2008 Honda Jazz Cool + review from Portugal

Nothing.

Hi.

This is my review of the Jazz (the MK-I model, not the new 2008 MK-II) after six months of daily usage.

The car is very comfortable, front seats provide good support, front space is good enough, rear passenger

space seems sufficcient too, although not as much as at front.

Boot space is very good, I feel like I have bought a small station wagon. The so-called "magic" back seats are very handy, opening a lot of space in the floor to put large box volumes, in addition to boot. Have not had the need to put the back seats down yet, but have put the larger one up several times.

Body panels very well aligned, solid door shut sound (although I would not pull the doors too strongly from inside as driver's armrest has already developed a very small dead gap).

AC works fine and quiet at position 2, but have to use recirculation often to get more cold. Air income is very weak without ventilation.

It is more efficient to open the windows for a little bit.

Inside materials look very good, but the flat surface ones in dash and armrest seem also prone to scratchs ("seem" as I did not try to scratch them).

Dashboard is simple/sporty with very large dials, very nice and fast to read (felt like a pilot for the first days!). Only miss a temp dial, as this particular model only has green/red temp light.

Commands are all very smooth, and this includes everything, from light control knobs to pedals, in particular the clutch pedal, very easy to use.

Be careful with handbrake, wich is

also very smooth, so its easy not to pull it well to the end, and the car won't hold! (always park in gear, as stated by others!).

Steering wheel has a kind of "constant weight" assistance, independent of speed. It is very honest and stable, won't move alone, actually you may get surprised at first, having

to de-turn it manually when cornering at low speeds.

So when first putting the hands on the Jazz it should be very easy to drive forward, but not backward! Body form, compact mirrors and blind spots at rear pillars, together with rear headrests are bit of a challenge, at the beginning. If you can get rear parking sensors, do it. I thought they were a luxury but as an offer from the dealer I kept them, and they are really helpfull. I think that without them, parking would have required a lot of training, due to car shape and said limitations.

Point (and test) the passenger mirror (and probably driver mirror) to outer road, not car body frontier, as blind spots from either sides would be otherwise rather dangerous.

Forward visibility is good (what a windscreen!). I drive with the seat placed full (or almost) at back so I have to stop a bit behind stop lights, but I do not find that annoying.

There is a small blind spot at my front pillar, because of that, not worrying, but in some more closed turns I find myself peeping quickly through my window.

Performance is said to be very good until about 100km/h, not so good beyond that; I have not raced the car, and I don't drive very fast; I think it is very capable in the city where I use mostly the 2nd and 3rd gear, and responsive also in highways between 90 and 120km/h, specially if you downshift before reving it. Also nice going uphills.

Never reved over 3000rpm on the first 3000km, to break-in, but actually never needed to rev over 3500rpm until now, and if in need, is probably just for fun, (or if you overtake in highways at higher speeds than those).

I think gears are a bit long, recommended usual change speeds at 25km/h (1st-2nd), 40km/h (2nd-3rd), 65km/h (3rd-4th), 75km/h (5th)

If you drive too slowly at 2nd it may jerk, so I prefer many times just to stop and reengage first, and then go slowly in 1st.

Breaks are very effective in medium speed emergency single-braking, but in city, if you come from non-ABS car, take care not to drive close to the next car because it won't stop (!) where you think it would. In cases of doubt, and if no one behind, brake hard from beginning.

Suspension is not too hard neither too soft.

But car is a bit affected by winds (if there are some) at high speeds (over 100km/h)

Noise isolation is good but not perfect, engine noise is low (no noise at all if idle and warm!), you can hear it if you rev it, but it is a pleasant relative low noise.

Economy is good. Computer says I am spending 6.0ltr/100km (over the last 800km) in a mixture of short trips (5 to 8km) in the city, not so short trips around the city (15 to 30km) and rare highway (100km).

But if you make many long trips and can use the 5th a lot maintaining 80-90km/h speeds, not exceeding 2000rpm, it seems to go down a bit to just below 5ltr/100km!

The computer is accurate, real measure can be a bit higher but close

enough (+0,3ltr/100km I think, not sure)

Usually I don't drive like that, I respect recommended speeds gear change, rpms fall usually above 2000rpm until 3500, I try to vary rpms

smoothly and also EGR is said to open at 2200 and that you should exercise it open, to keep it working and clean (known failure on older models). That does not affect much the economy, and I think trying to

use the 5th much in city can be deceiving; does not give you much if anything, and engine, transmission, and clutch, may suffer from the extra forces.

Never got a computer reading over 7.3ltr/100km in city even when using always AC on, and being stuck in traffic several times.

Dealer says it can get better economy after reaching 10,000km.

So until now, this car has performed exactly as expected, without even a single small failure.

I have studied several models during

months, and have chosen this over the 1.0 Yaris and several others; mainly for reliability/economy/flexibility. The Toyota is also very nice I think, but engine is weaker, at very low revs stalls easily, and you have to rev it to keep going even in the city. Not so flexible in space terms, but is said to have even better economy in

city, also safer in Euroncap. But I liked more driving the Honda, the more conservative looks, and the practical space solutions.