I did my first test drive of Jazz, a month ago. It was love at first sight.
Well, before my review, let me talk about the popular comment from most people. the price. I agree it is priced a little above its segment. But I feel it is worth. Let me not get into any arguments here. It is upto the individuals to decide on that. It is not a negative according to me!
The look and style were not great, but good. No negatives here. The bonnet is just about 2 ft length. I think I can even go closer to the vehicle in front of me, so that I can say "what do you do now?" to the auto walas peeping their nose(the front tire, I mean) in the gap before my car.
I stepped into the car. Even before I wanted to look inside, I had to move the car as it was blocking my office entrance. So, I moved it. no not yet, the engine was not on. But didn’t I feel the A/C too heavy in such a sunny day? I was wrong, the car was on. Engine was so quiet and I did not even feel any sound. neither a vibration. It is tuned great.
I moved the plane. er, the car. I felt that I was a pilot for a minute. The car went smooth. Now second gear. I felt little uncomfortable when I wanted to change to third. The power is not so good in the second gear. Third and fourth were good, did not get a chance to go to fifth this time as I had to hand over the driver’s seat to my colleague. I took a U turn, couple of lane changes, handling of the steering was good. Break was sharp with ABS. Gearshifting was smooth. The mirrors are superb, no blind spots. Only with two cars so far I did not get my knees hit somewhere. Santro and Jazz.
Finally we stopped and checked the interior and other things. Wow! there was so much of space inside. The seats do the real magic. The rear seats were folded and settled to the same level of the floor so you have plenty of space here. More leg room at both front and back. Too many cup holders (too many!), two glove boxes, hanger hook in the trunk, . something is missing. That was the parcel tray. well I don’t mind as I don’t use it much other than keeping the umbrella. One more minus is, no hand rest for the rear seats. It may be because, if they are there, three people cannot sit. and folding may also be an issue.
Power windows, power locks, even for the trunk and petrol tank. Ok. I did not like the A/C knobs, frankly, my first comment on them was, "they look like the cap of a kerosene can". The music player is ok. I do not usually worry about it as long as it plays some songs.(I read some negatives about the quality in one of the reviews somewhere). The meters are good, with lot of details like overall fuel consumption/economy, current economy and kms that can go with the current driving and capacity. The view from the cabin is really good. You will get a good picture of what is on the road ahead and back for about a mile. Reversing was not an issue too.
I again took a month’s time to decide and now, just three days ago, I booked it. I chose Deep Sapphire Blue(not the light blue). I went to the showroom and saw all the colors except the red. The light blue was good in the showroom, not in the road. Black and Red are always good colors but I did not want to go for them. Silver is very common in India and White is hard to maintain without dust.
Let me get my car next week and write another detailed review here. Thank you!