FIRST LOOKS

Rear lights are now LED units which are brighter, last longer and illuminate more quickly

New bumpers and body-coloured headlight units are among changes

Turn indicators on door mirrors – only on VTEC version

Choice of two 1.5-litre engines – VTEC or i-DSI

Honda Malaysia departed from their usual ‘closed-door’ media preview of a new model tonight by having an outdoor event which the public could also watch. The ‘jazzy’ event, held at The Curve, in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, was to introduce the facelifted Jazz and certainly drew crowds of interested onlookers whom the company hopes will also head to the showrooms to find out more.

Introduced in Malaysia in 2003, the Jazz (called the Fit in Japan) is one of Honda’s youngest models as it is still in its first generation. To date, over 1.6 million units have been sold worldwide in 117 countries, including the USA. The high number is not surprising as the model has won lots of praises for its design and practicality; in Malaysia, it won three Car of the Year awards, one of them from Autocar Asean, the best-selling monthly motor magazine in the country. Over 7,000 units have been sold here already and with the new facelift version, Honda Malaysia expects renewed interest in the model.

The new styling presents a sportier image with new front and rear bumpers and LED tail light units. For the Jazz VTEC, there are new body-coloured headlight units, a new gearknob, self-illuminating instrument panel (like the Honda Accord and Civic) and turn indicators on the door mirrors.

As before, there are two 1.5-litre engine choices to suit different requirements. Those who want more performance can choose the 110 bhp VTEC version while those who prefer economical operation would find the i-DSI version (which has two sparkplugs per cylinder) ideal for their needs. However, the VTEC version is also economical for the sort of performance it delivers as the VTEC mechanism promotes fuel-efficient operation, as well as minimise toxic emissions in the exhaust gases. Incidentally, you can also save a bit of money as both engines are tuned to run on cheaper regular (RON92) unleaded petrol.

Enhancing driving pleasure is the use of a Continuously-Variable Transmission (CVT) which is a stepless type of transmission that uses a belt-drive instead of gears. It has seven simulated gear settings and two driving modes (normal or sporty). Steermatic is also present, this allowing the driver to make shifts by depressing buttons on the steering wheel.

The interior of the Jazz is a marvel of packaging and credit must go to the design chief, a Mr Saitoh, who said he got many of his ideas from observing how people use their cars and what could be provided to make their motoring trips to the supermarket or seaside more convenient. His team came up with the Ultraseat concept which is simple yet very practical. By folding the seats flat, long objects (up to 2.4 metres if the front passenger backrest is flat) can be carried; or a bicycle can be carried if both rear backrests are folded flat. The cleverest idea is raising the rear seats vertically into what is called the ‘Tall Mode’. This creates a floor to ceiling space of 1.28 metres which is useful if you have tall items like plants or a lampshade. Always giving attention to little details, there are also grocery hooks on the vertical surfaces of the seats when folded up.

For a car this size, the interior space has often received praise and one of the reasons for the spaciousness is the positioning of the fuel tank. It is situated under the front seats so there is more space for the rear seating area.

Driver can shift through seven virtual gears of CVT manually using buttons on steering wheel	Dashboard of new Jazz is unchanged

For its class, the Jazz is well equipped in the safety department with ABS as standard (along with EBD) as well as two front airbags. And for entertainment, the audio unit is MP3-compatible (for the Jazz VTEC, there is also a USB port provided).

Tall mode’ has rear seats folded up to create a 1.28-metre space from floor to ceiling

Imported from Honda Thailand’s giant factory, the latest Jazz comes with a choice of four body colours with Royal Blue (a dark shade) being a new colour. Pearl White is available for the Jazz VTEC while the Jazz i-DSI has another shade of white.

If you are in the Klang Valley area, you can get a preview of the new Jazz at The Curve (outside the cinema building) between August 17 and 20 and from September 1, it will also be in Honda showrooms nationwide. The new prices are RM94,800 for the Jazz 1.5 i-DSI and RM103,800 for the Jazz 1.5 VTEC.

Scenes from the launch event at The Curve. Picture at bottom row right shows Honda Malaysia President/CEO Y. Mizuno talking about the new Jazz to a TV crew