Honda Jazz Hybrid 2013 Review

There’s nothing radical about the car – it merely extends Honda’s use of the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) mild hybrid formula we’ve already seen in Insight models past and present, the Civic Hybrid and the CR-Z.

What they’ve come up with, then, brings together the virtues and shortcomings of the Jazz platform with those of a conservative, relatively simple hybrid drivetrain.

The result is package bearing plenty of appeal in practicality and economy without much inspiration at the wheel.

Honda’s sales expectations are modest, set for the time being at 50 a month.

That means standard gear is adequate rather than exciting, highlights including 15-inch alloy wheels (with a temporary spare), fog lights, climate control, cruise control, comprehensive trip computing and auxiliary, Bluetooth and USB/iPod inputs for the audio system.

There’s plenty in the cockpit to interest the driver. The Jazz Hybrid comes with auto stop/start and Honda’s now familiar Eco Assist system, which changes the lighting hue in the instrument pod to tell you how you’re doing for fuel-efficiency – blue for normal, green in moments of high economy.

Of course it also gets Honda’s unique rear “magic seats”, with cushions that can be folded up to create a large, full-height walk-through space between the rear doors.

On the outside, the Hybrid is differentiated from other Jazz models by a clear grille and lower intake designed to reduce drag without curtailing inflow. There’s also blue tinting around the headlight and tail-light clusters, with a chrome garnish and “hybrid” badgework. The only option is metallic paint, at $495.

Total output is 72kW, with peak torque of 167Nm. The 1.3-litre petrol four makes up 65kW of this, with peak torque of 121Nm not cutting in until 4500rpm. Low-end power and twist are taken care of with assistance from the compact electric motor, which turns on its 10kW from 1500rpm and 78Nm from just 1000rpm to 1700rpm.

“Mild hybrid” denotes a system in which the electric motor is there to assist the petrol engine. This it does in several ways – as a starter motor with extra muscle for the auto stop/start system, as a generator to top up the 0.6kWh NiMH battery, and as a torque booster for the petrol engine under high demand.

Normally mild hybrid electric motors are incapable of pure-electric drive. But Honda has found a compromise in its Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) system. When the car has enough momentum on a trailing throttle, VCM shuts down the engine and moves to pure electric drive.

When slowing, it places the onus on the regeneration systems to absorb declarative friction, turning it into electric energy to return to the battery.

Fuel consumption is rated at 4.5L/100km combined (4.6 urban, 4.5 extra urban) with emissions of just 107g/km. That’s a little up on today’s Insight in the combined cycle – put it down to the larger car’s clean-sheet aero design and the fact that small cars are harder to make slippery than large ones. But up against the petrol-powered Jazz GLi 1.3 auto, (6.6L/100km; 157g/km), it looks good.

More so with the Hybrid weighing in about 70kg more than a base petrol Jazz. With a fair proportion of that hanging out behind the rear axle, they’ve tweaked the rear, stiffening the suspension and fattening up the anti-roll bar to accommodate it.

In Econ mode, the ECU cuts power and torque output by about four per cent, counteracting the detrimental effects of an overactive right foot by slowing throttle open/shut response. It also smooths out the CVT shift pattern. You can override all this simply by kicking down; it settles back into Econ when you bring your foot back up.

Econ also boosts regen braking output and adjusts the HVAC systems to work more efficiently, reducing fan voltage, flicking it into recirculation mode as often as it can and shutting it off during idle-stop downtime. Brakes are the standard-issue light-car formula of front discs and rear drums.

Away from the driver’s seat, the interior is recognisably Jazz. Particularly on opening the rear doors, with the cushions of the rear “magic” seats suspended from behind rather than sitting on a floor platform. This is a terrific arrangement: fold up the seats and you open up a nice, broad space 1280mm high, accessible through rear doors that open to 80 degrees. There’s enough room in there to park bikes, prams and the like.

Behind the rear seats, the hybrid drivetrain takes a modest toll in cargo space, with the battery pack and power control unit raising the boot floor by about 15cm.

With the rear seats up, that cuts boot space from the normal car’s 337 to 223 litres. With the seats folded, the normal 848 litres is cut to 722 from floor to window level. In the flesh, that difference isn’t as big as numbers might suggest. While it doesn’t allow for the normal car’s totally flat floor with the seats down, there’s still an awful lot of room in there, with great access on all three sides.

Despite its placement up the high end of its price-driven segment, the Thai-built Jazz Hybrid makes few concessions to buyers on interior packaging. The Bluetooth system is of the stick-on variety, with the controls mounted on the A-pillar. The facia is a proliferation of the hard plastics buyers have come to expect, but it feels generally well put together with no buzzes and rattles.

The Hybrid comes with six airbags – front, side and full-length curtain. Underneath are ABS, stability control and all the supplementary chassis and braking electronics now standard fare in mainstream new cars.

To help keep the floor flat beneath and behind the rear seats, the Jazz has its fuel tank under the front seats, for which Honda has engineered an exceptionally stiff tub, protecting the tank on all four sides.

As with any car sold in Europe these days, there’s also a suite of pedestrian protection gear built in up front – wiper hinges designed to break on impact and a bonnet with energy absorbing hinges and enough space beneath to deform and soften on impact.

Past that, petrol-electric drive isn’t enough to immunise these two to competition from elsewhere, with several small oilers around to catch potential buyers’ eyes as well. Diesel variants of Volkswagen’s Polo, Ford’s Fiesta Zetec and Citroën’s C3 are all very fuel-efficient and sit around the same price level.

The C3 eHDI ($22,990 plus ORCs) and the Fiesta (ditto) are hindered by the absence of an auto transmission, but the Polo TDI serves up a combined-cycle 4.6L/100km via a seven-speed DSG for the same $23,990 plus on-roads as the Prius c.

Then, of course, there’s a proliferation of small, efficient petrol models from Europe, Japan and Korea (including Jazz and Yaris) for those who can see how much petrol you can buy for the premium any of these command.

Probably because of the weight advantage, switching it to Econ mode doesn’t take its toll on performance the way we’ve felt in other Hondas (the 2.4 in upspec CR-Vs being the notable exception). Nevertheless, with the cruise on, Econ mode shows up in big dips below the set speed up hills, and slow recovery. It’s best kept for use in cruise on motorways.

We achieved late fours and early-mid fives through Sydney’s western suburbs and early-mid fours on the freeway, the latter in and out of Econ.

The extra weight, the CVT and the regen braking systems give the Jazz Hybrid a heavier feel than its petrol counterparts. This aids ride better than handling. Even on the uglier road surfaces we encountered in the wake of the Sydney rainstorms, we found it compliant, comfy and relatively quiet downstairs.

The disc/drum brake package feels a bit wooden underfoot, but it’s more than adequate in the urban commute environments for which this car is made.

With a reasonable weight to it and little play on centre, the electric power steering is the most appealing element of the handling package. Giving the Jazz Hybrid a shove round a corner or through a roundabout reveals a spot of body roll and more shriek from the low-rolling-resistance rubber than we’re used to.

But that’s not what this car’s about. Honda’s proved it can put a decent chassis under a hybrid drivetrain with the CR-Z.

If the Jazz Hybrid has an outstanding quality over its petrol sibling and other small cars, it’s in the lack of anything outstanding. It maintains Honda’s technological holding pattern with the reliable and economical IMA package. It feels a bit built-to-a-price in parts, rather like the Prius c. Everything to do with driving dynamics it does adequately rather than well – very much like the Prius c. Most of where it lags behind the Prius c is in clear differentiation from the donor vehicle. Toyota’s success with Prius models has largely been driven by visuals and branding.

In its favour, the Jazz Hybrid is economical and it will live happily on 91RON fuel. And, being a Jazz, it’s brilliant behind the B-pillar, including the way in which Honda has minimised the incursion of the boot space.

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