claims record fuel economy of 27.3 kmpl in diesel. Petrol is pegged at 18.7 kmpl. Surprisingly, Automatic gets a higher 19 kmpl rating. Normally automatics get a little less fuel economy compared to manuals. Clearly machines are getting more intelligent by the day.

My drive was little short and was done in a very controlled environment, So I couldn't test fuel economy and various other dynamics of the car. The A pillar tends to create blind spots and driver needs to move his head a bit to get clear visibility of the corner.

Large boot space, 4 way flexible rear seats and lots of storage space make Jazz highly utilitarian.

Jazz Steering wheel also misses some controls compared to Singapore edition

Above: India Jazz steering wheel
Below: Interiors of Singapore Jazz

Meanwhile, IAB reports that Hyundai is cutting on some simple features on Elite i20, Jazz's primary competition, without reducing cost. Be careful. Details here

Jazz's target customer persona is very similar to that of Sameer (Ford Ecosport's user persona, a 31 year aspirational male executive looking to buy a car that can define his identity) and Jazz has to meet multiple expectations world wide.

Previous punchline "Why so serious!" has also been dropped for a simpler "Nothing else is a Jazz"

Overall, Jazz is a nice package- feature rich, priced well and comes with the Honda premium feeling. Let us wish this car all the success.

Watch a video Similar: Honda Amaze Review * Honda City Diesel Review * Honda Mobilio Misleading print ad *