Test Drive: New (2G) Honda Jazz i-VTEC 5AT

It's one of Honda's youngest models, being barely 8 years old. Yet the Honda Fit/Jazz is probably one of Honda's greatest models of all time. Barely 2 generations old, the original 1Gen Honda Fit/Jazz was a huge success, winning over millions of fans - myself included. The Honda Fit/Jazz was first introduced to the world back in 2001. Honda launched the new 2nd Gen Fit in Japan just slightly over a year ago. This was followed by the launch of the Asian spec Honda Jazz by Honda Thailand in the latter half of last year (2008). Finally, Honda Malaysia's launch of the new 2G Jazz in mid-December of last year gave me the chance to check the new 2G Jazz up close.

Honda Malaysia did not hold a media test-drive event for the Jazz and a short while after the launch event, they started inviting media journalists to borrow the new 2G Jazz i-VTEC for testing. As per my normal approach, I requested that they contact me when any one of their review units has clocked around 10,000km accumulated mileage. An unusual request as most journalists would want to get the car early to beat their competitors to an early review. However, Honda Malaysia understood the rationale for my request and worked hard to cooperate. It was a rather long wait but finally I was able to get a car for a full review. The unit I took, in blue pearl, had a total of almost 9,000km accumulated mileage on the odo and was thus nicely run in.

In terms of driving, the 2G Fit i-VTEC features three significant changes. First is the updated L15A i-VTEC engine which is now fitted with mild/wild VTEC and delivers 120ps max power, 10ps more than the old L15A VTEC. For Asia, a very significant change is the replacement of the superb CVT-7 with a standard 5AT gearbox. Finally, in the very important area of braking, the Asian Jazz i-VTEC comes with 1-inch larger front brakes. Curiously, the JDM Fit i-VTEC does not seem to have this upgrade as there is no mention about braking upgrades in the media guide for it on www.honda.co.jp.

As an enthusiast, the more powerful engine and larger brakes were great improvements. But the deletion of the CVT-7 gearbox and its replacement by the 5AT was a big disappointment as I am a firm believer of the superiority of the CVT over the standard AT gearbox. While waiting for the Honda Malaysia media cars to clock sufficient mileage, I did not bother to get a casual test-drive at one of the Honda dealers. Consequently, I have not been able to see if there are any adverse effects of moving to a normal 5AT. Still, the media drive of the new 3G City in the interim did gave me good feelings since it too has a 5AT in place of the CVT-7.

And so it was with anticipation but some slight reservations that I took the keys to the new 2G Jazz from Honda Malaysia, climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. Things quickly got off to a better than good start as it felt literally like 'coming home' when I settled down into the nice snug seats. A quick look at the instrument panel immediately tells me that this is an updated version of the one I am driving on a daily basis.

Initial Impressions

Driving out of the Honda Malaysia office, the first and foremost impression was its much greater 'urge' to throttle input. Honda calls this the 'gutsy feel' of the new car - prod the throttle at low speeds and the car literally leaps forward. Coming from the rather lacklustre reaction of the 1G Jazz VTEC to heavy throttle inputs, this characteristic can be quite addictive in the beginning. In one basement car park, I actually indulged in a little bit of harmless, perhaps childish fun getting the Jazz to 'jump' forward, with tyres squealing on the concrete floor, by repeatedly jabbing at the throttle pedal then letting go.

This kind of 'gutsy feel' gives the new Jazz i-VTEC an especially good 'move-off' characteristic from standstill and very low speeds. Consequently the new Jazz i-VTEC has quite good performance in general low to medium speed city type driving. Right out from the Honda Malaysia marketing office, I needed to get across 3-lanes of fast 80-90kph traffic to the other side. Here the new Jazz i-VTEC was in its element, with a purposeful and confident surge forward once the throttle is floored, allowing me to get across when there's only just a small gap in the approaching traffic. It was in fact, much better than even the Civic 2.0S or the Accord 2.4 VTi-L. By comparison, the 1G Jazz VTEC was anemic. The engagement of power to the driving wheels is much gentler and gradual compared to the 2G Jazz i-VTEC. It feels almost like it struggles to get the car to move, in great contrast to the 'jack-rabbit' reaction of the new model.

An advantage of this sort of 'gutsy feel' characteristic is that it gives the impression of 'powerful'. The urgency to throttle input actually makes the engine feels like it's more powerful than it is. For city style stop-and-go driving where we seldom if ever have the need for extended WOT runs, the Jazz i-VTEC feels more than powerful enough, especially when in 'S-mode'

Normal Driving

Once on the move, and driving around casually in D-mode, the gearbox will strive to keep itself amongst the highest gears. In fully automatic mode, the gear changes are smooth and almost imperceptible in light throttle and easy cruising conditions. In S-mode, the gearbox keeps to the lower gears for all except very light throttle cruising. Gear changes are still smooth though it can be felt more clearly in this mode. A very nice improvement is how Honda has tuned the gearbox such that on all but very steep inclines, we can now release the brake pedal when in gear and the car will not roll backward or forward. This is a nice characteristic as it means I very seldom had to use the handbrake to hold the car stationary when moving off on an incline.

The new Jazz i-VTEC continues to offer sequential shifting, this time using paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel. Like the Civic and Accord, there are two modes of sequential shifting, one for D and one for S. Both are activated by simply working either of the paddles, to initiate a manual shift. In D, the sequential mode is only temporary, with the ECU monitoring driver's input and switching back to automatic mode when it decides that sequential shift override is no longer necessary. I find this mode very useful during normal driving for those occasions when I need to get into the lower gears briefly. E.g. overtaking against on-coming traffic, cutting out into a fast moving lane, or simply for a short moment of fun taking a tight corner.

Sequential shifting in S is implemented in the so-called 'Shift and Hold' mode. In this mode, once we have activated manual shifting override, the ECU will hold the selected gear even when we start bouncing against the rev-limiter. It will only override to downshift when the gear selected is too high for the speed, i.e. to avoid the engine stalling at too low an rpm.

As normal, the suspension has been improved. The front suspension has extensively re-tuned caster settings, together with new stiffer bushings, revised shocks, etc. For one, the front suspension no longer goes 'clunk' disconcertingly when going too fast over a speed hump. The rear suspension also has significant improvements; longer trailing arm, improved geometry, stiffer springs, new stiffer bushings and a redesigned H-beam (axle). All these translate to a much more pliant and control ride especially when going over badly surfaced roads or undulating un-even surfaces. Over badly paved roads which would cause the 1G Jazz VTEC to pitch about a bit more than desirable, the 2G Jazz i-VTEC soaks it up much like larger more expensive cars would.

A significant improvement is the NVH. The noise level during idle received special attention and now the driving cabin is virtually silent when the engine is idling. At high speed light throttle cruising, the Jazz i-VTEC impresses with its lack of booming wind noise. Now only the tyre roar intrudes into the cabin. This is indeed a huge improvement especially for a car of the Jazz's size and market segment.

The steering now feels heavier. While I like the new more purposeful feel when working the steering wheel, the greater effort needed can occasionally be a double edged sword. Lately I have been a student of the so-called 'push-pull' method of turning the steering wheel. This is a method of turning the steering wheel where we 'shuffle' our hands a lot because we pass grip on the steering wheel from one hand to the other. The objective is to keep each hand on its own half of the steering wheel - left hand on left half, right hand on right half, so as to avoid them crossing when doing lots of turns. Here, the light steering feel of the 1G Jazz VTEC is actually more conducive to push-pull type steering because it requires less effort, especially as we are more or less using only 1 hand most of the time. Take the example of driving slowly in a residential area. Roads are generally narrower and there will be lots of right angle turns as we get from one junction to another. Another perhaps more enthusiast related example would be in a gymkhana or autocross. In driving conditions like this, the heavier steering feel of the 2G Jazz i-VTEC can occasionally feel just a little bit unwelcome. On the other hand, in all out high speed driving like driving on the race track, the heavier steering do give a more confident feel. It also has a very nice and positive centering feel. There is no vagueness when the car is moving straight ahead - the steering wheel does not feel like the mounting bolt needs to be tightened. Actually the 1G Jazz VTEC is already very good in this aspect. But the 2G Jazz i-VTEC is quite a bit better.

For the 2G Jazz i-VTEC, Honda decided to further improve the braking system by upgrading the front brakes, from 13" size (including the brake caliper) to 14" size. The caliper itself seems larger as well. This is really quite significant as there's clearly more pad to disc contact area. This is also quite necessary because Honda has upsized the wheels again, from 15-inch to 16-inch. So the larger rotating inertia would have degraded the brake performance had they retained the original 1G brake system. It was more than adequate - close to excellent (note: for a car of the Jazz's market segment) but that was with 15-inch wheels. Now with the larger 16-inch wheels, the new larger brake disc results in a nett improvement in outright braking performance.

Like the 1G Jazz, the brake pedal continues to be firm without much 'give' to heavy foot pressure. The brakes bite well for casual partial braking. Stock-wise, Honda's brakes are never very progressive. And so the Jazz i-VTEC continues that tradition. But it still stops well when asked to. I cannot modulate the braking like a musician adjusting or correcting the tune of his/her violin or guitar. But when I press hard, the Jazz i-VTEC stops well.

Balls-Out to the Red-line.

Going beyond just casual driving, I was eager to try out the real performance of the Jazz i-VTEC starting of course with the performance in all-out WOT runs. Honda used very high ratios for 1st and 2nd gears. This was apparent the moment I tried my first WOT 1-2-3 gear run out of a toll-gate. Max speed in 1st gear is just 55kph and max speed in 2nd gear just over 96kph. These speeds indicate effective gear ratios higher than those in the 5MT of my DA6 ! Consequently, acceleration in 1st and 2nd gear is really good especially for a car of the Jazz i-VTEC's size and segment. This means the Jazz i-VTEC accelerates quite well right up to around 100kph. However, acceleration in the higher gears after 2nd becomes lacklustre. The effective ratio in 3rd gear drops drastically, especially when compared to the high 1st & 2nd ratios. After barely hitting 60mph (96kph) in 2nd, get into 3rd and the car will go all the way to almost 160kph (~100mph) when pushed to the red-line ! Actual speed registered on the dyno was 158kph when the tacho needle hits the rev-cut (almost 7,000rpm). This is a very big drop in ratio. By comparison, my DA6 will barely exceed 135kph at the end of the rev-range in 3rd (actual rpm = 8,300) eventhough it similarly tops out at only 99kph at the end of 2nd gear. In 4th, the theoretical max speed possible would be almost 225kph at the 7,000rpm rev-cut. Of course in practice the Jazz i-VTEC doesn't have the power to get anywhere near this kind of speed.

So, acceleration can be considered good (for a car in this segment) up to ~100kph, after which it becomes so-so and by the time 4th and especially 5th gear comes in, the 2G Jazz's acceleration gets quite laborious indeed. Honda has again reverted to their standard formula for this 5AT, grouping 1st and 2nd into 1 group - short geared for sprinting around - and 3rd, 4th, 5th into another group, tall geared for high speed cruising and relaxed driving.

As a result, overtaking is a mixed affair. When overtaking slow moving vehicles, e.g. large trailers struggling at 50kph, it is actually quite fun because this can be accomplished mostly in 2nd gear. But when the overtaken vehicles are going at faster speeds like 70 or 80kph, overtaking can now be an 'event', especially in narrow country roads as we need 3rd gear to complete the overtaking.

So, long WOT runs in the 2G Jazz i-VTEC can be a frustrating affair and it is actually outgunned (slightly) by the 1G Jazz VTEC in this area. In a top-speed run to say 160kph, once we get into 3rd gear, that final 50-60kph rush to the 'century' can be pretty boring indeed. As for actual top-speed, I did tried and even with the benefit of a downhill stretch, the car will not exceed 180kph by much. I was completely unable to hit 180kph on a level road and uphill will see speed drop to below 180kph. This is with a car which has 8,900km total mileage. With the 1G Jazz VTEC as well as the 2G City VTEC, I could exceed 190kph on level roads. In fact, during the 2G City VTEC's media drive event, the unit I drove which had barely 1000km on the odo almost reached 200kph on one downhill stretch.

As part of the 'better grunt' tuning, Honda has also made the gearbox more 'aggressive' with kickdown behavior. The gearbox now downshifts after only slightly more than half throttle position. In fact, there are two stages of kickdown; a 1 gear downshift for around half throttle; and when the throttle is rammed into WOT, the gearbox can (and often will) do a 2 gears downshift. This happens in D-mode. In S-mode, because the gearbox tends to use lower gears in all except very light throttle driving, I often find the gearbox downshifting to 2nd or even 1st gear. This can be a lot of fun when driving aggressively as the very responsive gearbox makes the Jazz i-VTEC very preppy. But occasionally the gearbox can feel just a tad 'over-active'. And because the engine is more vocal now (it's a nice throaty sound actually), this sometimes can work against the Jazz i-VTEC as the 2 gears downshift means the engine revs up a lot and more casual drivers might now complain about a 'noisy engine'.

Even the response time of the paddle shifters have been improved by Honda. There is a lot less lag between the time the paddles are squeezed to the actual gear shift. Generally the gear shifts are also executed very smoothly, with just a change of the car's pace and the engine sonic volume accompanying the shift. However, in heavy throttle and especially WOT positions, the gearchange can still be a little bit crude and abrupt.

At high speed, whether steady high speed cruising or balls-out top speed runs, the Jazz i-VTEC stays relatively very stable for its size. It tracks the line confidently and there is absolutely no 'wondering' at high speed. Hard braking from high speeds is slightly more confident and stable in the new Jazz i-VTEC, obviously benefiting from the 1-inch larger brake discs.

On the twisty road

Moving away from pure straight line performance and into the twisty roads, for its segment the 2G Jazz's handling is way above average. It is a really very fun to drive car. The suspension is firm, like the 1G Jazz but it is also clear that the shocks have been uprated because suspension rebound is better damped than in the 1G. It is now possible to go faster over speed bumps, without the car jumping over it like a skateboarder, and without the loud thud of the shocks hitting the limit of its travel during the rebound. As a result, composure of the car when driving over roads with bad surfaces is quite a bit less jarring eventhough the 2G Jazz I am testing has larger 16-inch wheels. Control over wavy and uneven roads is quite good - the car feels under control though it can pitch around a bit, rather like a boat at sea. But the car does not float and feels planted on the road. I was able to throw the Jazz i-VTEC around corners pretty much like my own 1G Jazz VTEC, and it actually feel a little bit more stable, thanks to the better damping of the suspension. However I have Michelin PP2 tyres on my 1G Jazz, which I feel are quite a bit better than the Bridgestone Turanzas the 2G Jazz has. So this means the 2G Jazz suspension must be quite a bit improved.

The heavier steering feel gives the car a better sense of stability especially over long high speed corners. The lightish feel of the 1G Jazz can make the car just a little bit unstable because it's just so easy to unintentionally move the steering wheel ever so slightly - and the reaction is amplified by the rather high steering ratio. Now with the heavier resistance, the steering wheel isn't so easy to accidentally move around. So taking long high speed corners is correspondingly more stable.

For fast driving over twisty roads, the use of the paddle shifters of course adds a lot of speed and fun. It is possible to do the twisties in D-mode, using the temporary over-ride mode of the paddle shifters to pre-select gears for fast corner entries for e.g. However like the Civic and Accord, the ECU does not seem to employ fuzzy logic, or maybe the logic is not intelligent enough. So I find the ECU often interferes by going back to automatic mode at the wrong time. E.g. I downshift a couple of gears to ready for a spirited corner entry. Then I feather the throttle over the corner. Right smack in the middle of the corner, the ECU decides I no longer need the lower gear that I selected, gets back to automatic mode and upshifts to 5th on my behalf. This can be quite irritating if I am taking the corner at all out speed. Re-using the paddle to downshift again can upset the balance of the car. In any case, the ECU will still quickly go back to automatic mode again after that. I find the ECU more or less uses only the throttle position to decide whether to switch back to automatic mode. So if I downshift into a very tight corner and powers out almost immediately after the downshift, the ECU will hold the gear nicely for me. But not all corners allow me to do that. The other option is to downshift after the apex when I am ready to give the car throttle to power out of the corner. If I don't pre-downshift with the paddle shifter, the 5AT will go into kickdown which slows the corner exit speed.

So for 'attacking corners', it is much better to use S-mode manual override for the twisty roads. As override is 'shift and hold' in S-mode, it means I am kept in my selected gear all through the corner, much like with a manual transmission. The only thing I wish for with S-mode manual override is for the 'on-off' button like on the 1G Jazz VTEC. I.e. I want to be able to manually go back to regular automatic mode. Now, I can go from automatic mode to manual sequential override mode by using one of the two paddles. But once I am in the shift-and-hold override mode, the only way I can get back to automatic S-mode is to shift to D and then back to S. So the option to choose between automatic-S mode and Shift-and-Hold manual sequential override mode would be a very nice feature.

Other Significant Observations

Eventhough we are talking about driving the new 2G Jazz i-VTEC here, first and foremost is actually just getting into the driver's seat itself. The driving environment can often be equally as important, if not even more important than the actual speed of a car. The fastest car will be a failure if the driver needs to sit in an uncomfortable cramped position with badly laid out controls.

Getting into the driver's seat, I was easily able to adjust the driving position to suit my taste. Like my 1G Jazz VTEC, the driver's seat offers seat-rest tilt, seat forward/backward, and seat height adjustments. The steering wheel now offers an extra telescopic adjustment in addition to the standard tilt adjustment and this is crucial in offering that little extra flexibility to make the driving controls just nicely within reach. So I was able to quickly settle down comfortably, immediately feeling at home in the driver's seat. The pedal positions are also similar to the 1G Jazz which is generally well placed but now complemented by a large footrest for the left foot. The driver's seat even offers a left arm rest. The gear shifter is placed nicely and moves with a solid and confident feel. Note however that physically I am a six-footer with a longer than average lower torso.

Unlike my initial feelings during the launch, now that I have actually spent time with the 2G Jazz i-VTEC, I find the interior quality to be acceptable. It's not as high as that in my 1G Jazz VTEC (which is made in Japan) but it is not very much different from the level of quality in the 1G Jazz'es made in Thailand. In fact, the seats are firmer and actually more supportive and comfortable now, even the back Ultra-seats.

Improved visibility for the new Jazz

Visibility was one of the weakest points of the original 1G Jazz. Honda made a special effort to improve visibility in the new 2G Jazz i-VTEC, taking note of the weakest areas and attempting to address them. The larger triangle windows in the front doors are now actually functional, offering a view of the road just ahead of the fenders. In the 1G Jazz, the large secondary A-pillars more or less obstruct any visibility they may offer when viewed from the driver's seat. From the driver's seat, it is also very clear the front windscreen is very much larger. Looking out from inside the new 2G Jazz, the visual impact is somewhat similar to when (for e.g.) we switch from watching a 32-inch to a larger 42-inch T.V. Similarly, the door windows are larger as well.

Rear visibility too has been improved but only to a limited extent. Though made smaller, the heavy-set rear pillars still obstruct the rear 3/4 views from the driver's seat. However, the new rear seat head-rests are very effective in enhancing visibility out of the rear hatch glass.

Fuel economy was one of the original 1G Jazz's greatest strengths. And despite its 10ps higher power, Honda says the new L15A i-VTEC still gives almost as good fuel economy as the old L15A VTEC. In real life, this does seem to be the case but only to a certain extent. It was relative easy to get readings of 16-17km/l from the fuel consumption computer in easy going, light throttle driving. However, forget about fuel economy if you start driving aggressively. Unlike the 1G which can often still return satisfactory economy (like 10-11km/l) for moderately spirited driving, once we start to go more than gentle on the throttle in the 2G, consumption quickly falls below the 10km/l range. I feel this is due to the 5AT's disadvantage to the CVT-7. In the 1G, I can keep rpm below 4000 or even 3000rpm and still get plenty of 'go'. Without ever exceeding 4000rpm, I could drive up the twisty roads to the Genting Highlands mountain-top resort, even overtaking many cars up on the way. This can't be done in the 2G. I need to continuously keep the engine revving up the rev-range even if all I want is to go just a bit faster than normal. And so the fuel economy suffers accordingly. Nevertheless, for normal driving, I did average only just a little worse fuel consumption than my 1G Jazz VTEC. For 10ps more power, I suppose this is an acceptable trade-off.

Conclusion

The 1G Jazz was a run-away success. Unfortunately this new 2G Jazz is not. Due to the less than favorable pricing of the 2G Jazz i-VTEC, Honda Malaysia knows that they are caught in a delima. The more desirable version will be the Grade-V which comes with lots of features like paddle shifters, etc, that Honda enthusiasts and Jazz fans in particular will find enticing. Yet at the same time, the high cost of importing from Thailand means that the selling price of the Jazz Grade-V is very near that of the FD1 Honda Civic 1.8S. For only a few thousands more for a Civic, Honda Malaysia knows that the new 2G Jazz is not going to set the market alight like how its predecessor, the 1G did. And that is what has happened. When I spoke with the head of marketing recently, he lamented how sales of the new 2G Jazz i-VTEC is "hardly moving"

Nevertheless after having it for a proper full review test, my rating of the new 2G Jazz i-VTEC is that it is really a very fine car. In fact, I think its outright performance is actually quite a bit higher than that of the FD1 Civic 1.8S against which its pricing pits it against within the Honda model range. Certainly the timed performance (i.e. standing start acceleration and especially the braking test) results are better than the 1.8l Civic. It is also a lot more agile in handling as well, indeed a lot more fun to drive.

Once a Jazz fan, always a Jazz fan.

Minutes after driving out of the Honda Malaysia office car-park in the new 2Gen Honda Jazz i-VTEC media loaner car, these words were already flashing through my mind. I am very impressed with the 2G Jazz i-VTEC, even if I see it from my hard-core enthusiast eye. I agree that it doesn't have enough performance to qualify as a 'hot-hatch', not in the league of the legendary EG6s and EK4s of old. But I would still happily call it a 'warm-hatch'. It will easily take down something like the D15B EG4s and EK3s of old. Test one out with an open mind and there is a good chance you will be as suitably impressed as I am.