Unfavourable Review of new Jazz

[peteo48]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/01/honda-jazz-car-review-zoe-williams

Worth stating that the Guardian's motoring correspondent is about as far from a proper motoring journalist as it is possible to get.

But is she right? Is the Jazz being left behind in the performance stakes? Maybe that new turbo engine can't come soon enough.

[andruec]

i think she's an idiot journalist. The Jazz has all the performance it needs. It's not a sports car but it has more than enough to handle typical rush hour traffic. The fact she complains about the collision warning tells me she's a bad driver. I can count on one hand the number of times mine has gone off in the last nine months.

[guest1372]

Didn't mention the touchscreen, but it's fundamentally the same across all makes.
"The cabin is more spacious than you’d expect"
--
TG

[Pine]

I have to agree with the review. There are a lot of hills where I live and my Jazz struggled to gain any speed uphill. The lack lustre performance was the main reason I switched to a Ford Fiesta Ecoboost, and I haven't regretted that decision. I have had a Mk1 and a Mk2 jazz and they can't be beaten for reliability or interior space but once you have driven a Ford Ecoboost engine and experienced how much torque is available at low revs you realise how bad the Jazz is in that respect, and my mpg is the same as the Jazz. It is not a surprise that the 1.0 three cylinder engine has won engine of the year three times in a row.   When they put a similar engine inn the Jazz I'll be one of the first to give it a test drive.

[trebor1652]

The car goes up hills very well in cruise control mode, it's a pity that it doesn't drive that well on the throttle, you need to use the paddles or S mode, it's almost impossible to get the engine to rev at or over 4000rpm.
But I do like the car.

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

[Rory]

The car goes up hills very well in cruise control mode, it's a pity that it doesn't drive that well on the throttle, you need to use the paddles or S mode, it's almost impossible to get the engine to rev at or over 4000rpm.

I don't understand those points - what's stopping the engine going over 4000rpm?

It's not the way most people drive these days, especially those used to torquey, low revving diesels, but VTEC engines run well at higher revs - mk3 Jazz max power is at 6000rpm.

[davegreen55]

As it was the Guardian I'm surprised that they didn't critisise the lack of storage space for recycled organic tofu and quinoa burgers.

[Downsizer]

The test car was manual, which I haven't driven, but I assume rapid progress needs a lot of gear-changing.  A
generation of drivers of diesel turbos have become used to lots of torque at low revs.  I find the cvt gives plenty of performance when needed.

[edam]

It looks like she was driving the same manual Jazz I was driving as I agree with a lot of her comments.
Happily the CVT I swapped to, at great cost, is so much better.

[edam]

i think she's an idiot journalist. The Jazz has all the performance it needs. It's not a sports car but it has more than enough to handle typical rush hour traffic. The fact she complains about the collision warning tells me she's a bad driver. I can count on one hand the number of times mine has gone off in the last nine months.

My collision warning was going off often , on my manual, and needed the car in the workshop for five days to have this problem  fixed.

[peteo48]

As it was the Guardian I'm surprised that they didn't critisise the lack of storage space for recycled organic tofu and quinoa burgers.

 

[culzean]

Comments about 'a generation bought up on torquey turbo diesels' are right,  but surely comparing naturally aspirated petrol engines with turbo diesels is comparing apples and oranges? (a diesel without a turbo ain't anything to write home about either ).  I don't know why it has taken car makers so long to introduce even low pressure turbos into their engines which will give more torque at lower rpm,  compared with complexity and cost of modern diesels a turbo petrol engine has long been a no brainer especially with modern ceramics to handle high temperatures seen in turbos.

Power is the 'size of the bang  x number of bangs per minute'  - main reason Diesels have more torque is bigger flywheel and longer longer crank throw (required to get high compression ratio) - longer stroke engines, including petrol always have more torque,  but higher piston speed limits rev range to around 4K,  and that is known as 'a high speed diesel'  .  Because of emissions diesel car engines will be a rarity in 5 to 10 years time and electrically assisted hybrids can get high torque at low revs,  and don't need that horrible, expensive and unreliable 'dual mass flywheel' that diesels must have to protect transmission from low rev power pulses that diesels produce.

Most women I know never rev above about 2K when driving (except when pulling away sometimes and slipping clutch at about 4K LOL), they think they are damaging the engine if they exceed that level,  I suppose the Guardian bimbo is from the same mindset of women who do not love or understand engines but become a motoring writer as a break from making tea in the office.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/yougov-polling-blog/2014/nov/18/yougov-profiles-the-nations-newspaper-readers

[Downsizer]

"It is small, but it has no nip. In fact, it has almost no acceleration in any gear" - Zoe Williams in The Guardian.  "larger inside than the 2nd generation model, a car famed for its capacious interior"... "a potentially lively performer" - Mark Pearson in Autocar.  Compare and contrast, as the exam question used to say!

[andruec]

I have to agree with the review. There are a lot of hills where I live and my Jazz struggled to gain any speed uphill.

My first thought would be wondering why you are often trying to gain speed uphill often enough to care. It's a very inefficient thing to do.

But in any case I've had no problems. Sure if there's a BMW or Audi behind me I'm going to have to put up with them hanging off my bumper but I can keep pace with everyone else. In fact very few drivers use all the power their vehicle has very often so I nearly always pull away from them even when I'm not trying.

I honestly can't see any legitimate reason to complain about the Jazz' performance. It has at least as much power as any sensible person should expect from a small car. Sure it will disappoint some petrol heads or an over excited 'yoof' but it's not marketed at those people. The Jazz does all (and maybe more) in the performance stakes one should expect it to. If you want drive around like Stirling Moss or Lewis Hamilton buy something different.

[andruec]

The car goes up hills very well in cruise control mode, it's a pity that it doesn't drive that well on the throttle, you need to use the paddles or S mode, it's almost impossible to get the engine to rev at or over 4000rpm.

I don't understand those points - what's stopping the engine going over 4000rpm?

Agreed. You just floor the accelerator and it'll jump up there. But..why would anyone want to do that more often than once in a blue moon? I drive over two hundred miles a week and there are very few opportunities that would allow me to do that even if I wanted to. I occasionally blast up the hill away from J11 of the M40 at the end of a trying day at the office but I find I can keep up with almost every car. There's only the big BMWs and Audis who can get away from me (or who choose to - most people don't even try).