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-   -   Honda Jazz : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/165791-honda-jazz-official-review-212.html)

Hi Everyone,

Our September 2022 Honda Jazz VX CVT (Pearl White) underwent its first free service yesterday (30-day / 1000 km). Odo 587 kms, completed 1 month.

The only two complaints I had were these:

1. While driving at low speeds, there was a lot of "keech keech" sound in the cabin, somewhere from the rear. The sound would disappear while driving at high speeds, but at low speeds it was irritating. It was most prominent on the potholes/during speed brakers.
2. The brakes had become slightly jerky.

The supervisor sent someone with me for a short drive to verify these issues. The rattling was quite prominent.

The team and the mechanic were experienced and knowledgeable. They said several customers are reporting this, and the most prominent reason is the inside-plastic cover of the boot door. They opened the plastic cover, applied 2-way sticking tape on edges + almost all plastic locks and fixed it again. Then they pulled the levers locking the rear seats, folded the rear seats, and padded the metal rod with 1-way sticking tape. This removed all "play" leading to the noise and the cabin was silent again (they demonstrated this with another short drive before taking the car to washing bay).

For the second issue, they cleaned the brake disc (front) and brake pads (rear) and brakes are smooth once again.

I also requested them to install the engine sump guard that I had separately ordered (many thanks to BHPian Chethan B G who has shared all details in his post here). Engine guard is such an important "accessory" that the word "accessory" is a misnomer! It is not an expensive item and should be there in every car. Quite surprising and ironic that manufacturers are not offering this as standard. The Honda dealer even advised saying "It is not required sir!". Thanks to the wisdom on Team BHP - dedicated thread here (and thanks to Chethan once again for not only suggesting this but also guiding me with the seller details, as this part was not available at Honda Pune), it offers so much peace of mind. Let the picture speak for itself.

Other useful accessories for any car:

TPMS and Dashcam!!

TPMS: I have been very satisfied with this Skyshop External Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). For details, please see this.

Dashcam: After going through an overwhelming amount of information on Team BHP threads, I decided that it would be too difficult for me to decide for myself ;) I therefore visited https://www.nexdigitron.com/ and contacted the seller, requesting him to suggest. My requirements were simple:

1. Best possible video clarity. Sony lens and respectable processor are two must-have's for this.
2. Dual-channel setup => Did not want to regret later that rear is missing
3. An additional CPL filter for the front cam. It reduces the glare drastically and thereby improves the recording quality dramatically.
4. Capacitor-based instead of battery-based camera (to minimize chances of battery exploding under hot sun)

The Nexdigitron expert was quick in recommending 70mai Pro Plus+ A500S Dual Channel Car Dash Cam (links below).

This is still battery-based and not capacitor-based, but he assured me that the battery is very very safe and it is a Lithium Polymer battery (which is a Li-Ion battery in a metal canister) and even if you put it in fire it won't explode!! While we can take this with a pinch of salt, that made me relaxed that it should at least survive occassional heat (also my car is usually parked in its covered parking).

Therefore, finally with his help, purchased the following:

70mai dash cam. We can purchase through Amazon or through their website. I chose Amazon to avail 10% discount offer.
CPL Filter compatible with this dash cam.
128 GB Memory Card Beware: There are lots of fake memory cards being sold. If you order from Amazon, make sure the seller is Appario Retail Private Ltd, and even after receiving the card, do your due diligence.

The Nexdigitron person also suggested (when requested) to get it installed from https://g.page/CARHUBPUNE (which was not too far for me) and they did a quick and decent job.

Hope this write-up helps. Happy to answer any questions that I could!

Rat menace!




Last week, i opened the bonnet to find this damage in my car. I'm not sure when and where it occurred since i was visiting multiple places last week...most likely might have happened in my apartment parking. Strangely, i could not make-out any thing while driving the days before even with AC on. No loss of power or AC effectiveness - things were normal. Anyway, it had to be fixed.

Sent the photo to a known SA in Magnum Honda (Kanakapura Road). He promptly advised to get it replaced, but, did not bother to go further and check whether the part was available in their dealership.

Next day morning, i went there only to be told that this part was unavailable and can be arranged in the evening. The Dealership is around 9kms from my place and i ended-up wasting time, efforts and petrol. As a temporary fix, he taped the damaged area and asked me to return the next day. I did not have a choice but to get the car again next day. Next morning, i was given extra attention:) and the Breather tube was fixed in 30mins. Have driven 300+ kms after the replacement, so far so good.

My question - what's the most fool-proof way to save your car from rats? Rat trap, poison, rat mesh, chemical spray? any inputs which is better and easy?

P.S: I currently use tobacco, but, i'm sure it's not very effective.

Thanks jaysheth. Few questions:
1. Is the engine sump-guard available in Dealership? If not, can you mention from where did you procure.
2. Please mention the cost of TMPS. Is it an additional fitting sitting atop dashboard?
3. How much did the dashcam cost - both device and installation.

Thanks in advance.

Congrats on getting these accessories at the right time.


I had a doubt on this "70mai Pro Plus+ A500S Dual Channel". I have the old 70mai model, it's still functioning, but occassionally i get paranoid about the GPS module, and i check whether ADAS and GPS are enabled. To avoid all that paranoia, when I bought it for my brother, i got the model you have purchased as a gift. He is yet to install it. Return period is way over. Coming to the matter now, I hear that the ADAS, GPS, and parking surveillance would be enabled only if we bought the 70mai hardware power unit. Is that true? If you have bought it along with the hardware power kit, then you won't be able to answer i guess. But then just watch out, I saw some review comments about car battery being drained. But if you have not purchased and if the parking surveillance is functioning then i suggest you don't run the firmware update from 70mai which claims to enable some camera features, because the ADAS, night surveillance etc might stop working after that. Anyway pls check thoroughly at your end again.
But all said and done, i couldn't find another brand dash cam which had all these features of 70mai. So even when I'm gonna have to replace my ageing unit, I will be forced to buy some model from them.

Hi Vikram,

1. The engine sump guard was not available with the dealership. I ordered this from https://cartrends.in/products/engine...zz-74111t5sk00, paying INR 2199 for the sump guard + INR 700 for shipping cost to Pune.
   The installation cost was around 1900 (additional), only for a few screws and plastic clips, but totally worth peace of mind (for around INR 5k including everything)
2. I have shared the TPMS link (INR 2,799 on Amazon). I however contacted the seller directly as I had some queries and then placed the order directly with them as I wanted the 5th sensor for the spare tyre too. He shipped the package for INR 2700 including 5th sensor and (free) shipping. And yes, there is a separate display unit that we can fix anywhere on the dashboard with 2-way sticking tape that they provide. You can check the photograph in my post here, as a sample: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-...ml#post5422076
3. Dashcam INR 10,999 + Memory card INR 999 + CPL filter INR 881. Total INR 12,879 minus a discount of INR 1250 on Amazon (that offer is over now). If you directly purchase from NexDigitron they had offered 2.5% discount.
   
   When I told them Amazon offers more discount, they asked me to go ahead and place the order from Amazon, clarifying that (a) in any case they are going to be the seller and (b) they cannot match the discount offers, as those are from the banks.
   
   Dashcam installation cost: INR 600 without hard wiring, and INR 800 with hard wiring. I had opted for the former, as I am quite okay with recording only while driving (power coming through cigarette lighter socket while driving). We can also buy a separate parking monitoring backup kit (with 2500 mAH battery) to avoid hard wiring altogether (Product link at the bottom of this post; I haven't purchased that though. I am a bit paranoid around avoiding hard wiring to the extent possible, to avoid being questioned while claiming warranty if/when required. But as I did not need parking surveillance feature, have not studied this aspect in detail).

@Ashishkel, you made the right choice for your brother. GPS is offered by default, and has nothing to do with hard wiring/parking surveillance kit. It is auto-enabled and you can disable/enable GPS + speed tracking from the software settings. Simiarly for ADAS, to the best of my knowledge that has nothing to do with hard wiring. I have not tested ADAS however, and am not interested in this kind of ADAS! This is because for Indian driving conditions even watching YouTube videos was a nuisance where it keeps constantly alerting (and distracting) you saying this vehicle has changed the lane etc. etc. :)

On a relevant note, during my first drive with camera installed, it started recording many emergency videos on speed breakers/potholes, whereas there was no emergency whatsoever. I then changed the sensitivity setting to "Low", to avoid this behaviour.

Finally, regarding the parking surveillance feature, as per my understanding, we either require hard wiring or this product: https://www.nexdigitron.com/collecti...ing-backup-kit
I did not research further on these aspects, as parking surveillance is not required for me at present. Having said that, before purchasing this camera, I ensured that this feature is there, so that if we require parking survelliance in future, it can be added with minimal cost and configuration. From my documentation study, hard wiring should be enough for parking surveillance (without the need for the parking monitoring backup kit) but it would be best for you to directly check with Nexdigitron on that. Send your query on the WhatsApp number published on their website and they are quite prompt and clear in addressing these.

Hello Fello BHPians and Jazz owners.

I currently drive the 2016 (MT) model Honda Jazz 1.2 SV ivtech engine and my vehicle has done 48500 kms on the ODO. Recently I have changed all the four tyres of the car. Earlier I was living in Chennai and now the car is being driven in Bangalore. In Bangalore traffic with my style of driving I get FE of 10-11 kpl and on highways around 16 kpl.

I love the space and roominess of this car and my only issue with the car is:

1. Low GC . The vehicle on multiple occasions have scraped the numerous ugly speed breakers of Bangalore
2. Low end grunt is poor. I need to downshift to gear number 1 to pull through.
3. Road noise (loose gravels of Bangalore) seeps in the cabin
4. Despite driving for more than 1 lakh kms in various cars, my left driving is still poor considering the fact that my left fenders have always bore the brunt of scratches.

I was discussing with my wife regarding upgrading to any European car (Kushaq/Tiguan) or Creta on account of the fact that these cars shall offer higher GC and more power.

Requesting fellow BHPians to kindly suggest, whether it makes sense to upgrade or buy any SUV. The other day I went to PPS Skoda showroom in Sadashiv Nagar Bangalore and felt that the car is smaller inside and has got less headroom on the front and at the back.

Please help.

I own a 2011 Honda Jazz X and after 11 years use the gradual rattle & squeaks appeared while negotiating (mostly) Bangalore's infamous potholed roads.
I was advised to relace the shockers but the rattle persisted but otherwise the car drove well & the butter smooth steering was a joy.
Being an old car & after several previous incedants of bad experiences with authorized Honda dealers, I took the car to a Mobil Certified Car Service Center in order to get the suspension fixed for the nagging squeaks & rattles.
After they assured me of providing 'good quality work' by TRAINED mechanics, I left the car with this garage.
Their prognosis- to fix the front wheelsuspension tie rods & service the EPS inorder to eliminate the thuds & squeaks.
3 days later I picked up my car to find the butter smooth steering was gone!!! The steering felt frozen stiff ( as in no power steering) & the wheels do not auto correct anymore because of this.
The Service Manager told me this is because there are new gaskets & seals replaced & the stiff steering will go away after some use. Is this true?
I have driven approv 500km hence & see no difference.
I checked back with Honda & was advised a steering column replacement worth about 65k.
I welcome any inputs or suggestion for a solution to fix the stiff steering problem.

Dear Fellow owners, any thoughts on above post please...

What I do is clean the engine bay one time with APC (rats pee and poo in there, and that smell brings more rats), and then spray it thoroughly with this https://amzn.eu/d/cRMTpph

Please do wear plastic gloves and face mask (both supplied with the spray) before spraying, as the item is true to it's name and the overspray will leave a lasting bitter feeling in your throat if you are not wearing a mask.

This has prevented any further nibbling beyond the first time when the wiper fluid tank cover was nibbled and destroyed by rats.

I also regularly check the engine bay for any signs of rat movement, and do top up sprays every 3 months.

If I spot any rat movement (feces, foot marks etc), I put in rat traps (cage type and kill type) around the car and under the engine bay, and almost always succeed in trapping one or more rats. Dry coconut kernel is an excellent bait.

Prologue

I had big plans for my first car. Ever since the Slavia came out, I had dreamed of owning a beautiful sedan and powering through an empty highway. Then the Virtus came out, and I was convinced that my first car was going to be a 150 HP German. So, started saving money to invest in a fund, got myself a credit card to improve my credit score, and calculated that early 2024 would be the right time (I tend to plan A LOT.. :coldsweat).

But, all of a sudden, I had to goto office twice a week, and needed a car in 2022. I live 3 hours away from my office, and choosing public transport would have me go through three different means of transport just to get to the nearest railway station. It’s too much of a hassle for just two days. So, I needed a car and I needed one within a couple of weeks. No time for planning (Imagine the pain).

The Search

A new car was out of the question, since I was not ready to shell out a significant sum and compromise on a car which I would be stuck with for at least the next 5 years. Thus, I came to the conclusion that a used car is the right way to go. Being a lazy bum and socially under endowed, I decided to check the used car websites. Two or three days into the search, I short listed a few cars under 5L. But things looked too easy and convenient and that got me thinking. So I asked some of my friends, what they think about these websites. Surprisingly, everyone had at least one horror story about such websites, even though none of them have bought a used car. I felt like I shouldn’t have asked. It seems everyone has an opinion on everything these days.

A week went by and I was starting to panic. I needed to be in office by Wednesday, and the hopes of finding a car was beginning to wane. Right then, my Mom came to the rescue. Now, you might imagine she gave me a pep talk and raised spirits to go out there and find the car of my dreams right?… Wrong!! She started by questioning me about the car hunt. Slowly, the formal conversation turned into an outright brawl. She was furious that I was trying to buy a car online. My weak arguments about technology and convenience fell on deaf ears. She gave me an ultimatum, buy a car within the next week, or forget about it completely. There is no better motivation than when your mother holds you at gunpoint. So, finally, I decided to get my feet wet, and visit used car showrooms.

Back in 2012, when I was still in school, my dad brought a first gen Jazz home. He was given that from his office for work related travels. I was not into cars back then, but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. So did my sister and my mom. As time went by, all of us forgot about the Jazz, but it must have been in the back of my mind, because every time I scrolled through list of cars, I would always stop whenever I saw a Jazz. It was no different when I visited the showrooms either, and Mom was happy about it as well. Now, my mom was not just content with having a specific car, she wanted a specific colour, age and even had reservations about who the previous owner was! So saying that it was hard to find the right car is an understatement. After 3 days of going through different showrooms, I started to question my decision about fixating on a particular car. But since I was not as verbally gifted as my mother, I didn’t try to convince her. Wednesday came, I borrowed mom’s car and survived for the time being. Came back home on Friday, and the search resumed.

Finally…

Like most people looking to buy a used car, eventually, I ended up visiting a near by true value showroom. I didn’t have high hopes, since most of the other shops couldn’t give me the car I wanted(or rather, my mom wanted). This was a much smaller showroom, with very limited inventory. I walked in and casually asked the sales guy wether they’ve got a Jazz. “Yes!” he said. “How old?”. “Five years sir”. My eyes grew brighter after each question. I must have smiled, ‘cause the sales guy became overly friendly all of a sudden. Gracefully hiding my joy, I nonchalantly asked him to show the car. He took me to the warehouse, and there it was, covered in dust and mud, a golden brown 2017 model Jazz SV. The interior looked like it had witnessed several cat fights, and it smelled like soiled socks. These guys really need to understand the concept of a first impression. Regardless, a closer inspection under the hood and of the tyres did leave me with a good impression. There were no visible rust, and the engine started without any fuss. I was ready for TD, but first things first. I ran back to the showroom where my mom was, to give status report, and asked her to sit tight. If she sees the car the way it is now, I’ll be back on the road again.

Jazz SV(2017)

The car drove well, had an infotainment system, and even had a reverse parking camera. There was a slight issue with the steering. If it's turned to the left slightly, it won’t rotate back to centre sometimes. The AC was not cooling well, and the brakes were a little dull. I understood the meaning of a weak low end, when I drove this car. If you are lazy about down shifting, you will lug the engine. I later came to know that this was a known issue with the Jazz’s engine. There were no major red flags, and most of these issues seemed to be easily solvable. So, it came down to the price. The initial quote was 5.9 L. I knew they were overshooting a bit, expecting some negotiation from the customer. I haggled it down to 5.5, which we both agreed and confirmed the booking. I was proud of my negotiation skills, but mom was not impressed though.

I know what you guys are thinking. “You confirmed without letting a mechanic check it?”. “Not even checking the service history?”. I knew I was taking a big risk, and to be honest, I didn’t know a good mechanic either. I was in a hurry, and yes, I turned a blind eye, since I was thrilled to find a car that matched all our criteria. But, as it turns out, it would come back to hurt me later on.

Ownership

It has been over 3 months now since I’ve owned this car, and I have to say it has served it’s purpose wonderfully well. The showroom guys fixed most of the issues and even gave a teflon coating before delivery. Transfer of ownership was also done by them, everything went smooth, and above all, mummy was happy :Cheering:.

As you may have already guessed, that’s not the whole story. The next day after delivery, we went for a short trip to Kottayam, which is about 40 km from our home. On our way back, the brake warning light and the ABS warning lights lit up. I panicked a bit, and tested out the brakes. The brakes were fine. All sorts of things started running through my head, and I decided to give a call to the showroom. They seemed surprised about it as well, as they never got it before. They agreed to pay for any repairs or replacements. So, I took the car to a Honda showroom, and asked them to check it. Apparently, the issue is with the ABS, and a replacement would cost me 30k. I asked them to pull up the service history (I know I should have done this earlier). As it turned out, there was a faulty ABS reported on February 2022, and the owner decided not to fix it. Either the first owner fooled both the showroom and me, or it’s the showroom playing innocent. Whatever the case, I accepted this as the price I have to pay for making a hasty used car purchase. I did not go for the replacement, as the brakes were pretty good, and I consider myself to be a naturally gifted feather foot driver. So I should be able to manage without ABS. Yeah, go ahead, you can laugh at me.

I spent around 10k replacing the upholstery and a few other things and finally took it to office the next week. Till now, it has not caused any more problems, and I get an average mileage of 18.5 km per litre (petrol). I’m planning to continue to hold on to this car for the next two years, and by then, hopefully we will have more sedans available on the market.



Thank you for reading the whole thing!..

Sanjoos,
Jazz is a wonderful car. You are getting a very good average. Even i own a Petrol Jazz bought in 2017. The only thing i dislike is the low pickup and poor mileage (mine gives 10-11, mostly driven in city with traffic). Sometimes i do think of changing the car (for mileage), but whenever i sit and drive the car, it always brings a smile to my face.
I have upgraded the tyre to 195/60 with alloys.

Enjoy the drive and service her from time to time.

Thank you, I sure am enjoying it.

The thing I enjoyed the most would be the build quality. I've been driving a baleno for more than 5 years now. The difference in build quality is quite evident. The doors are more firm and have a satisfying thud when closing, the controls are all nice and tight and everything feels solid.

The low end pick up is the worst I've seen. But, once it pick up enough rpms, its a breeze. I've seen so many memes about v-tech kicking in, but never really experienced it so far. Any idea at what rpm it will have an effect?

Here is my quick comparison of the engine oils i have used in my Jazz since oil was changed at first service at 8000 KMs. The car is currently at 53xxx KMs. This comparison should also be relevant to the 1.5 Honda engine, and probably others:

Amsoil Signature series 0w20 (INR 5k) felt *marginally* better than Idemitsu Zepro (INR 3k) which felt *much better* than Mobil 1 ESP 5w30 (INR 3.5k) which felt *waaay better* than Honda factory fill.

Idemitsu 0w20 was the first oil which got rid of a perceptible difference between a morning start (cold) vs warm start.

Idemitsu Zepro is now discontinued as they are moving to newer additive packs to meet more modern industry standards. However my little Honda engine loved this molybdenum loaded oil. If this does not become available again, I might stick to Amsoil Signature series.

With the 0w20 Amsoil, Michelin 185/65 R15 XM2+ tyres and XP95 fuel, my car drives and feels better now than when new (assuming my memory is working correctly)

Its only after 2500-3000 rpm you can feel the pull. On a straight and empty strech, she just glides and also stable at high speeds.
I agree with the build quality, its solid.

Congratulations on your car purchase.
But do rethink the non replacement of the ABS parts. You don't know when it can be a life saver. You may be a feather footed driver, but remember that the highway and roads are not filled with similar people like you. If you have to do emergency braking , your car might skid due to non functional ABS. Don't take risks. And after all the used car dealer has agreed to pay for repairs right ?