Revenge of the Nerds: The Honda Jazz VTEC

About a year ago, Honda Cars Philippines took the wraps off a 5-door version of their oh-so-smart, oh-so-frugal City, and we’ve seen econo-hatchbacks in a different light ever since. Called the Jazz, the car all but blew us away, not because of mind-blowing performance figures but because of the engineers’ careful attention to detail in making a small car so much more useful — and appealing — than many cars and SUVs twice its size.

Fast forward a year later and it seems we weren’t the only folks impressed by its nerdy appeal; more than 1,800 buyers had Jazzed up their lives as of June 2005. That’s no small feat, considering that a) it’s not an SUV in this SUV-mad country, b) it’s not a popular people carrier like the Toyota Innova, and c) the market had historically never had much of an appetite for hatchbacks. In fact, apart from the recent minor successes of the cheap-but-good Kia Picanto and Hyundai Getz, no other hatchback in the same vein as the Jazz had achieved the same kind of success.

Yes, success despite an asking price that’s actually higher than one might expect from an econocar. A modestly equipped Jazz "Type S" was around P610,000 last year, today’s it’s P632,000; several thousand more than a comparably equipped, 4-door City sedan. Such is the price of nerdiness. Seems worth it though, if you ask those Jazz owners.

Now Honda would like to make nerdiness even more fun with the introduction of a faster Jazz, one with a 1.5-liter VTEC engine under its teeny tiny hood. Same jewel-like good looks outside, same outstandingly versatile cabin inside, all moving a little bit faster through the countryside. Trust us on this one: when an econocar can put a smile on your face all day, whether in traffic or on an open road, you will know that there really is some justice in this world.

Externally, the 1.5-liter Jazz gets a few enhancements to distinguish it from the 1.3-liter, such as racy 15-inch wheels, a high mount stop lamp, and a rear center-mounted antenna. The bodywork is unchanged, but color-keyed side protector moldings and wrap-around skirts add more visual flair. Not exactly "pimp my ride", but roughly similar to what some enthusiastic Jazz owners had already been doing to their cars even before Honda came out with this pumped-up model.

In reviewing the 1.3-liter Jazz late last year, we nearly waxed poetic about the car’s fine fit and finish, and those simply wonderful "ULT seats". It’s all here in the 1.5, of course. Same "high quality plastics", same switches and dials that "move with precision", same "tactile pleasures" that will please both young families buying their first car to wealthier folks looking for a smaller car to do the errands with. You get in, turn the ignition key, and can’t help but admire how astute Honda’s designers were in creating an environment that’s so well thought-out, you wonder why some pricier cars can’t fit you as well as the Jazz does, much less provide enough space for your big and small belongings.

There are those trays and slots and covered cupholders, and then there are those ULT seats. One minute you’re driving a 5-passenger hatchback, the next you’re in a small van ferrying a relative from the airport with his balikbayan boxes of loot, all thanks to those seats. You can collapse one side into the floor, you can collapse both, or you can fold one or both up… the possibilities are many, which just proves that putting nerds behind the design of an econocar is a very good thing indeed.

Of course, if you’d been keeping abreast of the motoring scene all this time, then you already knew all of this long before. Chances are you were already aware of the extra oomph made by the 1.5-liter motor for the City, so it’s no surprise to you that the figures for the 1.5-liter Jazz are the same: 110 PS at 5,800 rpm, and 14.5 kg-m of torque at 4,800 rpm. Available with either a 5-speed manual or a 7-speed Continuously Variable Transmission, the VTEC-equipped mighty mite motor should provide sufficient scoot to blow away unsuspecting bullies on the road.

Although we’ve yet to put some miles on a VTEC Jazz, we’ve enjoyed a few hundred kilometers on VTEC Cities in the past 12 months. Being roughly the same weight give or take a few kilos, and with the same gearing as the City’s, the performance and same, eager-beaver responsiveness should be the same with this 5-door funster.

The same smooth and quiet ride should be there as well since it’s got the same suspension setup of front struts and a rear torsion beam. That, and steering precision and feedback that’s remarkably gratifying for a car its size thanks to electronic power steering. It should, however, give you better stopping power as all-disk brakes and ABS come standard with the VTEC Jazz’s higher asking price: P712k for a manual 5-speed, P752k for the 7-speed CVT. "That much for a Jazz??", you ask in bewilderment? That’s up to you to decide whether it’s too much to ask for an econocar, but it does come with dual airbags, two-tone interior, all-power features, and a virtual guarantee of point-and-scoot fun for not a lot of gas guzzling. If we remember right, VTEC-equipped Cities gave us a little more than 10 kilometers to a liter of fuel economy in conscientious urban testing, so we expect the same frugal fun from this faster Jazz as well.

Just to emphasize that this Jazz really has the cojones for some fast-and-furious driving, Honda also surprised the press during its launch with the announcement that they’d be re-introducing the highly successful Honda Media Challenge soon with the VTEC Jazz as the car to use in a series of intense time trials. Yippee! In its last year with the Civic as the race car, Team Philippine STAR burned serious rubber to take the top prize. We may not be nerds all the time, but darn if we’re not already itching to show the rest of the press what a bunch of motoring nerds can do against the clock.