Jazz comes into the City...

Jazz comes into the City...

There was nothing out of the ordinary when I backed my blue Honda into the home garage last Wednesday night…or so I thought. With my head turned to the rear window, I noticed there would be four cars in total crowding into our driveway instead of the usual three.

The first thought that popped into my head as I trail-braked the SX8 City into position was Who’s our guest? But then it was weird: the silver little hatchback was wedged into the inside by our other cars, so maybe it was someone staying overnight.

On closer inspection the foreign car revealed itself as a silver GD1 Honda Jazz 1.3. Okay…what was this car doing here?

My dad asked me while I walked up the front door. “So how do you like it?” Now it occurred to me that this car was a new addition to our family, probably under my mom’s name.

However I wasn’t prepared to hear the truth: it was a birthday present for me.

Holy cow.

My folks had paid for the second-hand Jazz 50/50. Now I always thought there would be a fourth car along the way because Bianca would have to learn to drive herself to work at her very early schedule. Besides it was a very open topic. It never occurred to me however that it would be given to me as a gift.

They said the next car I’d have would have to come from my own pocketbook…which is what I had in mind while I was driving the City in the first place. Still, I was flabbergasted and overwhelmed by it all, and it felt so surreal.

The reality of the Jazz being mine made itself felt during the past couple of days that I was able to drive it. Having several obvious scratches and a rather dirty interior from its previous owner made for a slightly underwhelming first impression, but for me it’s all about the drive. This is where I learned that while it’s easy to be appreciative of cars you test-drive, there’s a lot more you can say about them when you actually own them on a daily basis.

The Jazz I tested almost a year ago carried the L15A VTEC engine and the CVT. My 2005 car has the more frugal but less powerful L13A3 i-DSI lump and a good old manual gearbox. Both have electric power steering. It’s interesting how both cars square up to my City’s old D15B7 engine, stick-shift and hydraulic power steering.

• Barely 5 minutes into driving it, I could already sense the electric steering feels video-game artificial compared to the City’s hydraulic helm. While it’s capable enough, it’s rather numb in terms of road feel and a little disconcerting at first. To my slight disappointment, the textured steering wheel itself can get slippery if you get sweaty hands. Moving the wheel on your palms alone is out of the question.
  

• The L13A3 engine can never claim to be a powerhouse; it was designed for maximum fuel economy, not Honda’s hallmark high-RPM horsepower. However, despite being 30bhp down on the Jazz VTEC and my old City, the 1.3L unit is much better at torque delivery at low RPM than either, making for easier driving. It’s also surprisingly easy to hustle to the redline when overtaking. What horsepower is there is easily accessible by working the slick shifter, and for public roads 82bhp is already a lot. I’m impressed.
  

• The driving position is very good, although I reiterate the opinion that perhaps this car was designed with the CVT in mind, due to the van-like pedal placement. The clutch takes relearning: it’s slightly offset to the right, spongy, and has a hard-to-feel contact point, which affects smoothness in first-gear crawls. My City’s clutch has a snappy spring-like action and meaningful weight, in contrast. The brakes are quite good.
  

• Make no mistake: while the Jazz feels huge inside, it’s a very compact car in terms of exterior dimensions. Relearning the dimensions of a small hatchback coming from a compact sedan means the spaces you once thought were too close for comfort are actually still at least 6 inches away from causing any dents. How Honda liberated all this room from such a small, modern car amazes me to this day.
  

• I’m all for refinement, but the Jazz is almost too refined. The whole combination of light-effort electric power steering, low road-noise levels, gruffer engine note and airy interior conspire to make driving seem easier than it really is. The unfortunate downside is it has less of the raw mechanical character of the City it replaces that made it so great to drive hard. I don’t discount the car’s good traits—Car & Driver deem its US Fit cousin as the very best subcompact around, despite running the L15A VTEC engine—but it’ll take a while for me to fully appreciate the Jazz’s slightly different dynamics and priorities.
  

• The raison d’etre of the L13A3 engine is fuel efficiency, and it’s certainly amazing how the Jazz ran with so little fuel in its innards from my house in Paranaque to my office in Mandaluyong. I expect it to handily outstrip my old City in this department, which still manages a commendable 10-11 km/L in my high-revving hands.

• The best punchline I’ve yet heard about the Jazz came from Jajah: “You could make babies in this car!”

At least now I can say one of the items on my wishlist came true...in a very unexpected way. Major thanks to my mom and dad, this was the biggest surprise I've ever had.