Unfortunately, moving from an HRV EX I miss the self dimming rear view interior mirror and the dipping wing mirror when reversing, also the passenger seat does not have adjustable height. Shame.
Hondas penny-pinching spoils the alloy wheels with the ugly plastic trims.
The reversing camera largely compensates for the absence of the dipping wing mirror although it's omission saves no money as the motor is still in the mirror for adjustment. I've no complaint about the plastic trims on my Crosstar's wheels. There's less shiny metal to keep clean.
I didn't realise just how complex the Jazz drivetrain is. The Toyota has a more simple drivetrain, or at least it has to my mind.
The Jazz is mechanically relatively simple: Basically there's a generator (which can also work as a motor) bolted to the engine plus a motor (which can also work as a generator) fixed to the final drive with a box of solid state electronics (assisted by the battery and possible super-capacitor) matching the engine speed to the road speed/power requirement.Then there's the clutch that enables direct drive if cruising above about 43mph (I measured this on my Crosstar) to avoid the energy loss through the box of electronics. All this, except the battery, is contained in a module of similar size to the CVT gearbox and the electronics has got its own cooling system. I don't know if the generator attached to the engine replaces the flywheel which was the case with the IMA hybrids.
As the review noted, this transmission configuration avoids the engine speed variations associated with a mechanical CVT gearbox and the engine can go immediately to the speed needed to match the power requirement with the battery handling any small shortfall / surplus in power. Honda calls it eCVT which is technically correct but causes many people to think that there's still a mechanical CVT gearbox under the bonnet.
The Jazz pricing might become more competitive. I recall that there's currently a 10% tariff on vehicles imported from Japan which will disappear when the UK - Japan trade agreement is implemented while, on the other hand, it's currently looking likely that there will soon be a 10% tariff on vehicles imported from Europe.
