I feel sorry for John McCain. He doesn’t seem such a terribly bad guy — he just looks like the poorer option because he’s up against such an exceptional candidate in Barack Obama.
If McCain had been up against a run-of-the-mill sort of presidential candidate such as the Democrats’s John Kerry who ran against Dubya four years ago, McCain might have had a better chance because it would have seemed much of a muchness between him and Kerry.
But unfortunately for McCain he came up against Obama who not only comes across as a genuine guy, but, more importantly, he comes across as intelligent, hard-working and ready for the challenge of taking the world’s superpower in a new direction.
It’s much the same with the new Honda Jazz. Other cars in this category of small hatchbacks aren’t necessarily bad vehicles. In fact, some small hatches such as the new Ford Fiesta are fantastically good, but the Jazz is, in some ways, exceptional.
A case in point is one of my cousins who, much like me, likes her sporty sedans. But, given the economic climate it didn’t make sense for both her and her husband to have expensive sedans, so they traded in the BMW 330 diesel for a 1,5-litre Honda Jazz.
I didn’t think the Jazz would last long in their household because I knew how much she loved her Beemer, but she’s been driving the Jazz for almost a year now and absolutely loves it. And that’s the old Jazz.
And it seems my cousin isn’t the only one trading down as, according to Honda executives, a new car buyers’ survey for 2007 indicated that 50% of new car buyers downgraded from expensive C-segment vehicles to small B-segment vehicles such as the Jazz.
It’s worth noting that in a market as competitive as Japan the Jazz was voted car of the year last year and more Jazzes have been sold than any other vehicle in that country.
Unlike the Civic, the Jazz has more neutral styling, but it still maintains the layout of its predecessor, especially with the petrol tank placed under the front seats.
The positioning of the petrol tank is worth mentioning because it creates more space at the rear enabling the back seats to fold flat down into the floor or up to increase storage space and this could see the Jazz doubling up as a mini-MPV.
Increased torsional rigidity means the Jazz’s roadholding is better than expected for a small hatch and better brakes mean you can push the Jazz more than you normally would.
Inside the instrument layout is much like the old Jazz in that it’s simple to use and easy to understand with clearly marked buttons.
Obviously the Jazz has grown in length and width, which means more interior space, especially at the back.
The engines are the same as before with the 1,4-litre and 1,5-litre petrol powerplants now pushing out more power while maintaining the same outstanding levels of fuel efficiency and emissions.
The specification level of the Jazz is quite high with all three trim levels benefiting from ABS and four air-bags, while the top-end models get side curtain airbags, which is a first for this segment.
Standard equipment includes electronic brakeforce distribution with brake assist, an MP3-compatible CD player, power steering, electric windows and much more.
The 1,4-litre manual with 73kW of power and 127Nm of torque felt composed and easy to drive, but the 1,5-litre with 88kW and 145Nm proved to be much more chuckable than you would expect and displayed the sort of agility that made it a pleasure to drive.
The automatic now has a regular automatic gearbox as opposed to the continuously variable transmission it had previously, but it’s still not quite as smooth as it should be and I would therefore choose the manual.
The new Jazz isn’t leap years ahead of its successful predecessor — it’s more like the evolution of a model rather than a drastically reinvented new car.
The Jazz ranges in price from R145 000 for the base model 1,4-litre to R183 000 for the top-of-the-range model and it comes with a three-year/100 000km warranty and a four-year/60 000km service plan.