Honda Jazz Active tested by CarWale

Thanks for the review, seems to have been a really rainly day.

Two queires:

-how are the sports pedals?

-are the tyres XM1's or XM1+'s ?

P.S

Seems to be your regular 'photoshop guy' was on leave! The post processing on the pictures seems to be less than the usual exceptional quality that they usually are.

@Binoy: The sports pedals are, well, fake pedals, just like in the Fiesta 1.6S. They merely give the impression of being actual drilled aluminum. The tyres are XM1s, no plus on them.

I am the only photoshop guy! Well, I was until now. Everyone, we've got ourselves a dedicated photographer now, so expect a jump in photo quality. Please welcome Pawan.

Off topic, Binoy, but that's a nice wheel you've got in your display pic. What car is it from? A Carrera GT?

all the people who have a City love their Honda and if they are planning to buy a small car they might opt for Jazz.But the prize for a luxury hatchback is quite high.People might opt for a Fabia or i20 even though they are much smaller than Jazz.But office goers in cities like Mumbai,delhi...often opt for a small car so that they dont have any parking problem or their car doesnt occupy too much space in traffic.

That might be the reason JAZZ hasnt been able to sell,well as the Honda-Siel had expected,but in 2010 with more luxury hatcbacks coming in.Jazz might compromise its price and boost their sales with all corrections done by than..if any necessary.

The jazz is simply excellent car with typical honda engineering.But the price is way to high(Common Honda we are not so mad about the H logo)But if not so steeply priced it would sell in good numbers IMO.

Well, Honda bean counters got greedy and doomed a nice hatch to failure - no one is saying anything about how good or bad Jazz is - the development team has done its part well. It is just the marketing guys / whosoever priced it had a wrong perception of the brand loyalty of Honda customers.

In India, where people think and think and again rethink about the money to shell out before going in for a car, Honda guys thought they would encash in one go two goes all their goodwill generated by sensibly pricing the 2004 City -So they ratcheted up the ANHC and Jazz prices waaay high - the sensible Indian customer said.. "Well, nice cars, but *sigh* I get better VFM with a Ritz or Punto or Vista or something else priced a notch or two lower"

This is the sad story of Technology/Design defeated by Commerce!

Yup Krishna. They could have used a smaller engine and could have come with an outright smaller car instead of trying to market the innovative-arrangement of seats of the JAZZ. How many times do you need to keep a bike (cycle) in the car? How many times is it just two people and a lot of luggage? Honda marketing got it completely wrong. In the Indian perspective, as you said, the hatchback will be looked upon as so and will be compared to that category (on price too). Any roadside running-nose kid could have told Honda that was a recipe for flop. 

However, it's possible that the car, with whatever it has to offer, could have been (or is) a significant success in the West where people, when alone, often carry a lot of luggage (ourdoor activities etc). In India, people generally carry lot of luggage and lot of people at the same time. With the Jazz, it's really easy to see that even company like Honda can end of making major mistakes fundamentally.

My car company is not hiring anyone from Jazz concept to marketing team in India ;D

On that note, it will be really interesting to see if any Honda car in India, apart from the now-legendary City, can be called a success....

.... of course, some hatchbacks cannot be compared to any other:

like the Golf GT

Hi Charles

One question Is honda jass overated and overpriced from ur test drive experience

@Bhardwaj: if we're going to be completely logical about it, I think we'll have the answer in two years' time, when people start selling their Jazzes to upgrade. If they manage to retain a high price then, then I'll agree that the Jazz's price isn't so bad. However, if Honda happens to do with the Jazz what they had to do with the Civic hybrid...

@Charles-thanks for the clarification, its surprising that the tyres are not XM1+ as Michellin(if i have got my facts correct) has stopped production of the XM1(because of it being slightly soft) and now only makes the XM1+.(is this Honda pulling a fast one).

OT-Hope to meet Pawan at the NM and yes the wheels are from the GT.