The first time I knew about Honda was when I was a child back in 1983. My father had a 1983 Honda XL100 that was issued to him by his company. My father worked as a home appliance technician for a Japanese owned company when we were young, and eventually became the head of parts and services of that company. My father passed away 7 years ago but the venerable Honda dirt bike still sputters to life every time we kick that starter. We still have it in our ancestral farm in Batangas and we use it for travelling around the forest to check the fruit bearing trees spread out across our land.
Back in 2009, my wife Ana bought a Honda Jazz after having experienced the durability of her mom’s 1993 Honda ESI. The Honda gave us a lot of good memories and trouble free service for 5 years and this review is a tribute to our little red 1.3 2nd generation Honda Jazz we affectionately call “Hamster”.
Engine Performance
The Honda Jazz that we purchased had a 1.3 iVTEC motor with 92hp. It is beyond it’s time and on top of the food chain of all 1.3 liter cars. I was able to test the top speed of this car and it can reach 195kph before the rev limiter cuts the power. Before we sold it, I tested it one last time and after 5 years and 44,000 kms, it can still deliver that top speed without breaking a sweat. There is also no feel that the car’s clutch lining is already worn out. Based on my experience with older Honda cars, the lining can last for 10 years in normal city driving. I think with proper maintenance, the new owner of our Jazz will have another 5 years of trouble free driving.
The cooling system never had any issues, no drama, no overheat. Maintenance cost ranges from 6,000 pesos to 10,000 which is very cheap. This car only requires a maintenance regimen every 10,000 kms which will save the owner time and money. It took us a year or more before we actually reach 10,000 kms. The Jazz is equipped with Drive-by-wire technology and the programming is a bit sporty. The throttle response is instant and the motor sounds very inspiring when the throttle is pressed heavily. The only drawback was when the car is on a steep hill and you attempt to quickly balance the clutch and the throttle to avoid the car from rolling back. It also feels quite under powered climbing the hills of Caylabne Cavite on one of our road trips. The car will experience a bit of lag and would often stall, I guess it was just me since my wife never encounters it. I got used to driving vehicles with very high torque. The Jazz only generates 110nm of torque. Overall engine performance is excellent and comparable to cars with a 1.5 liter displacement. Fuel efficiency on the other hand is not as good as the 1st generation Honda Jazz. The 1st Gen Jazz however felt under powered compared to the 2nd Gen but we buy these types of cars for fuel efficiency and practicality. Our Honda Jazz averaged 12 kms per liter of fuel while the 1st generation can do 13-14 kms per liter of fuel.
Practicality
For a new family this is the perfect car for you, when my wife and I got married, we used the car to carry all our gifts. The car has 379 liters of boot space when the seats are up but put the seats down and you can have over 700 liters of cargo capacity. There is also flexible cargo configurations that you can do. I am telling you we carried a single bed mattress, a brand new 2 HP split type air conditioner, a couch, and chickens, yes chickens inside our car with no issues. The Honda Jazz also has a unique door configuration that opens fully to easily allow the passenger to enter and exit the car.
Driving Dynamics
The Jazz is known for its off the rack performance. The suspension is very sporty, very well tuned to handle corners. I have tested the Honda to do fast corners with speeds exceeding 100 kph and it is able to do so with ease and no drama. Exceed those speeds and you can feel the stock 15 inch tires lose their grip as they cry for mercy biting on to dear life. But the suspension can still take more. With a tire and wheel upgrade and a skilled driver, this car can make cars with well tuned engines look down in shame. The steering is very light and precise. The steering response is said to be copied to the steering response of the Honda NSX, it is very precise and not too light nor too soft. The thing that can be improved is the steering feedback as the steering feels like the car is floating. The car is not giving me steering feedback that I can use to judge if my front wheels can still take my corner speed. The A pillars are also very thick and creates a huge blind spot that can cover a whole man. I had several close calls with this car because of that blind spot which resulted to us NOT buying another Jazz again. The ground clearance is also low and you will often find yourself scratching your mudguards on the speed bumps below. Braking power is the best attribute of this car. I have driven BMWs, Nissans, and high performance Evos but the braking power of this car is comparable if not better than those of the cars mentioned. It is equipped with 4 wheel ABS with EBD and 4 wheel disc brakes. I had a lot quick braking adventures with this car and it never missed a beat. No tire squeal, no loss of control, no pedal vibration, just unadulterated Japanese braking technology under your foot.
My Real Life Rating
Living with this car for 5 years I can say that there is nothing more reliable than a Honda. We have used, abused, cared, and loved this car and it gave us 5 years of wonderful service. They say that relationships cannot be all perfect but I say, our relationship with our little Hamster was perfect in every way. No drama, no heartaches, no expensive fights and most of all, full of fun memories. We will once again buy a Honda as soon as they release a crossover based on the Jazz.
LL