First Drive: 2021 Honda Jazz Review

The Honda Jazz is Honda’s rival to the Ford Fiesta. Except it isn’t, and it never really has been. The first Jazz was launched in 2001, and it, along with the two subsequent generations, were similarly priced and similarly sized to Ford’s popular little hatchback. The Fiesta consistently beats the Jazz in the sales charts, however, and why? Because even though every generation of Jazz has been good, the Fiesta has always driven a little better and appealed a little more to a wider audience.

When it comes to looks at least this is a nice step away from the three previous generations of Jazz, which in all honesty looked more or less the same… It isn’t as cool as the Honda e but is obviously from the same family, and all things considered looks rather smart. Aggressive or sporty? No. Cute and fun? Absolutely.

Technically this new Jazz is a very different machine, a point that’s immediately obvious when you consider the powertrain. A hybrid for the very first time, this is a very, very complicated little machine, and, in that respect, some way ahead of any Fiesta. There are two electric motors (one ‘traction motor’, as Honda calls it, and one generator), a 1.5-litre, naturally-aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine, a lithium-ion battery pack and a clutch system that acts as the transmission. Put simply, the engine isn’t connected to the wheels, but instead turns the generator which then charges the battery and/or powers the traction motor that drives the wheels. Simple, right? Let’s move on…

The chassis is stronger than ever before, too, with twice the amount of high tensile steel but a weight reduction of 9kg. That means you’re more likely to walk away from a crash and there’s less flex in the spine of the car as you drive through a corner.

The driving experience is a little unusual at first, as with your foot hard on the accelerator the engine revs like it would if it were hooked up to a traditional auto (a step shift control logic, according to Honda) but the rest of the time it turns over at an rpm of its choosing to charge the battery. But it isn’t a bad experience – far from it – and given all that tech it is a very simple car to operate. The brake pedal feels a tad different from one time to the next, presumably because the brakes harvest energy and charge the battery, although there are many hybrids that are much, much worse, I can assure you.

Where does it struggle? The suspension feels sophisticated enough but the ride quality isn’t perfect. The whole car feels remarkably light on its toes (impressive considering the hybrid powertrain), not to mention more solid than before, but some breaks in the road have more of an impact than you’d want. And the steering, for want of a better phrase, doesn’t communicate anything at all. The throttle, once the engine revs drop back down after a burst of acceleration, takes a noticeable amount of time to wind back up again as well.

The first thing you notice is the noise, or rather the lack of it. The Jazz can run on electric power alone for short periods (the car decides when), so pulling away there’s no noise at all. With the windows closed that helps you appreciate that the Jazz’s cabin is very well insulated, a point that becomes more obvious as you pick up speed. The interior feels spacious, too, and thanks to some cleverly designed A-pillars you can see way more than you’d probably expect.

What’s really nice, though, is the quality. The materials are good, the design logical and conventional (the controls for the air conditioning are physical, for example, rather than in a sub-menu of the infotainment system), and there’s a distinct lack of clutter without being spartan.

The old, conventional instrument cluster has gone, replaced by a digital display, and the infotainment system has been completely overhauled to feel similar to that of the Honda e. The main interface will make sense to anyone who uses a smartphone i.e. pretty much everyone, and there’s even a little finger shelf to rest on whilst you flick through the menus, thus giving you some stability and giving you some chance of hitting what you were actually aiming for. This being a Honda there are airbags everywhere, too, and systems like lane departure warning, blind spot assist, adaptive cruise control and so on.

Is the new Honda Jazz a rival to the Ford Fiesta? No. It’s a similar size and not too far away on price, as ever, but I have a feeling the new Jazz will find its audience and co-exist with the Fiesta as it always has done. The Fiesta still drives better and, more than likely, it’ll remain the obvious choice, but the new Jazz has quietly moved closer than it’s ever been before. And as for the tech underneath, it is miles more impressive.