Blowing a trumpet for classy new Jazz
Subtle changes further add to the fine reputation of a car all your friends are guaranteed to love, writes Neil Lyndon MARK OF QUALITY: The Honda Jazz is an incredibly reliable drive which continues to strive ahead of its many imitators
MARK OF QUALITY: The Honda Jazz is an incredibly reliable drive which continues to strive ahead of its many imitators
Sunday October 05 2008
RECOMMENDING cars to friends is almost as hazardous as recommending unattached friends to each other (though that's one thankless pursuit which I have taken a sacred vow to renounce for ever). In my experience, however, it is almost impossible to go wrong with a Honda Jazz.
I have recommended this car to many friends and not one has ever snubbed me at a party or failed to send a Christmas card. One couple who bought a Jazz on my recommendation so boringly insist on thanking me and going on about its merits that I tend to veer away from them at social gatherings.
The new Jazz, recently launched in Germany, therefore presents me with a dilemma: if I tell these people that the new car is even better than the one which has given them faultless service for five years, I shall risk another half decade of gratitude and praise. Yet it would hardly be friendly to keep this good news to myself.
The outgoing Honda Jazz fittingly marked the turn of the new century by being the most revolutionary and trend-setting small car to appear since the original Mini. Its one-box body (unifying all three compartments for engine, passengers and load-space) and forward stance have become so universally imitated that when people say that all new cars now look the same, what they probably mean is that all new cars look like a Honda Jazz.
None of the imitators, however, could hold a candle to the Jazz for reliability and customer satisfaction.
In survey after survey, throughout the decade, the Jazz was placed at the top so routinely that it became as predictable to find it there as it was to have to submit to the praise and thanks of my friends. The 2003 Which? survey -- one of the most dependably impartial of all guides -- found the Jazz to be 100 per cent breakdown free, a record which makes Usain Bolt's athletic performances look merely mortal.
The new Jazz looks distinctly like the old car, especially from the rear, and is unmistakably an evolutionary development from that pioneering original; yet, in every aspect, it extends and intensifies the merits of its forerunner. That observation is most factually true of the wheelbase and the windscreen.
The wheels on this car have been placed so close to the uttermost limits of the body that they look as if they might be in danger of slipping out and rolling away.
The raked windscreen now descends so low that a woman driver might have to tug down her skirt if she wanted to preserve her modesty from the eyes of those directly in front. When it connects with the full-length sunroof which is available on some versions, so much glass surrounds the occupants that this car could almost double as a Popemobile.
The lengthening of the wheelbase and the widening of the track produce striking improvements inside, with so much more leg room and luggage space that the new Jazz outdoes all other superminis and actually rivals cars in a larger class such as VW's Golf and Ford's Focus.
This is a small car which could genuinely meet all the needs of a family of four. It typifies the intelligence and attention to detail of Honda's designers and engineers that the doors open at almost 90 degrees to the body and the floor of the car is an easy step from the pavement. The Jazz is thus easier for children and the elderly to get in and out of than any other car I can name.
It is also more of a pleasure to drive than many cars that cost twice as much. A supple ride, secure road-holding and imperturbable handling make driving feel effortless. The new Jazz will feature two new low-emission engines added to the line-upin 1.2-litre 90bhp and 1.4-litre 100bhp form, which offer 5.1 L/100km (55.4mpg) and 120g/km of CO2, and 5.2 L/100km (54.3mpg) and 123g/km of CO2 respectively.
A single young person or a style-conscious childless couple might prefer the new Fiesta but for anybody with children, no car could be better than the Jazz.
That's what I'll be telling my friends from now on.
© Telegraph
Campbell Spray is on holidays
- Neil Lyndon
