An all Rounder ( by a proud Jazz owner ). Review on Honda Jazz

" This car certainly is not cheap " is what I said when I read the price in the newspaper. But still, being a car freak, I decided to give it a try . So I landed up at the Honda showroom, Prestige Honda in the evening.

*FIRST impressions?

*The first thing that u are bound to say on seeing the car is that "ITs Big!" which it certainly is! I personally found it as wide the city which was standing beside it. The looks of the car are destinctive.the large headlamps with the stubby bonnet certainly point towards bold styling. The low waistline with mildly flared wheel arches give it a unique stance. At the rear, to reduce the visual bulk, the roof line is arched downwards without compromising on the rear headroom.

>i20 - also has an aggressive look in the front but the city easily wins as far as the rear designing is concerned.

>fabia - The fabia has been designed to appeal to a large segment of buyers hence the looks are neither too aggressive nor too boring

> COLOURS

The white colour seemed to be the hot favourite. There was a 10 days waiting period only for the white coloured car. The next came the red( which is my favourite) and the blue colour seems to be drawing the least number of buyers towards it( thats what the guy at prestige told me). There is also another shade of blue available besides a silver and a black.

*INTERIORS

*True to honda tradition, the interiors use high quality plastics with a silver centre console. the round knobs are really easy to use and well designed. The steering wheel has been borrowed directly from the Honda City and the Civic which is very good indeed. It also has audio controlls like on the city .There are plenty of cubbyholes dotting the interiors. the beautiful LCD placed b/w the speedo and the rpm counter gives info on the mileage, distance to empty and a host of other features. The steering and the driver seat have height adjust .

The big windscreen is sure to make driving in the city a breeze. I particularly liked the front quarter glass which now does not pose as a blind spot for the driver as it did in the City ZX . Even the rear seats are pretty comfortable with plenty of headroom and leg room although shoulder room could have been better. Also the break in the rear seats(due to the 50:50 split) is a bit uncomfortable for the person sitting in the centre.The way the seats fold up is also interesting( honda calls it the Magic Seats) and it makes for innovative storage areas( u must have seen that in the honda add.)

>i20- the plastic quality is below par although the design and ergonomics are impressive. But innovations like the magic seats and plenty of cubbyholes make the honda a winner

>fabia- who can compete with a Skoda in terms of quality? the skoda has brilliantly designed interiors with spot on ergonomics. At par with honda

*PERFORMANCE

*The 1.2l engine is a jewel . It is a typical iVtec engine delivering peak power at high rpms . It delivers 89 bhp of power at around 6000 rpm with a torque of around 11 kgm. All in all its more energetic than the sloppy i20 . Still more power would never hurt. I loved the drive of the car although the feel of the steering wheel could have been better.

>i20 and fabia - The jazz easily beats the two in terms of power and performance . Check out the figures if you don't believe me!

MILEAGE

The people at honda claim that the Jazz gives around 16.1 kpl. No arguments on that since the car is yet to be tested on that front.

*FEATURES

*ABS with EBD

Airbags

mp3 player with auxillary input

steering mounted audio controls

magic seats

*VERDICT

A comprehensive all rounder loaded with features .

*Another winner from Honda.