Honda Jazz 1.3 S (a/t): Just right
I’ve been a fan of the Honda Jazz for as long as it’s been around. I’ve loved its overall package the moment I sat in one: roomy, spacious, highly versatile interior and small exterior dimensions, plus excellent driving dynamics. It also had decent punch with the 1.5 VTEC engine in cut-and-thrust city driving. I always recommended people to get the top-model variant simply because, while expensive compared with key rival Toyota, it offered so much more than the sum of its parts.
Now I’m given the keys of the 1.3 Honda Jazz automatic. And I’m afraid. You see, my brother drives the pre-facelift 1.5 Honda Jazz and I love getting behind the wheel of his car from time to time just to remind me how great a car the Jazz is. But it’s a 1.5-liter engine and mated with the 5-speed automatic transmission, things can get interesting, especially when I yank the handbrake on a tight corner and the rear steps out. It has more than enough power to get yourself in trouble, as well as get out of it.
Now the 1.3, well, I fear it’s a gutless performer, lacking in both spirit and determination as well as overall dynamic ability, thanks mostly to the lack of power.
On the outside, the 1.3 Jazz gets new design wheels smaller than the top models, which measure 15 inches and 16 inches for the 1.3 and the 1.5 respectively. Both also get hew bumpers for the 2011 facelift, and both get all-amber instrumentation in lieu of the previous model’s white-blue lighting. USB and auxiliary input connectivity are now standard, and there’s a new moquette fabric for the interior.
Thankfully, the driving position is still the same excellent pose, regardless of 1.3 or 1.5. The steering feel is still heavenly gloriously accurate and feelsome, with just enough kickback through the tiller on bumpy bends. Surprisingly, the smaller 15’ wheels offered greater compliance, allowing me to corner faster through uneven corners.
But it’s horsepower (and torque), or lack thereof that has been my beef with the 1.3 and looking them up side by side, the 1.5 has a 20hp advantage at 120hp, while the 1.3 makes do with only 100hp. Torque for the 1.5 is rated at 145Nm of torque, whereas the 1.3 only has 127Nm of torque. The 1.3 does have a 30kg weight advantage (1,080kg for the 1.3, 1,100 for the 1.5).
Typically, smaller and lighter cars benefit greater from even small reduction of weight, and you can feel that the 1.3 feels, steers and brakes marginally better than the 1.5. Dynamically then the loss in power of the 1.3 is negated to a certain extent by its weight savings.
But this is bench racing, and Honda has always prided itself in excelling on both the race tracks and the real world. In isolation, the 1.3 looks to be outclassed, but in open traffic, the 1.3, available with the same 5-speed automatic is surprisingly more than adequate. I’d still be able to cruise to 130kph comfortably on the highway with 3 adults plus myself on board, weave through traffic with ease and precision and still generate almost as much curbside appeal with the ladies in my little black, socially and environmentally responsible Honda Jazz.
Granted, it does take a little longer to accelerate past 100kph compared with the 1.5, you need to re-asses your situation more carefully when overtaking on a two-lane provincial highway but that’s about it. The 1.3 delivers an almost 1.5km/liter fuel efficiency advantage over the 1.5 in both city and highway driving (my brother’s 1.5 does just over 10km/liter, while the 1.3 test unit was nudging close to 11.5km/liter on the same route). Further savings right there.
To sum it up, the 1.5 is faster. Fast is measured by speed, i.e. the absolute, terminal velocity a body or object can achieve. But speed is irrelevant. We all need something quick. Quickness is measured by how much time a body or object needs to get from two points of interest. In this case, the 1.3 is just as quick as the 1.5.
If you do a lot of highway driving, perhaps the 1.5 is better suited for your needs. But, if like me you do a vast majority of your driving inside the city, look no further than the 1.3 Honda Jazz.
