2004 Honda Jazz 1.4 iDSI from Singapore
Summary:
A good looking average car
Faults:
No problem yet.
General Comments:
Rear seats can be fold in several ways to create a very good space.
Cabin is spacious.
Very good leg room for rear seats.
Poor leg room for taller driver. The pedals are not located "deep" enough. after driving long distance, I feel strained in my thigh.
A pillar is thick and may obstruct view.
Rear head rests obstruct mirror view.
Poor ride comfort. Suspension is too stiff. Ride comfort is much poorer compared to Corolla/Sunny which are popular here. Some would say the firm suspension is tuned for better handling, I would say this is pointless, the low power/torque figure of this car doesn't demand performance-oriented suspension.
When driving on expressway, we can feel a lot of little bumps. We never feel this in other cars. (Note: the road condition is very good in Singapore).
Odd electrical powered steering. In general it is OK, except at low speed. When driving around at low speed in car park, the steering wheel doesn't straighten back after making a turn, I have to manually turn it back to straight. Very odd experience.
Need to adapt to CVT gear box. At low speed there is more engine braking than conventional auto gearbox.
Poor equipment list by local distributor here. No central console, no cassette player, no mud guard, etc., very basic equipment.
The inner side of doors are covered with cloth material, very strange design. It get soaked once I open door in a rain. A bad design indeed.
The dashboard meters here are in white background and orange color digits, hard to read during evening time, when the sky is not totally dark yet.
Amazingly good fuel consumption on paper, 24L/km at 10-15 mode. In real life it is only marginally better than other cars. Mine is 13.5km/L (urban), while my Corolla 1.5AT is 12km/L (urban).
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 26th March, 2005
4th Apr 2005, 02:04
Hi, Jazz does has great fuel efficiency, especially under 10-15 mode, it can achieve 24km/l. However, in real life, I drive only in city (very little expressway), Jazz is only marginally more fuel efficient than other cars. If you are like me driving mostly in city, you shouldn't take fuel effieciency into consideration.
If you drive more on highway, Jazz is much more fuel efficient than other car.
I bought from Kah Motor. Everything is good so far. Ask for more freebies like window film, door visors, reverse sensors, etc. If the SE doesn't give you this, change to another SE, or visit another KM showroom.
You should test drive (even a few times) before making decision. The driver leg room is bad, if you are tall, it is not good for you.
Get your friend or family to sit at the back when you test drive, see if the firm ride is acceptable to you. Do drive over some humps to test it also. To me, I call it POOR ride. POOR compared to other cars like Sunny, Corolla and Lancer (I drive these cars also). KM give free 15 inch sport rim and tyre, I suspect it make the ride worse, maybe 14 inch tyre is better, I guess, but I haven't tried it out.
Another annoyance to me is that the stock audio doesn't come with cassette and MP3. I used to connect a cassette adapter to my MP3 player, now I can't do that.
Other than this, Jazz is a great car. I am 65% happy owner.
If you really want to buy, I would say now is a good time, it is at all time low S$67,000. However, it is still more expensive than Altis, Vios, Colt, Sunny.
Do note that insurance for Honda is more expensive than Nissan and Toyota.
Take your time and try more cars. Remember to test drive Altis also. Overall it is a better valued car. Some people may say Altis has problem lah, electric window fail lah, we can ignore this. Jazz/Fit had worst problems before also, like: (hope mine won't have this)
- EGR valve fail
- Recall for brake switch
- Air-con smell bad
- CVT startup clutch fail
- etc.
Enjoy your car hunting!
3rd Apr 2005, 07:16
Hello there.
I am from Singapore too and am considering purchasing a Honda Jazz. I am attracted to the Jazz because of its supposedly great fuel efficiency. But.. well.. after reading your review.. I am having second doubts. Sigh. Which dealer did you purchase your Jazz from?