Author Topic: 80mpg Honda Jazz Hybrid (Read 3188 times)

RichardA · « **on:** December 18, 2008, 09:56:31 PM »

Autocar have some info on the Jazz hybrid....

http://autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/236673/

nothing we havent mentioned

....although, "Expect around 80mpg and 90g/km CO2 emissions", sounds interesting.

guest238 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 19, 2008, 08:48:36 PM »

Interesting discussion brewing over there. Alongside our Jazz we also have a MINI with stop/start and I can tell you it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to real-world mpg and - therefore - real-world emissions. The only benefit is cheaper road tax. Sound familiar? Yep, just like a hybrid car. Hybrid cars get it in the neck for not being as green as they claim as the technology is geared towards urban driving, yet no sooner had BMW announced stop/start and car journalists everywhere were grabbing their privates in delight and saying how those clever Germans had once again saved the world.

Next week, some engineers from BMW will be turning water into wine.

RichardA · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2008, 12:13:39 PM »

Unfortunately, you have a point. Hybrid cars are seen in a negative light because previous hybrids have been seen as being dull (Civic saloon, Prius) or compromised (like the original Insight), not to mention they've developed a kind of finger-wagging image.

In Car magazine's GBU new car section a few months back, they wrote for the Civic and Prius how a diesel makes more sense if you don't live in town (probably true). But for the MINI they wrote, "Frugal engines use BMW's start-stop". What's true for one should be true for the other frankly, as both hybrid and start-stop technology only really work in town. The only advantage to start-stop is it's a more elegant solution. Actually, don't some hybrids run solely on electric power at 25-30mph? Funny that Car's long-term MINI Cooper S with start-stop failed to get anywhere near it's claimed 46mpg.

I'm convinced there is an unintentional physiological bias towards German cars in the motoring press.

guest436 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2008, 06:56:10 PM »

Many writers on car magazines have this pro-German/anti-Jap viewpoint becasue they grew up in the late 70s to late 80s lusting after many of the desirable German cars of that era, like the VW Golf GTi Mk1 & 2, the 2nd generation BMW 3-series, etc. To these people, a Japanese car is something your granddad bought because it came with a radio and heated rear window as standard, and didn't go wrong every Tuesday like an Allegro or Mk2 Escort, which exactly were the selling points of Jap cars of that time.

I'm just into my 30's and my view of Japanese cars is completely different. I remember Colin McCrae thrashing a Scooby through a forest, those blalistic Accord Type R's, etc. These were the cars which grabbed my attention in the mid-to-late '90s.

culzean · « **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2009, 09:05:53 AM »

I'm glad others have noticed the blatant pro-german , anti-japanese bias in the press, Jap cars are often described as 'boring and dull' and German cars as 'well built, exciting and with advanced technology' - how far from the truth these statements are.

Just look at JD Power lists to see the real truth, 8 out of top 10 normally Jap, + 1 BMW and 1 Skoda (is that classed as German now VW own them?).