Honda, the Japanese automobile manufacturer, has been making and marketing various types of vehicles in India for the last few years. In 2009, they launched their hatchback, the Jazz, in petrol. The rising petrol prices combined with fierce competition, forced Honda to make changes in the features. The new Jazz 2014 with petrol and diesel versions were launched during the 2014 Indian Auto Expo.
The existing variants are the Honda Jazz, the Jazz Select and the Jazz X, all with petrol engines. The front has a sporty look with a hexagonal grille and lots of chrome, large extended headlight cluster with halogen lamps, a body colored air dam surrounded with fog lamps and a toughened glass wind screen with two wipers. On the sides there are body colored handles and electric adjustable ORVMs and green tinted glasses. At the rear there are protruded tail lamps, a mini rear antenna, a sporty tail gate spoiler and a pair of high stop lamps. The new 2014 variants will have hawk-eyed headlamps and a crisp sewage line.
The interiors are done in blue and black colors for top variant and in beige and black for the others. A power steering wheel with audio controls, an integrated music system with FM radio, CD and MP3 player, an automatic AC system, tilt steering and drive-by-wire controls are the other features inside. The bright instrument panel has a number of warning and indicating lamps and a fuel gauge showing actual consumption, average consumption and distance to empty.
Safety features include dual airbags, ABS, BA and an electronic brake force distribution. Higher variants have a G-Con (G Force Control Technology) and a driver side automatic pinch guard equipped window. The 2014 version will be provided with a navigational system with touch screen.
The engine for the Honda Jazz has 1198 cc volume, 87 bhp, 109 NM torque engine with 5 speed manual transmissions and a mileage of 12.6 to 16.7 kmpl. The 2014 version will also have a diesel engine with 1500 cc volume, 98 bhp, 200 NM torque and a 5 speed manual transmission.
The physical dimensions of the Honda Jazz are 3900 mm length, 1695 mm width, 1535 mm height and 2500 mm wheel base. The 2014 version will be 60 mm longer and will have 80 mm added to the wheel base. The suspension is the Mc Pherson strut type at the front and the torsion beam axle at the rear.
The Honda Jazz is priced between Rupees 4.70 lakhs and 7.5 lakhs depending on the version. The main competition for the Jazz comes from the Maruti Swift, the Volkswagen Polo, the Hyundai i20 and the Fiat Punto.
