New Crosstar this week - First Impressions

[John Ratsey]

1. Lack of passenger seat adjustment - particularly as the seat is set strangely low but not a deal breaker
2. The hard acceleration experience - more noise than “go” - probably me needing to adjust to the car characteristics
3. Biggest issue, at 70mph I could feel high frequency vibration through the steering wheel - I only had a brief motorway stint ( couple of miles) so I’m hoping it may be that I didn’t allow the car to “relax” at that speed post acceleration.

Items 1 and 2 are what they are but what are your views about item 3? 

1. As Honda didn't make the passenger seat height-ajustable they set it low to allow for big people. One work-around is a cushion.
2. The vehicle handles a burst of acceleration (eg 0 - 30mph or 30 - 50mph) very competently as this is within the capability of the battery to provide a brief burst of power. Any demand for additional power has to be met by the engine getting up to the appropriate speed and there will be more commotion than in a vehicle with a bigger engine.
3. Did you report the steering vibration to the dealer? I would suspect a wheel balancing problem - it's not normal.

[Gas Jazz]

Hi John Ratsey

Thank you for your response

- seat height is what it is and not really an issue once “acclimatised” I would imagine unless there is a specific access need.
- the same may be true for getting used to the engine characteristics
- with regard to the vibration I sort of mentioned it but didn’t get a response and I didn’t pursue it as it felt too high frequency to be wheel balance - reminded me of how diesels used to feel almost a buzz sensation through the wheel.
- It might be that I’m hypersensitive to this but for me this would be a deal breaker if it was the norm as it would drive me mad on a long motorway journey

[Expatman]

Hi John Ratsey

Thank you for your response

- seat height is what it is and not really an issue once “acclimatised” I would imagine unless there is a specific access need.
- the same may be true for getting used to the engine characteristics
- with regard to the vibration I sort of mentioned it but didn’t get a response and I didn’t pursue it as it felt too high frequency to be wheel balance - reminded me of how diesels used to feel almost a buzz sensation through the wheel.
- It might be that I’m hypersensitive to this but for me this would be a deal breaker if it was the norm as it would drive me mad on a long motorway journey

Same quandary, low set passenger seat could be a deal breaker for me. Why didn't Honda fit an adjustable seat like the drivers seat? Almost everyone else does so why do Honda have to be so difficult and different?

[nowster]

Same quandary, low set passenger seat could be a deal breaker for me. Why didn't Honda fit an adjustable seat like the drivers seat? Almost everyone else does so why do Honda have to be so difficult and different?

They've never fitted a height adjustable passenger seat in the Jazz.

As to the "harsh sound on hard acceleration" complete with gear change pitch changes, that's actually cosmetic and appears to be played through the speakers. This appears to be a common thing on hybrids and electrics.

[Zaier]

No, the rev change is real and not played on the speakers, I've checked with my OBD.

[nowster]

No, the rev change is real and not played on the speakers, I've checked with my OBD.

Hmm. In that case it's possibly the switch from engine-generator-motor mode to direct drive.

However, I find that the noise only happens during hard acceleration and goes away when you reach your target speed.

[Zaier]

No, the switch from series to parallel happens only over 70km/h (43mph), the rev change can happen at much lower speeds.
It is a weird software implementation just to simulate the ancient shift change.

[John Ratsey]

Honda designed the system to avoid the engine revs yo-yoing up and down and this results in a big change in the engine speed when there's a call for more power with any excess/shortfall being handled by the battery unless even more power is needed (or the battery charge is low) in which case there's a further significant increase in the revs. 

[Expatman]

Same quandary, low set passenger seat could be a deal breaker for me. Why didn't Honda fit an adjustable seat like the drivers seat? Almost everyone else does so why do Honda have to be so difficult and different?

They've never fitted a height adjustable passenger seat in the Jazz.

The question is why don't Honda fit a height adjustable passenger seat? A simple thing to do and it would be beneficial for their customers, particularly older ones like me and I suspect many others. My wife has a back problem so finds low seats very difficult to get in/out of - so could be a deal breaker. Using a cushion is a non starter, I am not going to pay £24k for a car I have to add a £5 cushion to!!

[Hicardo]

ive just driven 500 miles at 65mph on motorway in Crosstar, and can tell you the car is rock solid--no steering vibrations.  if you've experienced this on a test drive - like others have suggested, its probably a dealer demo thats been badly kerbed or is missing a wheel weight 

[Gas Jazz]

Hi Hicardo

Thanks for your response.

- The car didn’t feel unstable to me and there was no wheel shimmy, just a buzz type high frequency vibration I could feel through the wheel.

- As I’ve said before this may be a characteristic that I’m hypersensitive to ( I hope not).

- I’m presuming from your response you haven’t experienced anything like this which is good news.

- I have a second test drive booked for July 5, extended this time for 2 hours so I will be able to check it again.

- I know they only have one demonstrator so it will be the same vehicle and I will ask the question if I detect it again.

- Good colour choice by the way - if we buy one that’s what we will go for!

[guest9236]

Same quandary, low set passenger seat could be a deal breaker for me. Why didn't Honda fit an adjustable seat like the drivers seat? Almost everyone else does so why do Honda have to be so difficult and different?

They've never fitted a height adjustable passenger seat in the Jazz.

As to the "harsh sound on hard acceleration" complete with gear change pitch changes, that's actually cosmetic and appears to be played through the speakers. This appears to be a common thing on hybrids and electrics.

I beg to differ all our Jazz Mk3 ex have passenger seat adjust for height.

[Hicardo]

Hi Hicardo

Thanks for your response.

- The car didn’t feel unstable to me and there was no wheel shimmy, just a buzz type high frequency vibration I could feel through the wheel.

- As I’ve said before this may be a characteristic that I’m hypersensitive to ( I hope not).

- I’m presuming from your response you haven’t experienced anything like this which is good news.

- I have a second test drive booked for July 5, extended this time for 2 hours so I will be able to check it again.

- I know they only have one demonstrator so it will be the same vehicle and I will ask the question if I detect it again.

- Good colour choice by the way - if we buy one that’s what we will go for!

hi gasjazz, no I haven't experienced this at all, either on test drives or in my Crosstar.  the dealer needs to address this for you, because youre never going to buy one if you fear that this fault is across all Crosstar vehicles.  can you not visit another dealer to drive a different car?

On the contrary actually, I am impressed with how solid the car feels at speed, definitely no tingling or vibration of any kind.   

Yeah my missus likes the surf blue, so it was the automatic, or rather only choice.  happy wife......happy life 

[Gas Jazz]

Thanks Hicardo

Your experience sounds very positive.

- I’m hoping my experience was either car specific or that, due to the short section of motorway available before I had to turn off, was a result of me accelerating hard to 70 and not really having time to lift off after for it to “settle down”.

- I am hyper sensitive to these sort of things as I ended up rejecting a Hyundai i30 I had purchased a few years back as it displayed this trait.

- If I experience it again I will take it up with the dealer and if he hasn’t got another Crosstar ask to drive the ordinary Jazz EX as this should be the same.

- Looking forward to my next test drive on 5th July - got it for 2 hours this time!

- Yes wife liked surf blue but actually so do I - I think it suits the the character of the car and is a bit different to the whites and greys we have bought recently!