The Honda Jazz has been winning the space race for years. If ever there was a car famous for being bigger on the inside than the outside, it’s this one.
The Jazz has rich heritage, too. Honda’s space ace has provided this winning formula since 2001. And the new Jazz Hybrid takes things to a whole new level.
Hybrid cars come no more space-efficient than this. So, let’s take a look inside the Honda small car that likes to think big...Very big!
BUILD YOUR HONDA HERE
THE NUMBERS
Raw figures don’t lie. Searching for a small car with a big boot? Look no further.
Even with the rear seats in place, the Honda Jazz Hybrid boasts 304 litres of luggage capacity. That’s a particularly large space for the small car sector. There is even an additional plastic compartment beneath the boot floor to hide your valuables in.
Fold the rear seats and the boot expands to 1,205 litres of square, flat, practical and perfectly usable space. That’s easily a measure for a car from the next sector up. The boot is low, wide and square, making it blissfully easy to load. For a car that measures just four metres long – the same overall dimensions as the previous Jazz – this really is Tardis-like.
MAGIC SEATS
And that's not all.
The Jazz Hybrid also has Magic Seats. Honda’s famous Magic Seats, no less.
Honda invented Magic Seats with the original Jazz – a car that was named Japanese Car of the Year 2001. Such was the demand, there was actually a waiting list to take delivery.
The concept is ingenious. In designing the Jazz, Honda engineers moved the fuel tank from under the rear seats to below the front seats. This created a huge amount of free space that Honda’s design engineers could put to work. It led to the creation of the Magic Seats concept – a brilliant formula that remains in place to this day.
Magic Seats fold in two ways. Firstly, the backrests can be flipped down onto the seat bases. In normal cars, this leaves an uneven load floor, which is tricky to use and far from space-efficient. Your awkward IKEA boxes will be hard to wrangle in, even harder to heave back out.
Not in the Honda Jazz. With Magic Seats, the backrest of the rear chairs sit almost completely level when flipped down, so folding the rear seats flat really does mean that – an extension into the rear cabin you could almost measure with a spirit level (while a step in the floor stops the contents of the boot sliding forward under braking). Loading boxes is like playing a real-life game of Tetris – with no risk of a Jenga-like downfall when you come to unload.
But there’s more.
The bases of Magic Seats also flip up, like cinema seats. This creates an entirely new space inside the Honda Jazz Hybrid, perfect for swallowing bicycles, golf bags, or other tall loads such as that small tree you bought on a whim from the DIY store and would ordinarily have to wedge into place, in constant fear of a messy fall.
No small car can match this. The space inside the Jazz is a standout feature in the small car sector.
PRACTICAL AND SPACIOUS
Honda Jazz reviews are clear: “the most practical car in its sector,” says What Car?, one offering “perfect practicality,” says Motoring Research. The space inside this city car is more like that of a small SUV.
This space is pleasing for passengers, too. Even with the driver’s seat slid right back, adults have large-car legroom. Rear passenger headroom is also akin to that of a luxury saloon. Six-footers, fear not: the Honda Jazz Hybrid is a small car you’ll happily sit in the back of. No need to call shotgun here.
The rear seats are really comfortable, too. Some small cars have hard, unsupportive second-row chairs. Second class for the second row. Not the Jazz. Its rear seats are cushioned, ample and supportive – easily comfortable enough for whiling away the hours. Trust us: sitting is believing.
Honda has also thought about getting in and out. If you’re tall, wrangling yourself into the back of a small car can sometimes leave you wishing you hadn’t given up on the yoga lessons.
The Honda Jazz Hybrid, however, has rear doors that open a full 90 degrees. Step in and out in comfort; it’s also great for child seats and for smoothly, silently getting a sleeping baby in and out without bumping them awake. Parents who swear by sleep drives, Honda has your back.
A clever car should come packed with clever touches, and the Honda Jazz Hybrid does not disappoint. Take the cupholders. Sure, most cars these days have them. But how many cars have cupholders that can keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold?
The Honda Jazz can, by positioning the cupholders in front of the air vents. This also means your drinks are located within easy reach at either end of the dashboard, rather than tucked away and at risk of spillage. Safe, as well as practical.
Front-seat passengers also get a widescreen view of the world. Honda engineers have reinvented the windscreen pillar. Instead of traditional thick A-pillars either side of the windscreen blocking your view forwards, the Jazz has two thin yet super-strong A-pillars, with a wide section of curved glass in-between. It not only enhances the feeling of spaciousness but also means blind spots are minimised. Practical safety once again.
The Honda Jazz Hybrid even has a centre front seat airbag, one of the first cars in the world to feature one, ensuring the driver and front passenger do not come in to contact with one another in the event of an accident. This helped it score a full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating and prove it is a small car with large-car levels of occupant protection, as well as large-car space.
CLEVER TECH
Helping its claim to be the best hybrid car is the clever tech beneath the bonnet of the Honda Jazz.
Even here, it’s space-efficient, and it’s all thanks to the latest Honda hybrid e:HEV tech.
The advanced e:HEV hybrid powertrain combines a lively, efficient petrol engine with a specially designed two-motor hybrid system. Instead of driving the wheels, the engine drives a generator, creating electricity. This is sent to a drive motor, which powers the front wheels: brilliantly, it means that while the Honda Jazz drives like a conventional automatic, it doesn’t need a conventional automatic gearbox, saving space and boosting efficiency. It is great for economy too, with more than 60mpg achievable on the combined cycle, according to official WLTP figures.
Because it is an electric motor, not a petrol engine, driving the front wheels, the Jazz can mimic an electric car whenever possible. You’ll be amazed at how often the engine shuts down, turning the Jazz into an everyday EV with unbelievable frequency.
Yet, because it is a self-charging hybrid, you don’t ever need to plug it in. It’s the best of all worlds.
The space inside the Honda Jazz Hybrid genuinely is one of its most remarkable features. Nothing on the city-friendly car market can measure up. It’s the biggest small car you can buy – and being one of the best hybrid cars only adds to its appeal.
The Honda Jazz has been a winning design since it came to the market in 2001. The latest Honda Jazz Hybrid is a car that takes the space race to a whole new level.
Almost, you could say, to infinity and beyond…
