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Quick overview
- Incredibly practical cabin
- Low running costs
- Hybrid power
- Equipment
- Bland to drive
- Pricey to buy new
- No manual gearbox option
- Firm ride
The Honda Jazz has more tricks up its sleeve than a West End magic show. This is because Honda has applied its considerable brains to the interior packaging of the Jazz to come up with a car that offers more interior space than many cars from the class above. Few cars in its own sector even come close to rivalling how generous the Honda is for passenger space.
Then you come to the way the Jazz deals with luggage. At first glance, the boot is a decent size, but maybe not worth putting pen to paper to write home about. The you start to use the clever back seat to fold it down to create huge volumes of luggage space. Or, you can use the Magic Seat technology to flip up the base of the rear bench to create a completely separate cargo area that’s big enough to carry a bicycle or even to walk through.
That’s not the end of the clever thinking applied to the Jazz, either, as Honda only offers this car as a hybrid. You get a 1.5-litre petrol engine with electric motor assistance, though it can only cover very short distances on battery power alone. However, it does also endow the Honda Jazz with reasonable performance and good fuel economy.
While the Honda Jazz is not the most exciting supermini to drive, nor the cheapest to buy, Honda has kitted out even the entry-level model with a host of standard equipment. This covers both luxury and safety gear, so the Jazz is a very sound choice in this hard-fought corner of the market.
Prices
There are four trim levels for the Honda Jazz, plus a standalone trim for the Crosstar that is the only model offered in Executive form. The line-up starts with the SE that costs from £20,860, while the SR comes in at £22,375 and the EX at £24,015. The top spec EX Style begins from £24,015, and then there’s Crosstar Executive above that. Premium paint is an option for £600 and Premium+ paint is £800. Honda also groups together some options into packages, such as the Illumination Pack and Cargo Pack. Savings of around £1000 are perfectly possible on a new Jazz, or you could shop nearly new and save around £3000 for a car with less than 5000 miles on the clock. If you’d rather look to a used car, a two-year old car with 15,000 miles will cost from around £17,500 depending on trim level.
Infotainment, comfort and practicality
Before we come to the Honda Jazz’s party piece of how versatile its cabin is, let’s first look at the driver’s environment. The front doors of the Jazz open out to give a wide aperture through which you step into the car. Its front seats are set a bit higher than most in this sector, helped by the tall-sided styling of the Jazz that allows its occupants to sit more upright. Not only does this help with fitting in four adults to the Jazz with remarkable ease, it also delivers good comfort. This is further aided by seats with plenty of padding, and there’s height adjustment for the driver’s seat and the steering wheel moves for height and reach.
The high centre console of the Honda Jazz puts the automatic gearbox’s lever close to hand, as well as the electric parking brake switch and the Eco button for how the engine behaves. On the dash itself, Honda sticks with simple round dials for the heating and ventilation, while the main dash instrument display is a more high tech digital arrangement that can be read clearly in sunshine or at night.
In the centre of the dash is the Jazz’s infotainment system. In the SE base trim, this gets a rather small and desultory looking 5-inch screen that is there just to work the radio. Much better is the 9-inch touchscreen fitted to all of the other trim levels, though it does look like a bit of an afterthought in the way it protrudes from the dash and is angled upwards rather than towards the driver. However, it’s easy to use and the screen has good resolution. We also like the retention of a few buttons and dials, so you can adjust the volume without having to find the relevant menu on the screen. Honda also uses Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can connect to your phone and its apps through the infotainment screen.
Now, it’s time to step into the rear of the Jazz and explore its versatility. Like the front, the rear doors open to offer generous access to the rear bench, so it’s super simple to lift kids into their child seats, and there are Isofix mounts on the two outer seats in all trim levels. Two tall adults will find no problem in getting comfortable back here thanks to masses of room for their heads, legs and shoulders. There’s also good vision out and the seats are well shaped to provide comfort on long drives. If you need to carry a third passenger back here, it's less successful as the middle pew is narrow and the Jazz’s relatively narrow body means everyone will feel a bit bunched up, though three kids won’t notice this. Should you want to swap people for cargo, the rear seat base flips up to create a huge space where you could easily stow a pushchair or child’s bike.
The rear seat also tips forward, with the base folded down, to leave a long, flat load space that easily outdoes almost every other small car. In total, you have as much as 1205-litres of carrying capacity and even with the 60-40 split rear seats occupied by people, there’s still 304-litres of luggage room in the boot.
Which 2020 Honda Jazz model should you buy?
The SE trim in the Honda Jazz is one of the most generously equipped of any entry-point model to a supermini range. It comes with 10 airbags, lane departure warning and lane assist, adaptive cruise control, climate control, and automatic wipers. You also have remote central locking, electric windows all round, heated front seats, and the Magic Seat in the rear. However, you only get 15-inch steel wheels, which seems a bit mean given the rest of the kit. For alloys, you need to move to the SR, that also has part leather upholstery, front and rear parking sensors, and the 9-inch infotainment touchscreen. The EX gains 16-inch alloys, keyless entry and ignition, reversing camera, and rear privacy glass. It also includes blind spot warning with rear cross traffic monitor, and two USB chargers in the rear cabin. Go for the EX Style and you get a two-tone finish for the alloy wheels, rear spoiler, and black door mirror caps. This is much the same as the Crosstar, which also has its own alloy wheel design and plastic mouldings around the wheelarches for that SUV look.
Value for money: how much does a 2020 Honda Jazz cost to buy and run?
When it comes to running costs, the Honda Jazz SE and SR on their 15-inch wheels provide combined fuel economy of 62.8mpg and 82g/km carbon dioxide emissions. On the larger 16-inch wheels, the EX and EX Style manage 61.4mpg and 84g/km, while the Crosstar comes in at 58.9mpg and 88g/km, which is still impressive and means all models cost £120 for road tax in the first year and revert to the standard £165 per annum after that.
Verdict: Should I buy a 2020 Honda Jazz?
There are very few reasons not to the choose the Honda Jazz, it seems. The driver is almost spoilt for choice with the amount of room and adjustment on offer, while the back seats are superbly roomy for two adults. They can also be folded up or down to vary load capacity as you need it, and the boot is one of the largest in the class anyway.
The Honda Jazz is also very grown up in the amount of equipment you get as standard. It’s hard to argue with a supermini that comes with 10 airbags in every model, while the amount of luxury and labour-saving kit is also very pleasing. Still, it would be good if the entry trim had alloy wheels included in the price, and the Jazz is not perfect in every respect. For example, the ride is on the firm side at all speeds, and the Honda’s prices are pitched higher than most of its rivals.