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LET me come clean and say right off the bat that I
own a first-generation Honda Jazz, a car I have splurged tons of
beer money and spent dozens of sleepless nights on. I fell so much
in love with this car that I just had to inhibit myself from writing
an article about it for the sake of delicadeza. With the arrival of
the second-generation Jazz, I find myself nursing ambivalent
feelings. On the one hand, I want to be happy for Honda customers
for having another reason to drive to the nearest showroom. But on
the other hand, I want to smirk and find fault with the new Jazz
model, just so I can continue feeling good about my own car, which I
purchased only last year.
Here, then, is my best attempt at
nitpicking. If Honda takes me off its media list after this column,
I’d perfectly understand.
Yes, I know, the new Jazz looks
pretty at first glance. It has a shorter, more delicate nose, and
the protruding taillights are to die for. Add to this slimmer A- and
B-pillars, and you have a model that does seem sleeker in every
respect. But I still like my Jazz better, thank you very much. The
old one looks more masculine and its appeal strikes me as more
enduring. The new model is pretty in a Sam Milby kind of way; the
old one is Robin Padilla all the way.
The new direction indicators in
the side mirrors are a nice touch, except Filipino drivers don’t
pay attention to turn signals anyway. The push-open mechanism of the
fuel lid is thoughtful, but I’m not sure I want to explain to the
gas-station attendant how it works every time I buy fuel.
My car has a 1.3-liter i-DSI
engine, worth a paltry 81 horses and 118 Newton-meters of torque.
The new Jazz’s 1.3-liter engine is already i-VTEC, and has upped
its vital specs to 99hp and 127Nm. But does it really matter? I just
go around a city with bumper-to-bumper traffic anyway. The 1.5-liter
i-VTEC power plant has also increased its figures from 109hp to
118hp and from 142Nm of torque to 145Nm. I’ll leave it up to the
owners of 1.5-liter Jazz units to determine for themselves if such
an upgrade is really essential.
Also, if you’re an owner of a
1.5-liter unit, the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) option
is no more. Honda won’t say it, of course, but there had been loud
whispers that the CVT components in the first-gen Jazz were so
problematic that Honda decided to simply retire the feature in the
new model. In its place is a pair of paddle shifters. Cool, yes, but
I still like a manual tranny better. Driving is manlier that way.
The dashboard layout in the new
Jazz is admittedly very stylish, but I like the materials used in
the old model better. The new Jazz has built-in iPod connectivity,
but the audio unit is modular; good luck upgrading to a higher-end
sound system. The sci-fi-looking meters are indeed very modern now,
but I fear they are too flashy not to distract the driver from,
well, driving.
The new car is 55 millimeters
longer and has a wheel-base that’s lengthier by 50 millimeters.
These dimensions translate to a knee room increase of 40
millimeters. The new model is also 20 millimeters wider, resulting
in 25 millimeters more of shoulder room. All this is very good, but
I have no complaints with my current car in terms of space anyway. I
sleep there all the time, in fact. But that’s another story.
The rear doors of the new Jazz
apparently open to a generous 80-degree angle, a feature that has
absolutely no use to me since I don’t have rear passengers and I
don’t load huge stuff into my car. The base of the luggage room is
now pegged at 605 millimeters from the ground. This is supposed to
improve ease of loading items in the back. Thanks, but I’m not
particularly lacking in height to greatly mind a slightly higher
cargo-compartment opening.
The innovative ULT
(utility/long/tall) seats are still a main selling point in the new
Jazz, and have even been improved. This time, you no longer need to
remove the headrests to fold them flat into the floor. The way I see
it, however, only the laziest couch potato complains about removing
a pair of headrests every time he wants to bring along a mountain
bike.
Worse, the new Jazz 1.3 S manual
is priced at P707,000 (the 1.3 S automatic is P747,000 and the 1.5 V
automatic is P797,000). I got mine for just a little over P600,000.
Of course, you do realize that
the above gripes have been written by someone whose beloved car has
just been made obsolete from the current product line.
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