2009 Honda Jazz First Steer
August 29, 2008 by David Twomey
2009 Honda Jazz First Steer
Honda’s second generation of the cute but practical Jazz is certainly tuned in to the latest market trends in the Australian car buying market.
- David Twomey
Echoing a common theme of car manufacturers these days the second generation Jazz has evolutionary styling and packaging that builds on the very successful first-generation car, which has sold more than 2.5 million units worldwide.
The changes are subtle and the new Jazz hits the market with the same model line-up, GLi, VTi and VTi-S, as the previous car. In another ‘what’s changed’ move the opening price of $15,990 for the five-speed manual Jazz GLi remains unchanged.
There’s a choice of five-speed manual or automatic through out the range and for reason best explained by Honda Australia Senior Director Lindsay Smalley the car eschews the CVT transmission which is on offer in Europe and Japan.
Mr Smalley explained at today’s simultaneous media and on-sale launch that it was Honda Australia’s belief that local customers preferred the driving experience of a full-automatic over the stepless approach of the CVT transmission.
The decision also allows Honda Australia to configure the car with more powerful engines, 1.3-litre and 1.5-litre, than are on offer with the CVT.
The downside is that Honda has not yet developed Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), it’s acronym for the all-important ESC, to work with the more powerful engines and automatic transmission so we will not see this important safety feature in the Honda Jazz in Australia in the immediate future.
Mr Smalley told CarAdvice that “Japan R&D is working as quickly as possible to develop the VSC to work with our engines.”
Mr Smalley emphasised that Honda had gone for a more sporty driving experience with the new Jazz, wanting to enhance its appeal with a younger market and to broaden the market as the Australian market more widely embraces smaller cars.
The new Jazz is a much more driveable car with sharper handling, more dynamic feel and more responsive engines.
The downside of not using the CVT transmission is slightly increased fuel consumption, but again Mr Smalley defended this saying that “ real-world experience meant the manual/auto choice in Australia is line-ball with the CVT. “
Congratulations Honda on producing what is far and away the most practical “city car”.
The extra interior space means that it now becomes a serious alternative to the medium and even possibly large family cars for many city-dwelling families.
The cosmetic changes have also refreshed its appeal. Good one Honda!
Yeah, what a giant step forwards – not.
Thirstier, no ESP, 2009 model.
FAIL.
I really like the blue colour.
Very disappointing that the auto is an inefficient 5-speed instead of the state-of-the-art 6-speed automated manual box (i-shift) that is available elsewhere.
Looks good, nice interior, and more room. Agree with 6 speeder which should be a norm with cars these days. but nethertheless, a decent improvement from the last and something to sparkle the eyes of new car buyers.
No ESP, not even as an option! Not good enough. Honda can do better – and should have done. What price Honda’s reputation as a technological innovator when Hyundai can deliver ESP on its small car but Honda can’t.
Obviously the sooner the government mandates ESP as standard the better, as some manufacturers won’t provide it unless forced to. Toyota probably falls into that category as well.
Is ESP really that big an issue if most of the driving is done in city traffic?
Let’s face it, you don’t buy this sort of car because of any sporting pretence. It is a practical city car, and to that end, it is an amazing piece of work.
If John Laws still had any credibility, he’d say; “Good one Honda, when you’re onto a good thing, stick to it” :-)
Nice job Honda. Looks like an improvement over the old model. Its a pity about the ESP though. Blame it on the big corporate executives of honda. Every day that the car isnt on the market, Honda loses out on profits. I’d like to see a comparo of the new Jazz against the Mazda 2.
THE deciding factor in our purchase of our Jazz in 2003 was the CVT. It made the car go SO MUCH better than the Mazda2 and Focus we drove. My wife only has an Auto license and since its her car mostly we had to get an auto. Though I worry about out of warranty repair cost of the CVT, its far better than a regular AT, and if you want a stepped auto trans it has a 7 speed mode with button (or paddles on later models) so what is the loss?
FAIL
looks like a pregnant goldfish.
FAIL
Used to own a jazz before, and loved it. Only downside is its pricey, but you do get alot more room than its competitors. I moved house over a 2 day period with my old jazz, and only needed to hire a ute on the 3rd day to carry the whitegoods and larger stuff. Boot size is very good, compared to the pathetic ones you get in the other small hatches.
Honda Japan came up with a good car. Honda Australia dropped the ball this round. No VSC, no i-shift, no CVT, no moonroof, vti-s interior is the lower grade interior of Jazz in other countries, no climate control.
Honda Australia FAIL
Mr Smalley FAIL
^^^ There is a lot of FAIL going on up there…!
The grille and headlights look ‘pasted on’ if you know what I mean.
No ESP isn’t a good thing (and I would never buy a car without it and a good amount of airbags etc.) but still droves of people buy new Corollas so if it doesn’t affect the best selling car, I can’t blame Honda for releasing the Jazz without it.
It looks a OK car but I wouldn’t let my family actually buy one…
Allan, does the rear seats fold flatly so it gives you real extra space? On my sisters mirage, it does and its amazing how much space you get if you plan to transport something in such a small car.
Joober: Yes the rear seats fold completely flat.
To the writer the acronym for Honda’s ESP is not VSC it is VSA. Not meaning to be picky just correcting a mistake.
Is a good car. drove one and went over some rails lines that normally shake the whole car but hardly felt them in this so ride and comfort has improved ten fold.
Honda will probably sell another 2.5 million of these cars worldwide.The 1.5L engine is quite impressive-infact it has more power(88Kw)and almost the same torque(145Nm)as 1.6L engines.
Certainly more power than that poor excuse for an engine -the 1.6L in the VW Golf range.
It’s all in the delivery Fasthonda!
I bet the Golf has a flatter torque curve.
Mini people mover looks.What for?
Fasthonda clutching at thin straws – the Golf is hardly in the same class as the Jazz, it’s not aimed at the station wagon market. Have a look at the Honda AU website – it asks you to “Meet the new Girl in town” – even Honda thinks this is a girly effort :)
If you want to compare with a VW product, you should probably compare with Caddy Life, but that’s not really in the same class either.
The Golf 1.6 engine has more torque at 1000rpm lower than the revvy Honda unit and is available with the 6 speed DSG transmission which craps all over the Honda CVT or the Honda traditional auto. I dare say the KW figure in the Golf and Honda at 5000rpm is near enough the same. So, the driveability is worse just as Realcars has mentioned.
Oh, and all Golfs have ESP.
So, all in all, it’s still a FAIL.
Realcars- the Jazz is designed to be as roomy and practical as possible it’s a type of “City” car so the design is unlikely to mirror the shape of a Porsche.
As for the torque,so what?The Jazz may very well have a better spread of torque across it’s rev range anyway.
Hahaha, I love seeing Reckless1 fire up and defend VW. Good effort.
Realcars, you have no idea what you talking about so leave this to me as you obviously have no clue.
Fasthonda, i get your point but lets face it, you have as much knowledge as realcars which is not much.
Looks like Fasthonda is using my sig.
Reckless1—Ha! ha!You are being ridculous now.I’ve compared the engines only in my comments and you get your knickers in a knot!
You mentioned the word fail a couple times as if you have some sort of Divine omniscience about cars.It makes you sound pompous as if your “divine” opinion is THE final say.
***”News Flash”***The DSG is not available for the 1.6L.nor the 2.0L.-It seems that at the moment I know a little more about cars than what you have deluded yourself you claim to know :)
Reckless1—Ha! ha!You are being ridculous now.I’ve compared the engines only in my comments and you get your knickers in a knot!
You mentioned the word fail a couple times as if you have some sort of Divine omniscience about cars.It makes you sound pompous as if your “divine” opinion is THE final say.
***”News Flash”***The DSG is not available for the 1.6L.nor the 2.0L.-It seems that at the moment I know a little more about cars than what you have deluded yourself you claim to know :)
I’ve got to go now-I think I’ll take a drive through the city at 8,000rpm-a tad more exciting than activating the cruise control through the city,now who does that!?!someone we know………any ideas… Reckless1 ???
yes the 1.6 golf engine should have been pensioned off years ago. And i thought the Polo was the competitor for this car from Honda, given that the Jazz is its smallest and cheapest hatch. i don’t mind the styling either, at least its not a boring 2 box design.
Unlike u Fasthonda not everyone wants a car u need to wind out to 8000rpm to extract some performance.LOL.
Jap screamers have always output more kws on paper than many Euros.
But seeming u are a bit thick and biased I’ll repeat it again for the dummies.
It’s all in the delivery!
Who wants a car that looks like a people mover especially if it doesn’t seat 7 or 8 people?
As I have said before and I’ll say again there is nothing but crap in this class. Move up to the next class and give these buzz boxes a miss.LOL.
Fuel is still the cheapest component of car ownership.
Think about it.
Arlester,a Honda that doesn’t rattle your teeth fillings over poor road surfaces well thats a first!
Hondas are a good car as long as u can afford to turn them over every five years or sooner from new.
Part costs are astronomical.Even dearer than other Japs.
Realcars, calm down champ, you are being an idiot. Stop the negativity and try acting like a person for once. Who know’s, you might actually learn something new in life.
Honda is a leading manufactuer of cars and suggesting they don’t just proves your own stupidity.
here, here to Golfie. About time someone put Realcars in his place, talk about waffle on. Geeez
OK not for me and I’ll leave it at that.
Someone is using my name and i am getting a bit pee’d. Above post at 9.41pm is not me. Who ever it is, rack-off.
no CVT no ESP major disappointment
Oh Dingo u are a thread poltergeist.LOL.
Drove a NEW Lancer with CVT and it takes some getting use to with the motor maintaining constant revs most of the time.
I could understand some buyer resistance with CVT initially.
Realcars, drongo dingo is cruising around here somewhere so beware. As for CVT, it is easy to get use to so i’m not sure why you found it difficult, it’s not hard, just takes time. Bit of patience buddy unless that is not your fortune.
I like it and will probably buy one next year.
It has to be the ultimate non hybrid city car. Cheap to run, roomy and it has a chain cam belt.
So while owners of Astras, Golfs and Polos are on their second cam belt and third set of rotors and brake pads the Jazz should just about need new brake pads, that’s it.
Yeah I agree CVT has it’s advantages.
IMO i just don’t get the styling/function here.
Hondas are always nicely finished but they just don’t do it for me IAO.
Sibling owned a near new Prelude once and cost them a fortune to maintain. Friend had a Legend Coupe and had to have the motor rebuilt at 100,000klms because the oil galleries had sludged up from the previous owner.Not entirely the cars fault admittedly.
TIMING CHAIN is a good thing!
Cam belt service cost a small fortune on siblings Prelude.
Is it necessary to keep adding weight and making new models bigger?
honda really dropped the ball.Great accord/eur pricing then this.And if anything it is downspecced no CVT or 6 speed lower level interior no cliamte and no ESC.But i saw a silver one coming in fromt he prot of brisbane {on the train lol} and it was silver and it looked really good but i prefer the taillights that the USA gets to ours
O – Honda has not dropped the ball. This is a good effort from Honda and one that should be praised not critised. Besides, atleast it is not a rebadged Daewoo jobb’ie were Holden get thier cars from. Maybe you should read the article again before passing another comment.
In this class, I\’d still take a Fiesta. Not as practical, and the fuel economy isn\’t as good, but a better package handling/style wise IMO…
Oh please whats with the bashing? I think people are forgetting these a small urban runabouts, not V8’s.
The Jazz is a very practical car that is cheap to run and is very well built. This is what the market needs in a increasingly booming segment.
Anyone who thinks the absence of Vehicle Stability Control is not a problem, doesn’t know what they are talking about.
I was busting of a new one of these but now it looks like I will be waiting until some time in 2010. FAIL. The old model also had a 7 speed available, why only 5 now? FAIL.
Gosh, people here do like to give FAILS don’t they. haha how about changing profession and become a kindergarden teacher. Seriously, get a life Sam!
The Jazz isn’t a bad car, especially when looked at for its intended driving environment. Honda’s problem will be how to market it against the current darling,the Mazda 2, and the “default standard”, Yaris. It would be good to see how the Jazz stacks up against them in a comparison. Speaking of which, when the comparison does happen, would Caradvice please incude the cost of standard servicing up to and including 50,000 km? Taking all the criteria into account, my guess is that the Jazz will come in second with the 2 and the Yaris coming in first and third.