Comments on: 2009 Honda Jazz First Steer

By: FrugalOne

FrugalOne — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:41:02 +0000

Was on the haonda stand at the MMS and happened to run into a haonda dude employee who does their engineering.

VSC is on the way for the Jazz, *About* May this year

Cheers

F-0

By: shane

shane — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:58:42 +0000

I don’t know why people are banging on about torque and horse power when your talking about a little hatch, you buy a car like this for ecconomy and so you can carry more than a sedan, plus its incredibly reliable and has a great interior for the price.

By: Cello

Cello — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:16:28 +0000

I love my new Jazz 1.5 VTI Manual.
It’s very smooth and sooooooo economical.

I’ve just noticed a strange running liquid noise, almost like a drain pipe, from the engine when I rev it though. Does anyone know what the heck that is?

By: Bruno

Bruno — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:56:50 +0000

I am constantly amazed at how good the Australian driving public is, especially those who don’t believe that stability control helps them.

Nearly every person who doesn’t believe in stability control believes that they can control a car in every circumstance. Half the wheels on a bitumen road, the other half on gravel, for example. Swerving to avoid someone or something on the road. (Yes, stability control won’t help in every circumstance, but it helps in most).

So, do these same people have no ABS brakes, because they can brake better than ABS? No airbags, because they are that good at driving?

I’d prefer to avoid an accident, rather than have one, and stability control helps in keeping the odds in my favour. Stability control is being mandated by the United Nations, as it is that useful in reducing the road toll.

Get a grip of yourselves, or are you already doing that….

By: Leo

Leo — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:17:35 +0000

I bought the new JAzz two weeks ago. The car is excellent and far better than corolla and mazda 2. We did test drive of these other two models before purchasing and the difference is amazing. Well done honda!

By: Oz.

Oz. — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:22:00 +0000

*Except of course^ Not “Exempt”

By: Oz.

Oz. — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:34:54 +0000

I’ve noticed how Honda seem to be using intertextuallity for their Jazz ads. I remember the ad for the previous model Jazz, it seemed to a be mock of some kid’s show and now I’ve seen a new Jazz ad recently where its plot has significant resemblance to a Chevrolet ad from the 1950s. Exempt of course, the Jazz ad is animated while the Chevy ad isn’t and the cars aren’t living on the Chevrolet ad like the Jazz ad.

What they have done is set the Honda Jazz ad in London instead of Paris where the Chevy was set and they both seem to have similar camera angles from the air….Hmm.

By: Charlie Whiskey

Charlie Whiskey — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:50:12 +0000

I was thinking about replacing my 2005 VTi-S with the new Jazz, but standard auto? I chose the current car only because of the CVT. That’s not the problem, but I find the flimsy excuses for cutting cost an insult to my intelligent as a potential customer.

No CVT, no ESP, no moonroof, no nav system (all the stuff you’d get on the car in Japan, even as options) or even a bracket to covert the head unit back to standard double DIN (as an extra paid for item)… It’s deeply frustrating that Honda Aust management is so focused on their cost figures above all else. I find it hard to have any product loyalty for them.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:21:58 +0000

Tested one today. It’s a fun little car but a bit costly for it’s size. The magic seat is a good idea but I ask my self how many times I’ll need to carry something that only fits on the rear floor.

By: Bossman

Bossman — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:30:25 +0000

Yeah I bought a Jazz for my business but a 2008 VTis auto with CVT at the beginning of the year. I’ve owned & driven many “performance” cars over the years but the Jazz is still quite special in its own way. Hey a Jazz will beat a V8 Engined Corvette through a 100M slalom so its got some sweet handling. That said, the old model suffered from too little suspension travel, CVT was good once moving but took some time to “wind up” from a standstill making finding that gap to merge into trafic tricky. That said, I rather the CVT than the tradtional auto. I sold a high powered manual V8 to get into the Jazz so appreciate what Honda are trying to do.
This is where Honda have it wrong for the new model: No Bluetooth standard – this is a no brainer guys, the chip costs a few bucks but differntiates the car from the rest of the pack. The number of guys I spoke to who bought a Mitsubishi Triton ute because it had std bluetooth is unbelieveable. It’s a dealbreaker – which young guy or girl doesn’t have a bluetooth enabled phone these days ?
Second – dress up the VTiS with a decent body kit – it looks really boring, even mine looks sportier than the new one. Check the Mugen stuff out and even offer it thru the dealerships like Subaru does with STi gear. Here’s the big one – the dealers need to be more proactive with the existing customer base. I heard nothing from my dealer about the new car or other new launches this year even though he knows I run a fleet and maybe interested in replacing. This is a no brainer too for Honda Australia – it costs much less to sell to your existing base than advertising to convert customers who have previously bought other brands. Well that’s my rant – time to get on with it. I’ll look at upgrading in 4 yrs time once the new Jazz gets these items we spoke about. Unfortunately I feel it will be less about Honda taking the initiative & doing it but more about palying catchup to Mazda & Toyota as they are the first to do it.

By: jesse

jesse — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:47:58 +0000

At that price, I would rather go for i30 CRD auto. End of story.

By: i

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:21:10 +0000

Looks good..but too expensive…

By: terri

terri — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:32:52 +0000

nice! :)

By: PK

PK — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:57:08 +0000

Wanted to buy old Jazz, but decided to wait for the new one, especially for improved fuel consumption and properly designed suspension. Fuel consumption is actually worse than in the old one, I don’t like the new look and I’m disappointed that there is no CVT and ESP. The price is also badly pitched. VTi is a redundant model. Honda Australia FAILED!!!
However their failure did not sink the Jazz. It only brough him closer to the competion. Jazz has still powerful features worthwile considering. Magic Seats, Nearly Right Angle Rear Door Opening, Improved Seat Quality, Even 1.3 GLi Auto accelerates with ease from 100 to 120.
After long deliberation I got him hoping that the official fuel consumption is a mistake and that ESP will be offered free once it arrives – “The Power of Dreams”.

JAZZ – wounded – but still a Winner!!!

By: Zip

Zip — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:32:21 +0000

I remember people were complaining about the CVT on the original Jazz saying it was gimmicky and people wanted real gears. Now that they’ve reverted back to a improved ‘normal’ AT, people complain again. Can’t please everyone can you?

By: TP

TP — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:58:01 +0000

The Jazz is a nice little car…but no ESP is a massive let down (as it is with Corolla) and that dash is certainly interesting.

By: What The ?

What The ? — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 11:41:35 +0000

This Honda is far and away better than anything in this class by Toyota……….FAR FAR BETTER !!!

By: Fenno

Fenno — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:05:56 +0000

One of my co-workers brought the Jazz when it was Jap built (paid a bit for it too). Honda then relocated production to thailand and drop the price. Great for new car buyers (if you can live with a slight drop in overall fit and finish) but a pain in the proverbial for anyone who paid full price for the original.
I would envisage now, that there will be people all for the CVT over a traditional auto and Honda will be in the same boat as before.
So….Honda should have spent the money re-tooling for traditional auto’s on maybe the ESP that everybody above is so hung up about.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:17:55 +0000

Looks a little Mercedes A-class to me, which is not a bad thing.
Looks better than the old one and if is an improvement over all it should be a great little car as the old one was and still is.

No ESP is a disappointment, hopefully it will be added later. I know that’s the one feature my current car does not have, a sore point…..I hope I never need it!

By: sam

sam — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:08:29 +0000

Thanks T.
I really love this little car. My only fair complaint it the VSC issue. Its not about being able to drive the thing like a race car. Its about being able to swerve to miss an accident or a Kangaroo or safely crossing that unexpected slippery spot in the middle of a corner without getting sideways or worse still careering off the road. Having driven a few cars with this technology I am completely sold on it. It saved my arse in a rented Maxima once. I remember the arguments about the effectiveness and ability of ABS way back in 1985 as Mercedes introduced it as standard on some of their popular models. Now every car basically has it. Hopefully VSC will go the same way.