When the Honda Jazz was launched a few years ago, the tag line was, ‘Why so serious?’ Our answer to that was the shame-a-sedan price tag. The Jazz was always a brilliant car and the high price was perhaps the only chink in its Japanese armour.
So what’s new apart from the massive price cut? Well, not much – there’s a minor facelift. The biggest change is the reworked grille and updated headlights. The interiors remain unchanged but now come in beige. The car is available in three variants. The top-end Jazz X being the sportiest of the lot, with fog lamps, alloys and non-beige interior.
Mechanically it’s the same. You get the silky smooth 1.2-litre 88bhp i-VTEC motor. It feels adequate on paper, but you really need to work the engine and gearbox to get the maximum out of it. It isn’t exactly a scorcher with a zero-100kph time of 13.4 seconds, but isn’t slow either.
It makes up for that in fuel efficiency, with a combined figure of 15.2kpl. A diesel Jazz would be an almost unbeatable package.
So what you get is a Jazz that is just as capable as it was, now at a delicious price. Maruti and Hyundai, take note.